For decades, Grassy Narrows First Nation has been living with a health and environmental crisis caused by industrial contamination. 

In the 1960s, a pulp and paper mill discharged large volumes of mercury into the English-Wabigoon river. That mercury is still moving through the ecosystem today – converting into methylmercury, a dangerous neurotoxin that builds up in fish, and when eaten, in people. Fish are central to Grassy Narrows’ Treaty rights, culture, and diet, so the harm has been deep and has passed from generation to generation.

The mercury contamination is not an isolated impact. Hydro-electric flooding, clear-cut logging, and mining have piled on, damaging the land, water, and community health over decades.

Now, gold mining-related activity upstream of the Grassy Narrows community is making things worse. Gold mining releases sulphate (and other contaminants) into local waterways, which facilitates the creation of more methylmercury.

Grassy Narrows FN, represented by CELA and Cavalluzzo LLP, is fighting back – challenging water-taking permits, wastewater discharges, and the province’s failure to act on known contamination. At the heart of the cases is a larger question: how environmental decisions are made in already burdened communities, and whether cumulative impacts and Indigenous rights are being meaningfully considered.