Grassy Narrows First Nation Declares State Of Emergency After Years Of Unsafe Drinking Water – Huffington Post

August 27th, 2015

After almost two years of not being able to drink its water, a remote Ontario First Nation decided to issue a state of emergency Thursday.

Grassy Narrows, a small reserve about 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, has long dealt with regular cases of mercury poisoning since a local paper and chemical mill shut down in the 1960s.

But now, the very chemicals used to treat the water have flushed it with increasing levels of uranium and other possible carcinogens, band officials say.

“We’re finding out that the kind of chemicals that they put in there are very toxic and could cause cancer and other things,” councillor Bill Fobister told The Huffington Post Canada in an interview.

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/08/27/grassy-narrows-first-nation-state-of-emergency_n_8051844.html