Land or soil pollution is the least of concern to society and environmental activists, unlike any

air or water pollution event. However, land/soil pollution is often stimulated by the
contamination and presence of high concentrations of major pollutants like heavy metals,
pesticides, persistent organic pollutants, and many more. Such an incident occurred in Dryden,
Ontario, between 1962 and early 1970s, where a Dryden Chemical company- a chloralkali plant
dumped approximately 10,000 kilograms of mercury (Hg) effluent in the central English-
Wabigoon River system near Grassy Narrows, a First Nations community (Rothenberg, 2023,
para.01). Grassy Narrows is about 100 kilometres northeast of Kenora.

Grassy Narrows is located about 100 kilometres northeast of Kenora, Ont. (CBC)

Mercury is a type of heavy metal, and when discharged into water bodies, it changes into a
neurotoxicant known as methylmercury (LaFortune, 2020, para.03). When water is
contaminated with methylmercury, it is bioaccumulated by the aquatic ecosystem and the
nearby plants to that waterbody that takes up the nutrients from the soil.
The environmental impacts associated with the Grassy Narrows event were massive. The most
crucial ground it had widely affected was the thriving commercial fisheries on which the
economy solely relied as their food source, part of their cultural beliefs, traditions, and regular
diet (Rothenberg, 2023, para.01). In fact, Rothenberg (2023) stated that "Concentrations in fish
tissues…consumption level (0.5 ppm)” (para.01). Moreover, a 2016 review of samples of fish
collected from different rivers and lakes in Ontario found that the most popular fish in the
Wabigoon River, the walleye, is the topmost mercury-contaminated fish in the province (Bruser
& Poisson, 2016, para.02). Furthermore, the river contamination had also affected the
employment sector of the economy since high mercury levels had poisoned the fish community,
which led to the closure of many commercial fishing companies and lodges, resulting in a
devastating unemployment situation in Grassy Narrows (Hofschneider, 2023, para.13). In
addition, the tourism sector also collapsed due to the closure of many tourist camps, leading to
many unemployed people who used to work as fishing guides before (Bruser & Poisson, 2016,
para.17). Even the Grassy Narrows people faced a shortage of safe drinking water from taps and
so had to depend on bottled water, which the impact is still persistent today (Porter, n.d, n.d)
The environmental impacts were long-term since footprints of the highest mercury
contamination in fishes in the Wabigoon River were still found in the research in 2016.
Moreover, since the contamination mainly spread through bioaccumulation and
biomagnification, the chances of mercury contamination have increased over time up the food
chain in the ecosystem. According to research in 2015, Patricia Sellers, a freshwater scientist,
established that a significant level of mercury is trapped deep in the sediment of Clay Lake,
which is a contaminant storage (Porter, 2015, para.08).

Likewise, the impacts on human health were very severe and devastating. The mercury
contamination has affected the physical and mental health of the people of Grassy Narrows.
Due to their dependence on the local fisheries as their staple food, people ingested a high
concentration of mercury from the fishes as fishes bioaccumulated, and following this
significant exposure to the mercury, people got infected with numerous neurological problems
and possible brain damage (Hofschneider, 2023, para.08). A report was generated by Donna
Mergler, an environmental health expert and a member of the WHO, in 2018, where she also
compiled the results from health surveys in 2008 and 2010 from different households as well as
First Nations. The report stated that "the physical and mental health of people in Grassy
Narrows is considerably worse than that of other First Nations in Ontario" (Prokopchuk, 2018,
para.11). The report further said that "Almost six times…neuropsychological disorder", "Five
times more…and intestinal problems", "Four times more…over 30 years old", and "Three times
more…or vision problems" (Prokopchuk, 2018, para.15). Moreover, according to Turner (2021),
"There are a range…memory loss, and others" (para.07)
Furthermore, the Grassy Narrows Chief, Randy Fobister, has said that people of Grassy Narrows
now have a reduced lifespan following the mercury exposure and although the spread of
contamination started decades ago, yet people face many syndromes related to mercury
poisoning (Kabatay, 2022, para.13). Surprisingly, the impact on individuals is hilarious that it is
influencing the Grassy Narrows First Nations youth to attempt suicide, and this rate has been
increasing over time (Hofschneider, 2023, para.01). The fundamental reason was that since the
contaminant bioaccumulates, the impact spreads over three generations- from grandmothers to
mothers to newborns. Moreover, it was found that mercury impact was more vulnerable to
damage fetuses, and therefore, pregnant women who consumed too many fish during their
pregnancy were more likely to have children with both emotional and behavioural breakdowns
(Hofschneider, 2023, para.03, 08). According to Prokopchuk (2018), "Twenty-eight percent of
respondents…double the rate of other First Nations" (para.19)
The impacts on the destruction of human health are long-term since the people had to continue
eating the fish for their diets from the contaminated river. The reason behind this was their loss
of income from the closure of related sectors like commercial fisheries, tourism, etc., for which
they do not have enough money to buy ready-made foods from stores or, in fact, buy boats to
travel farther away to arrange their meal (Bruser & Poisson, 2016, para.17). Moreover, since
mercury interchanges from generation to generation due to bioaccumulation, it can never be
diminished (Turner, 2021, para.07).

In addition, the Grassy Narrows environmental health coordinator, Judy Da Silva, stated that the
funding or compensation of the provincial and federal governments would not be adequate to
treat the ongoing impacts of the mercury poison on Grassy Narrows residents since the fund
would be used up in providing the ongoing basic needs of the people, cleaning up the river, or
maintaining the mercury homes proposed to build (Turner, 2021, para.16-17). Hence, this also
illustrates that the impact on human health would persist significantly.
Conclusion: The Grassy Narrows event may more likely signify a water pollution event, but since
the mercury pollutants are being trapped in the sediments of underwater soil and nearby soil
bodies, these pollutants are multiplying overtime and are persistent over a longer time due to
the longer half-lives of mercury. Therefore, besides water pollution, land/soil pollution was also
generated following the disposal of mercury effluent.

Generations of Activism: The Grassy Narrows First

Nation's Fight for Clean Water