Grange Park, just a few blocks west of Toronto City Hall, was the starting point for the River Run 2026; climate leaders, youth, and Indigenous community members came from hundreds of kilometers away to seek justice, demand compensation, and restore harm caused by mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows First Nation. After marching a 2.5km stretch through Toronto, the group ended at Queens Park, met with smudging, music, and powerful speeches to maintain the calls to action from Grassy Narrows.
The CBC estimated 9,000 participated in the River Run, with buses organized from multiple towns and cities throughout the province. Jane Macdonald was one of the co-organizers of a bus for Prince Edward County and Kanyen’keha:ka/Mohawk Territory. She told The Leveller that the River Run has been led and organized by Grassy Narrows First Nation since 2010, and “this year’s march was no exception for being exceptionally caring and welcoming. The organizers went out of their way to provide every support to ensure all abilities could participate. The speeches were righteous, and the atmosphere was one of care and respect.”
“All were welcome to join in the demands for justice: fair compensation, and to shut down Dryden Mill which continues polluting,” Macdonald explained.
The London Free Press reported that Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nations have not heard from Premier Doug Ford or the provincial government, despite stating that “numerous letters” were sent and protests followed Ford’s public events.
Grassy Narrows is a Treaty 3 Nation marked by elevated mercury levels in the Wabigoon River going back as far as 1962. Mara Shaw (she/her), one of the co-organizers for the Kingston bus to the River Run, maintains that “Grassy Narrows is an example … of what happens when corporate power is valued over people, their waters and land, their health, and Indigenous Sovereignty.” The River Run is a peaceful, public demonstration of how Indigenous groups and settler allies alike will not stand for continued degradation of their environment and their health.
Health concerns connected to this historical environmental degradation were brought to light at the River Run 2026, an event that has happened nearly every year since 2010. As stated on the Grassy Narrows website, the demands are clear: compensation to impacted individuals, restoration of the environmental damage, and support for the future health of the people and the land at Grassy Narrows.
Over an eight-year period nearly a half century ago, 9,000 kilograms of mercury was dumped into the Wabigoon River by a chemical manufacturer Dryden Chemical. Mercury is a high-density element, taking up a lot less volume than water; 9,000 kilograms of liquid mercury can be visualized as about four standard bathtubs full, which does not seem like a lot.
“There is still significant pollution present in the Wabigoon River systems, and the mercury dumped 50 years ago continues to erode and contaminate soils, fish, and water”
In April of 1970, after 8 years of mercury dumping, the government of Ontario shut down the fishing industry due to regional mercury contamination. CBC News covered this devastation in a 1970 newscast, highlighting impacts felt by Grassy Narrows community members, where that same year, up to 95 per cent of community members faced unemployment, and nearly 90 per cent of community members exhibited symptoms of mercury poisoning.
On their website, Grassy Narrows states that in the 1990s, Health Canada conducted studies and ultimately stated that there was minimal risk of mercury poisoning of patients.
The realized impacts of mercury poisoning in the area was brought to light in the academic sphere by the late Japanese researcher Dr. Masazumi Harada in his 2005 paper, where mercury poisoning was directly linked to Miramata Disease, a possibly congenital disease represented by joint pain, forgetfulness, sensory loss, physical tremors, and more. Harada also cautioned in his research that the government did not have enough information on the disease in the 1990s to make such claims.
FACETS Journal reported that those impacts are still, evidentially, being represented well into the 2020s. Pollution does not simply disappear; there is still significant pollution present in the Wabigoon River systems, and the mercury dumped 50 years ago continues to erode and contaminate soils, fish, and water. This issue has faced past generations, and will continue to impact our youth as they grow older.
Organizers encourage community members across the province and country to be aware of federal bills such as Bill C-5 and Bill C-39 and their relation to environment, culture, and future generations. Furthermore, Grassy Narrows urges climate-focused individuals to listen, to hear their call, and to engage with their MPs, their MPPs, their city councillors, and their communities, and to continue the dialogue about how not only their land, but all Native Treaty Land is to be honoured, respected, and appropriately cared for.
