Grassy Narrows First Nation Declares State Of Emergency After Years Of Unsafe Drinking Water

After almost two years of not being able to drink its water, a remote Ontario First Nation decided to issue a state of emergency Thursday.

Grassy Narrows, a small reserve about 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, has long dealt with regular cases of mercury poisoning since a local paper and chemical mill shut down in the 1960s.

Grassy Narrows wants justice for destructive logging and mercury poisoning

The Grassy Narrows blockade has been one of the longest and most empowering acts of First Nations resistance against government interference and corporate resource extraction.

Despite suffering from "Attawapiskat syndrome" -- the further away from Ottawa or the Ontario Legislature, the less likely politicians are going to care -- the members of the Grassy Narrows community have made themselves heard loud and clear over more than ten years of blockades and demonstrations.

'Longest running' First Nations blockade continues

First Nations activists were back at the blockade on Monday after celebrating a decade of turning back logging trucks from Grassy Narrows traditional lands.

The road block first went up at Slant Lake, about 600 km northwest of Thunder Bay, on Dec. 2, 2002.

Grassy Narrows fights to regain control over their territory

For thousands of years they’ve lived in the Boreal forest. Lived off the land and the food it had to offer. Independent and self sufficient.

In summer, they picked berries and medicines, fished, and dried meat for winter. In fall, they trapped and hunted moose, deer, ducks, partridge, beaver and muskrats. In winter, they hunted rabbit and went ice fishing. And in spring, they tapped the trees for syrup and hunted ducks.

When hordes of European settlers arrived in the Grassy Narrows area in the mid-1800’s, Treaty 3 was signed which outlined how the land would be shared.