This episode is about how life for people of the Grassy Narrows First Nation was left in tatters following the discharge of almost 1 ton of mercury into the waters that make up their ancestral territory. What followed was a fight for justice that persists to this day.

Episode Source Material

The Warrior Society Rises: how a mercury spill in Canada inspired a movement by Robert Jago

How the water of Grassy Narrows were poisoned by John Michael McGrath

Minamata Disease. An Unusual Neurological Disease caused by Contaminated Fish by Douglas McAlpine and Shukuro Araki

The interwoven history of mercury poisoning in Ontario and Japan by Adam Mosa and Jacalyn Duffin

Indigenous Peoples’ Vulnerability Exposed: Lessons Learnt from Canada’s Minamata Incident: An Environmental Historical Analysis of Environmental Policy Formulation and Implementation based on the Case Study of Methyl-mercury Pollution in Northwestern Onta by Anne McDonald

Children of the poisoned river by Jody Porter

A new study adds to body of proof connecting mercury poisoning to health issues in Grassy Narrows by Jasmina Katabay

Mercury Contamination of Fish in Northwestern Ontario by Norvald Fimreite and Lincoln M. Reynolds

Mercury exposure and premature mortality in the Grassy Narrows First Nation community: a retrospective longitudinal study Aline Philibert, Myriam Fillion and Donna Mergler

Chief says mercury still leaking from mill near Grassy Narrows by Paola Loriggio

Ontario knew about Grassy Narrows mercury site for decades, but kept it a secret by David Bruser