For decades, the residents of Grassy Narrows First Nation have struggled with severe health problems that experts attribute to mercury poisoning—a legacy of unchecked industrial pollution in their community’s waterways. 

The poisoning did not happen by accident. It resulted from years of policy neglect, where environmental protections and health safeguards failed to protect Indigenous lands from industrial contamination. Today, Grassy Narrows is a tragic example of how Indigenous and racialized communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards. 

These hazards are embedded in policy decisions which are often influenced by economic interests that overlook long-term environmental and social costs, and the mistreatment is done in pursuit of industrial and economic development. There’s a term for this—environmental racism.

The Omatsu Files

This article is part of The Omatsu Files, a running column written in memory of Rick Omatsu, who was born in 1939 in Vancouver, on the cusp of WWII, which would change his life—a life that was sadly marked by racism. As a Japanese Canadian, in 1942, Rick was sent to the B.C. interior. After the war, the family was forced by the government to leave the province. The family relocated to Hamilton, Ontario, where Rick remained until his passing at age 82. The Omatsu Files is a space dedicated to the voices of young researchers from equity-deserving backgrounds who are focusing on issues of equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism.

Environmental racism is when governments and industry place a disproportionate burden of environmental harm on racialized and Indigenous communities, causing those communities to face higher rates of pollution and contamination that are sanctioned by policy. Due to the lack of political power, these communities must fight back against the harms placed within their communities, they are left with the daily realities that affect their health and well-being. 

Canadian legislators have attempted to address this issue with Bill C-226, which received royal assent in summer 2024. The National Strategy on Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act offers a framework for the federal government to address environmental racism by requiring it examine disproportionate ecological harms on Indigenous communities. 

This law proposes to do so by mandating the government engage in comprehensive data collection, community engagement, and legislative accountability. It aims to address long-standing policy failures that have allowed resource extraction, toxic waste, and industrial pollution to harm Indigenous health and lands. Ideally, this law will be a tool to dismantle systemic inequities, ensuring that Indigenous voices are central to policy solutions that protect their environments and rights. 

While Bill C-226 marks a significant step in addressing environmental racism, the policymakers who wrote it fell short in key areas. This bill focuses on developing a strategy rather than mandating immediate action—which means delaying relief for Indigenous communities already suffering from environmental harms, not recognizing the urgency to act. It does not directly mention the enforcement mechanisms to hold these industries and governments accountable for environmental damages.It does not mention allocated funding for remediation or community-led solutions. 

Data collection is important, but it should not take away from the need for urgent and reparative action. Without clear timelines, accountability measures, and funding, the bill risks becoming just another goal on an already full pile, rather than delivering meaningful change for Indigenous communities facing environmental injustice

A long time coming

For communities across Canada that have been long affected by environmental neglect and injustice, the stakes are high. 

The “Chemical Valley” in Sarnia, Ontario, for example, was given the name for the number of petrochemical and refining facilities in the area. These facilities  emit millions of kilograms of toxic air pollution every year—straight into the home of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. 

Aamjiwnaang residents have suffered from the impacts of environmental pollution on their lands and their health due to the high levels of pollution and poor air quality—which, along with being a dangerous situation on its own, alsoimpacts their ability to exercise their constitutionally protected Aboriginal and Treaty rights and maintain their cultural relationship with the land.

On April 25, 2024, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation declared a state of emergency due to levels of a carcinogen spiking in the air. People in the community were not given any warnings ahead of time by Ontario’s Environment Ministry, which keeps track of the air monitoring system across the Chemical Valley. People in Aamjiwnaang started to fall ill without any notice or explanation. 

The lack of notification, as people began to fall sick, is one manifestation of the government’s systemic neglect of Indigenous communities. These failures not only add to the severe environmental racism but expose residents to unaddressed and escalating health risks that demand urgent attention.

These problems aren’t theoretical. Exposure to environmental hazards has devastating health consequences for marginalized communities, leading to higher rates of chronic illnesses, respiratory issues, and other long-term conditions. 

About 90 per cent of residents in Grassy Narrows show symptoms of mercury poisoning. This contamination dates back decades to when Reed Paper Mill in Dryden, Ontario, dumped mercury into the Wabigoon River system in the 1960s. The Wabigoon River is the key source of food and water for the communities, and so individuals who ate the fish and drank the water from the rivers were systematically poisoned. 

Generations later, residents continue to exhibit the symptoms of mercury poisoning such as memory loss, headaches, cognitive and motor dysfunction, and neuromuscular effects. Japanese researchers have studied the severe damage this contamination has done, and have urged the Canadian government to take full and greater accountability and action to address this ongoing crisis. 

The persistent health crisis at Grassy Narrows reflects the broader failure of policymakers to prioritize Indigenous health and environmental safety. This further highlights the need for comprehensive policy recommendations for remediation and accountability.

The best way to address the ongoing health criticism Indigenous communities face due to environmental racism is by listening to these communities, leaders, and organizations. 

In Grassy Narrows, for example Indigenous leaders have offered several policy recommendations that aim to remedy their environment, provide culturally appropriate healthcare and recognition of Indigenous rights. 

The federal government should be collaborating with Indigenous and environmental organizations like the ENRICH Project, the Ecology Action Centre, the Assembly of First Nations, and Indigenous Climate Action.  These organizations play roles in promoting environmental justice, advocating for legislative change, and uplifting Indigenous and racialized voices. 

The strongest way, though, for Bill C-226 to be strengthened is clear—recognize Indigenous sovereignty.