Sustainable Ecosystems

Case Study: The Grassy Narrows

 Read the following article with your group
members & discuss!
• Article “Grassy Narrows mercury victims
up to 6 times more likely to have
debilitating health problems, report says”
Group by Matt Prokopchuk
• Article: “Ontario knew about mercury

Activity contamination near Grassy Narrows in

1990: report”
• What are your thoughts about the
articles?
• Highlight any points that stand out to you
• Be ready to share with the class!
Discussion
time!
What is Grassy Narrows?

• Indigenous reserve- Ojibwe

tribe
• Located Northeast of Kenora
• 971 Indigenous people live
on the reserve
• About 90% of Grassy
Narrows residents suffer
from mercury poisoning
 • 1962 – Using mercury to
manufacture chlorine
• Used to bleach paper
• 130km upstream Grassy
Narrows
• 1962-1970- Dryden dumped
9,000kg of mercury into the
English-Wabigoon river
system
• 1970- Dryden stopped (air
emissions continued)
• 1976- Dryden Chemicals
shut down
Dryden Chemicals Ltd
What are the impacts of disposing of
mercury in the water system?
Mercury- What are
its health impacts?
• Mercury is a neurotoxin (destroys nervous tissue)
• Impact dependent on…
• The type of mercury you’re exposed to (in this
case it is methylmercury)
• Exposure length
• Age
• How you were exposed (breathing, eating,
skin contact)
• Health
• Effects can be severe or subtle and may not even
show at all! It all depends on the factors we talked
about above
Symptoms of
Methylmercury Posioning

• Loss of peripheral vision

• “Pins and needles” feeling
• Uncoordinated movements
• Impaired speech, hearing, walking
• Muscle weakness
• Unborn babies exposed can have
abnormal brain development
Industrial Uses
of Mercury
• Electrical equipment (batteries
and semiconductors)
• Medical appliances
(sphygmomanometers and
thermometers)
• Dentistry (mercury amalgams/
fillings)
• Barometers
• Paper manufacturing
• Paint
Mercury Disposal
• Proper disposal of mercury varies from place to place
• Specific details should be available to you through your
government website or waste management companies
• Mercury should be treated as hazardous material!
• NEVER throw mercury products in the garbage
• This includes smaller household items such as batteries
and thermometers too!
• Mercury should NOT be disposed of in a water system………
Ecosystems
- Network of living and nonliving
components in each area
- Biotic and Abiotic components
- Everything is connected in an
ecosystem!
- Small scale changes have large scale
impacts!
Food Chains
What do you know about
Indigenous people?
Who are Indigenous People?
Indigenous Way of life

• Society operates in a state of relatedness.

Everything and everyone is related. There is
real belief that people, objects and the
environment are all connected. Identity comes
from connections
• Spiritually orientated society. System based on
belief and spiritual world. 
• The land is sacred and usually given by a
creator or supreme being.
• Human beings are not the most important in
the world. 
• Amassing wealth is important for the good of
the community 
Impact of Grassy
Narrows on Indigenous
• Indigenous people depend on the land as basis of their
culture
• The land is a vital source of food and plant medicines
• The waters were a source of food and jobs for
Indigenous people
• Many worked as guides and staff members for
commercial fishing lodges
• Mercury dumping resulted in fishing closures
• Many indigenous people continued to eat the
contaminated fish
• Many exhibited early signs of neurological
degeneration
“Everything around us was disappearing…The clean water,
our way of life, our traditions, even the wild rice picking
and blueberry picking were all disappearing. Its all
connected to the land” – Judy DaSilva, Grassy Narrows

"We have struggled for many years to save our way of life
in the face of clear-cut logging, which has contaminated
our waters and destroyed our lands. We cannot go back to
the old way of business where decisions were imposed on
our people and our land with devastating consequences
for our health and culture.” -- Grassy Narrows trapper
Joseph Fobister
Discussion….

What do you think about the video?

How did you feel watching the video?
Can you relate to anything shown in the
video?
What is being done
now?
• In 2017- The government promised the river
would be cleaned up
• Mercury levels in fish remain high-
Consumption advisories
• Currently
• Collecting sediment, fish and water for
examination
• Still to be done….
• Analyze sediment, fish and water
• Remedial options and measures
• Ongoing monitoring activities
Food for
thought…..
Do you think the efforts
made by the
government are
sufficient?
Could the government
have done more to
prevent the situation?
Journal Entry

Please write a 1-2 page reflection answering the following questions..

• What relationship do Indigenous people have with their surrounding land/environment? How
is this relationship similar/different to non-indigenous people?
• How did the Grassy Narrows incident impact the lives of Indigenous people?
• How did you feel while learning about the Grassy Narrows case?
• Could this situation have been prevented? How?
• How would your life have been impacted if this situation happened to your community? How
is this impact different or like the impact on Indigenous people?
References
• Amnesty International. (n.d). Grassy Narrows. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.ca/our-
work/issues/indigenous-peoples/indigenous-peoples-in-canada/grassy-narrows

• Anderson, C. (2020). Grassy Narrows. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/grassy-narrows

• Government of Ontario. (2020). Mercury contamination in the English and Wabigoon Rivers
near Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong Independent Nations. Retrieved from
https://www.ontario.ca/page/mercury-contamination-english-and-wabigoon-rivers-near-
grassy-narrows-wabaseemoong-independent-nations

• United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2020) Health Effects of Exposures to Mercury.
Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/mercury/health-effects-exposures-mercury