Watch Videos from the River Run March and Rally
Please join us on April 6, 7 as we demand justice for our people and protection for the water, air, and forests that give life to us all.
Take action with Grassy Narrows Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek
Call and email premiere McGuinty to demand action.
New River Run March and Rally Photos
River Run Media – Selected media from the week of April 6, 2010.
Public Talk. Tuesday April 6, 6:30 p.m. Steel Workers Hall, 25 Cecil St. (S of College, E of Spadina), Toronto.
Featuring: The Grassy Narrows Women’s Drum Group, Elder Jacqui LaValley, Maude Barlow, and Judy Rebick.
Suggested donation: ½ an hour of your wage (if applicable). No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Snacks will be served. TTC tokens are available. Wheelchair accessible venue.
River Run – creative march and rally. Wednesday April 7, Noon. Meet at Grange Park (Beverley St. S of Dundas, behind the AGO), Toronto.
Together we will form a wild river that will flow to Queen’s park to demand justice on World Health Day. We invite Indigenous people to wear your regalia. Others are invited to wear blue, or dress as your favourite wild creature.
Featuring: Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse, Grassy Narrows Chief Fobister, Grassy Narrows Women’s Drum Group, Elder Garry Sault, Elder Jacqui LaValley, Bruce Cox (Greenpeace ED), Craig Benjamin (Amnesty), Council of Canadians, SYC, CUPE, Earthroots, CPT, NOII, Aw@l.
Lifts are available from Grange Park to Queen’s Park. A snack will be served. TTC tokens are available, ask at the door.
To endorse, donate, volunteer, or for more information contact us at: riverrun2010@gmail.com
Help promote our events
1. Send the invitation email to all your friends, contacts, and listserves.
2. invite your friends to the facebook page.
3. Download, print, and put up the poster, and detailed poster.
4. Download the flier and hand it out at related events. (coming soon)
5. Host or attend a presentation on your campus in March. Contact Carly: ontario@syc-cjs.org
5. Have your organization endorse, promote, and donate to our events.
40 years ago our people were poisoned by mercury from a paper mill that contaminated our river upstream. Our people are demanding justice because we are still dealing with the ongoing health impacts of this avoidable disaster. We want to sound the alarm that this poison will affect everyone if we don’t stand together to protect our water.
For decades our GNAA grassroots people have been on the front lines of the movement to defend the earth, and to uphold Indigenous self-determination, culture, and spirituality. We have kicked out logging giant Abitibi for now, but there is still much work to be done. This is a great opportunity to show your support, and to join us in the fight to protect the water, air, land, creatures, and rights that we all depend on.
Migwetch
Grassy Narrows Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek
BACKGROUND
On April 6, 1970 the government of Ontario banned fishing on the Wabigoon River due to mercury contamination from a pulp mill in Dryden. Overnight unemployment in GNAA to rose from 10% to 90%, a primary food staple was lost, and the devastating neurological health impacts of mercury poisoning set in. At the time the government said it would take months for the mercury to wash out of the river system.
Forty years later, a newly translated Japanese study on the health of GNAA residents shows that while mercury levels are going down, the health impacts of mercury poisoning in GNAA are substantially worse now than they were in the 70's. This has huge consequences for GNAA and neighbouring communities. It also has important implications about the long term cumulative health impacts of low level mercury exposure. The study concludes that Health Canada safety guidelines for mercury consumption are not strong enough to protect us from the nearly universal mercury contamination still being spread by coal fired power plants, mine tailings, and other industrial processes.
We need to act now to demand justice for our people, and to protect the water.
Endorsed by:
Amnesty, Aw@l, Council of Canadians, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Federation of Students Ontario , Canadian Friends Service Committee, CESAR, Christian Peacemaker Teams Inc., Canadian Union of Public Employees, CUPE Local 1281, CUPE Local 2191 and CUPE Local 3097, Earthroots, Earth Justice Initiative, ForestEthics, Greenpeace, Greenspiration, Indigenous Environmental Network, ISW/Circle of Support, No One is Illegal Toronto, OCAP, Polaris, RAN, RANT, Roots and Shoots, Ryerson Students' Union, Sierra Club of Canada, Sierra Youth Coalition, Student Christian Movement, University of Toronto Students' Union, York Federation of Students .
