Province confirms mercury at Dryden, Ont. mill site

Ontario's environment ministry has confirmed elevated levels of mercury in the soil at a mill site in Dryden, Ont., upstream from Indigenous communities where residents have suffered mercury poisoning for decades.

In a report dated December 2017, the province said soil testing was done at 24 spots at the site. While most of the areas tested showed mercury concentrations at or below the typical Ontario background concentration, two of the locationsin an area called the Gordon Road site, in theproperty's northeast corner showed elevated mercury levels in the soil.

The report was independently reviewed by CBC News.

• Ontario knew about mercury contamination near Grassy Narrows in 1990: report
• Ontario announces $85M to clean up mercury near Grassy Narrows, Wabaseemoong First Nations

"We heard of it, we suspected it," Grassy Narrows chief Simon Fobistertold CBC News. "It's very troubling, very troubling."

"Let's clean it up. The province has to clean it up. That's gotta be their number-one priority, and we'll go from there."

The site has long been believed to be the source of the mercury contamination affecting the communities of Grassy Narrows andWabaseemoong.

Decades-old contamination

Reports indicate that Reed Paper buried mercury in the soil on the property, and dumped effluent into the Wabigoon River in the 1960's and 1970's.

The contamination spread to the First Nation communities, where more than 90 per cent of residents have shown signs of mercury poisoning.

Fobister said his community's commercial fishing industry has also been affected.

"It's been a social and economic disaster for our community," he said. "It's been very well-documented how our community has been devastated by this mercury."

"The health of our people has also been devastated," Fobister said. "We experience pain and suffering caused by mercury. We live with it every day."

Excavations planned for spring

The Ontario governmentannounced last year it will spend $85 million to clean up mercury contamination near Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nations.

In an email, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change said the site assessment is continuing.

The ministry also did a geophysical assessment of the site in an effort to locate buried metal material.

Results show metal is possibly buried at some locations; spots where "larger anomalies" were detected will be excavated in the spring, the ministry said.

Premier let communities down, NDP says

In an emailed statement, NDPenvironment criticPeter Tabunssaid Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne "continues to letGrassy Narrows andWabaseemoongFirst Nations down" on the mercury issue.

"In 2016, her government shelved a report showing that they were still at risk from mercury poisoning and delayed efforts to build a treatment facility where it was needed," Tabuns stated."We could have dealt with this sooner, addressed the environmental risks and provided mercury poisoning victims with the care that they deserve but every step of the way, this Liberal government forced the people of Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoongs First Nations to suffer in silence."

The property and mill have beenowned by Domtar since 2007.