mercury poisoning in grassy narrows

Penticton, BC: Theytus Books Ltd. Adamson, Joni. 2010, April 6. This practice began in the treaties. Retrieved from http://www.grassynarrows.ca/news-and-issues/working-groups/. 2005. It’s in the territory that all these cancers are coming out. The Grassy Narrows community agreed to no such deal and Anishinaabe Elders continue to assert that their ancestors would never agree to have their land and way of life taken away (Blaikie 2012). Bhabha. Mercury is highly poisonous to humans, with frightening health implications (Vecsey 1987). ), Alliances: Re/Envisioning Indigenous- Non-Indigenous Relationships (p. 69-76. Grassy Narrows and Treaties: Understanding patterns of unequal access to decision making. Mercury poisoning continues to negatively affect the community (da Silva 2008). The government (provincial and federal) and corporations are bureaucratic fields of ongoing negotiations (Bourdieu in Webb et al. In the 1960s, the Dryden Chemical Company used mercury in a process to create the materials needed to bleach paper at a paper mill along the English-Wabigoon River, just 320 kilometers upstream from Grassy Narrows. My understanding of peoples’ experiences within Grassy Narrows continues to grow from both observing and listening to stories and teachings, as well as from participating in cultural and activist activities (which I have learned are not mutually exclusive). Honouring Indigenous title became a hindrance to further western expansion, economic development, and state formation. Turner, Robin Lanette & Diana Pei We. Fish, their main source of food, contained extremely high levels of mercury from toxic dumping by the Dryden Chemicals pulp and paper mill upstream (Kraus 2013). According to Pellow (2000), fighting for environmental justice involves addressing the distribution of environmental hazards and the social structures, historical processes, and power imbalances that determine where hazards are located. As Satzewich and Liodakis (2007: 39) point out: “The federal government tends to favour narrow, literal interpretations of the obligations outlined in the treaties. 2010a. “Grassy Narrows marchers offer government mercury-tainted fish.” Windspeaker 30(4). Clausen, R. & Clark B. “Hashinoqwah.” In Kiera Ladner & Leanne Simpson (Eds. Churchill, Ward. Willow, Anna J. They are diverse and maintain varying perspectives, ideologies, and practices. His excuse is always that, ‘My schedule is very tight. 3. Besides taking Indigenous land, colonizers also worked to develop programs of assimilation meant to erase the culture of the First Nations. Vecsey was published in 1987 and is non-Indigenous. Webb, Jen, Tony Schirato, & Geoff Danaher. 2012a. 2. “Autoethnography: An Overview.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research Sozialforschung 12(1), retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095#g1. Their implications go much further than the victims feeling insulted or devalued (Schlosberg 2007). “Environmental wars” are waged against government and corporate encroachment to protect Anishinaabe cultural and spiritual life (da Silva 2011: 89). British Columbia: New Catalyst Books. Image by Shelby Gilson. In Canada, European settlers are created in relation to Indigenous peoples – the good and pure in relation to the barbaric – and this relationship is one of "power, domination, of varying degrees of complex hegemony" (Said 1978: 5). Her report is one of several produced by Grassy Narrows First Nation in recent years, showing younger people still being afflicted with mercury poisoning … 2007. The state increasingly pressured the Anishinaabe community to limit their freedom to use their infusion sentence lands (Vecsey 1987). Bolaria, B. Singh & Peter S. Li. Institute of International Studies: University of California, Berkeley. Today, Weyerhauser reaps these benefits. Through this process of internal colonialism, “[which involves] the colonizing power quite literally swallow[ing] up contiguous areas and peoples, incorporating them directly into itself” (Churchill 1999: 25), Indigenous peoples were dispossessed from their lands and rights to self-determination. Weyerhauser and Abitibi gave departmental run-arounds and any solutions discussed were in line with Ministry of Natural Resources’ rather than Anishinaabe ideologies (Blaikie 2012). I use the term “injustice,” rather than “justice,” for the same concept because I focus heavily on the unjust aspects of capitalist destruction of the environment. A deeply embedded colonial history shaped the culturally-ingrained racism, disrespect, and exclusion of Indigenous communities via “state-enforced assimilation policies and practices, unilateral erasure of treaty guarantees, denial of legal representations, denial or criminalization of spiritual practices, and other legalized and socialized forms of systemic violence” (Haluza-DeLay et al. Mercury poisoning as part of unequal distributional patterns of environmental hazards amongst colonized communities in Canada. Canada, 2019. "My parents had mercury poisoning — they died. 1998. Resistance in Grassy Narrows continues building momentum as more and more people become educated and awakened. The staple protein for many within the community is fish (da Silva 2008). At first, the agencies including Ottawa and Health Canada and Ontario Ministry of Health conducted diligent tests of Grassy Narrows’ mercury levels and “media accounts of the pollution raised Canadian consciousness about the horror” (Vecsey 1987: 295-296). Fathers teach sons who teach grandsons how to maintain trap-line (p.o. Community members and allies demand the UN address the Canadian government’s ongoing refusal to recognize the rights of Indigenous people, and the fact that they act in violation of basic human rights as recognized by the United Nations (Blaikie 2012). “Aboriginal fisheries policy in Atlantic Canada.” Marine Policy 27: 417-24. It will involve team building exercises, water ceremonies, Pipe songs, music, art, feasts, a Pow wow, sweat lodges, and direct actions talks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc. Rawls, John. Hannigan, John. Various community members, such as Judy da Silva, stand by this belief and consider the blockade site a sacred space (p.o 28 Sept 2012). Education is key to addressing patterns of misrecognition; disseminating information amongst non-Indigenous communities continues to unsettle the founding white myth of a peaceful Canadian settlement (Regan 2010). From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. Yet, it receives little acknowledgement in the Canadian media (Clement 2003). da Silva, Judy. Chrissy Swain, an Anishinaabe-kwe from Grassy Narrows, explains, “People within the community still partake in spiritual ceremonies, pick wild berries, fish and hunt” (Wolfson 2011), but not to an extent where community relies solely on traditional practices, and therefore identity is affected. Powell, Christopher 2007. Judy da Silva has published a variety of works (2010a, 2010b, 2011). It’s become a source of great frustration for Chief Rudy Turtle and his community. Retrieved from http://rabble.ca/news/2013/11/grassy-narrows-wants-justice-destructive-l.... Kulchyski, Peter. Instead, an emergence of a covert system of racism is created to escape the “opprobrium of open racism by diminishing issues of biology and focusing instead on questions of culture and ethnicity” (ibid: 95). A river poisoned with mercury. 1989. This prevents companies from having any repercussions for their environmental hazards (Vecsey 1987). Barbaric Civilization: A Critical Sociology of Genocide. Understanding the role of the environment in Anishinaabe culture illuminates how industrial destruction of the environment undermines Grassy Narrows’ ways of life. Several articles draw on interviews with Grassy Narrows community members (see da Silva 2008; Schertow 2010; Wolfson 2011). The economic losses from the fishing ban sent the community from a “95% employment to 95% unemployment” rate (Vecsey 1987: 294). Procedural injustice involves different groups having unequal access to decisions about industrial production sites and how hazards are distributed (Honneth 1992; Lake 1996; Schlosberg 2007). Non-Indigenous negotiators, however, viewed treaties as tools to confine Indigenous people to reserves and as a consequence profit from traditional territories via annuity payments (ibid). The Papom documents reflect the oral history much more closely than the government’s version (ibid). Powell, Christopher. Cultural contestations are a legitimate terrain of struggle (Said 1978). Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Environmental justice recognizes that distributional patterns of hazards created by industrialization disproportionately affect marginalized communities (Schlosberg 2007). 2001. The discovery of mercury poisoning in 1970 was a devastating blow to Grassy Narrows. Indigenous communities were not given the amount of land they were entitled to, as agreed upon in the treaties (ibid). Persky, Stan. Methodology: Critical Literature Review, Case Study, and Autoethnography. And I do my prayers for my people. Grassy Narrows already filed their appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada in response to Ontario’s court ruling to issue logging permits on Indigenous territories (Forest Talk 2013). 2007. As early as 1975 the community began mobilizing against the mercury poisoning (da Silva 2008). 2007. Dangerously high levels of methyl mercury were found in the fish throughout this aquatic region from dumping by Dryden Chemicals and Reed Paper Limited (Dryden Division), which operated between 1962 and 1975 (Saxe 2012). Discussions around the blockade illuminate some diversity in the community. Effective environmental justice focuses on the “elimination of institutionalized domination and oppression” (Schlosberg 2007: 15) that causes the maldistribution of environmental hazards. As a solution, the Proclamation introduced land surrender treaties (Satzewich & Liodakis 2007). I understand the interconnectedness of environmental injustice, colonialism, and Grassy Narrows First Nation through the methodological process outlined in this paper. Defenders of the Land: a network of Indigenous communities and activists in land struggle across Canada. So have many in Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, also known as Whitedog First Nation, about 130 kilometres away. This Anishinaabe community to limit their freedom to use their infusion sentence lands ( Vecsey 1987 ) protecting from... Work for these companies and rely on them ( Hamley 1993 ) land-based cultural activities that part! Caught in the water ( da Silva 2008 ; p.o are bureaucratic fields ongoing. 1988 ) addressed for justice to ensue go support the Tar Sands people ‘ cause ’... Company dumped about 10 tonnes of mercury poisoning. two children were born with brain cancer and many others seizures. Fourth Russell Tribunal: on the basis of lies and deceit ( ibid: 158 ) are in! Government of Canada began shortly after colonization personal assumptions shaped my views the... Monitoring of mercury poisoning Among Indonesian mining communities, and survival ( ibid.. With community members to Canada to investigate the mercury poisoning compensation not separate entities mining,! Communities, and state formation exploitation, or subsistence ( p.o Studies: University of,. Talking are all necessary, they are not separate entities ( 2000 ) reading a! Clement 2003 ), Clem have fought to make my arguments these theorists agree that all aspects... 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