Savi Wolfear was among the hundreds who took a stand against the failure of the government to do anything about the mercury poisoning during the Grassy Narrows River Run on Sept. 18.
It began at Grange Park at Dundas and Beverley Streets and they marched to Queen’s Park.
“This march means that we're trying to protect our home,” the 19-year-old said “That's kind of how I see it. That's why I said on my poster, 'Protect our home.’”
Grassy Narrows River Run Rally was held to support the people of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek and all other Indigenous communities affected by a chemical company and a pulp and paper mill that used mercury in a process to bleach paper.
The province ordered the company to top polluting the Wabigoon River, but only after more than 9,000 kg of mercury was dumped.
Many people aren’t aware that the mercury remains in the water and continues to affect the Indigenous community, and that the government isn’t doing much.
“I just think that this protest is about protecting our home, our land, our family, even the people that are non-Indigenous, too, because eventually, the mercury water is going to start going into their area, even if they're Indigenous or not,” Wolfear said. “So at this point, it's not just us trying to save ourselves and help ourselves.”
Tanya King, a federal government worker, who identifies as Anishinaabe-kwe, an Ojibwe woman, whose family is from Chimnissing, part of Beausoleil First Nation, was among the hundreds of protesters who demanded more awareness for the issues facing Indigenous People.
“Yes, I want to make a difference for Indigenous Peoples,” she said. “It’s been many years since it's been known that the mercury poisoning occurred and yet nothing has actually been done.”
She said few people outside the Indigenous communities know about the issues First Nations face, including the boil water advisory which 28 nations still require to follow.
“The government is doing some cleanup,” she said, but are letting the longest-standing issues remain. “None of the communities, by the way, should actually still be experiencing that, so that in itself is still an issue.”
Dryden Chemicals Ltd. and Dryden Paper Company began dumping mercury into the Wabigoon River system in 1962 about 130 kilometres upstream from Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First Nations.
The chemical plant used mercury to produce chlorine, which was used for bleaching paper at Dryden Paper Company Ltd.
The Ontario government ordered the company to stop dumping mercury waste into the river system in 1970, but this order only pertained to the water pollution, not the air emissions.
The government also banned all commercial fishing in the English-Wabigoon River system because the fish in the river system was discovered to contain dangerously high levels of mercury. The ban was a devastating blow to the people of Grassy Narrows since fishing was their main source of income and a staple of their diet.
Airborne mercury pollution continued until 1975. In 1976, the Dryden Chemicals Ltd. closed down.
The effects are still felt today by the Grassy Narrows and Whitedog communities.
Wolfear, who hails from the Blackfoot and Mohawk tribes, wears her heritage as a badge of honour.
However, her journey to acceptance hasn’t always been easy. Being white-passing, Wolfear has dealt with people invalidating her Indigenous identity all her life just because of the colour of her skin.
“It's always been kind of a blessing and also kind of a curse if that makes sense. There's a lot of people that if you're not a certain tone of skin, they get very, I don't know what a proper word would be, but they're very more like, ‘Oh, you can't be Indigenous if you're not this skin tone,’” Wolfear said.
But despite it all, the vibrant student at a Native Learning Centre has learned to ignore what others might say about her identity and fully embrace her identity as an Indigenous woman. Since then, she has dedicated herself to helping out her community.
“And in the end, even if there's bad stuff that happens at times, I still find it so beautiful and kind of comforting knowing that at least I have a bigger community out there to help out at the end of the day, even if things are going wrong”, Wolfear said.
The Grassy Narrows protest is deeply personal to Wolfear. Her family and community are at the heart of the issue that spans generations.
“A couple of years ago, I used to live in this (reserve) called Kahnawake. Kind of did a similar march to this, about the mercury and water and pipe use and stuff like that,” Wolfear said. “And also my dad, over 10 years ago, he did the same march about the mercury and the water.
“So when I got the opportunity to do it today, I just went straight for it,” she said. “And also, I’ve been hearing about it for a while and I’ve been wanting to really do it.”
Wolfear understands the difficulties Indigenous communities face when seeking help or trying to be heard.
“We don't get listened to as we're supposed to,” she said. “I realize that they'll listen and give us what we kind of want as a surface, but they don't give us what we fully actually need.
“They rather give us money or gifts over actual proper healthcare or water or food or homes,” she said.
Her face turned sombre as her smile quickly vanished.
“Half of my community and half of my family is sadly on the streets, or they don't have proper housing and homes because the government said that there were certain corporealities that didn't work out properly because of their life or scenario or something like that,” Wolfear said
“And there's also so much of our family, too, that don't get proper schooling or health care,” she said. “And we, of course, I'm sure that there's a lot of us that appreciate the money. The money is good. Of course, people need money. But we should also be able to get all the other stuff that everybody else gets.”
