Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning

By Kathryn Mannie The smell of burning tobacco and the sounds of banging drums hung in the air in Toronto’s downtown core as thousands of supporters of the Grassy Narrows First Nation marched to Queen’s Park on Wednesday. Members of Grassy Narrows, alongside labour unions, environmental groups, and faith-based organizations, took to the streets to call for justice for the Ojibwe community in northwestern Ontario, which has for decades suffered from the aftershocks of thousands of kilograms of mercury being dumped in their river system in the 1960s and 1970s. Grassy Narrows Chief Sherry Ackabee said the First Nation has lost untold members to the effects of mercury poisoning. “Everybody’s lost somebody,” she said. “I myself have a child who was born with one functioning kidney … And my other