b'ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDDa Silvas lengthy fight against mercury poisoning in the Grassy Narrows river system began in the 1990s and has led to other advocacy workWhat work are you most proud of?From that point, we wrote a proposalwho we are in relation to this land and for a research project that would includewater. We now carry this knowledge on I think the work we have done aroundthree communities on the English Riverand continue to advocate for the land and the mercury poisoning has been verysystem: Grassy Narrows, Wabauskang andwater and the people in our community. fulfilling. Getting to the point of building aWabaseemoong. The study found that there mercury treatment centre has been a longwas still mercury on the top layer of sedi- The work around mercury poisoning time coming. We began this work in thement. For the mercury to no longer be anhas led to other advocacy work. We have early 1990s alongside an eco project withissue, it would have to be a foot deep in thestopped the clear cutting of the Whiskey Leanne Simpson, who was doing work insediment, but it wasnt. The government hadJack Forest and we have a blockade site Thunder Bay around contaminants, and theto listen to our concerns about the water.that we continue to build on. This site late Patricia Sellers (scientist and sedimentI oftentimes wonder where we would be ifis where we hold our ceremonies and specialist), who was critical in recognizingour health nurse had not posed the question.our cultural activities. We held our first the importance of mercury being in the topWe would never have continued our path toSundance at the blockade site this year. layer of the sediment. In 1997, governmentensure our community was safe. It will be the first of four to complete. officials were attempting to convince us thatChrissy Isaacs is leading the Sundance and the mercury contamination of the waterThe river system needs protection; it is ourhas learned to carry this ceremony from and fish was over. According to them, thereway of life as a people. When we advocateWilfred Buck. We will host our Annual were no longer any concerns and we didntfor the water, the strength comes from theCultural Camp at the site in September. have to worry about the effects of mercury.women and the youth in the community. ForThe camp will focus on harvesting, They came to our community to presentthe study, we had to go through an ethicspreparing and storing medicine. It is their findings. It was our community healthreview; we had to have three notetakers andimportant to teach others what we know nurse who posed [this] question followinginterpreters. We listened to our Elders tellin terms of how to use the medicine. We their presentation: If there is nothing totheir stories of the history of the land andhave taken the blockade site and built a worry about, why is Health Canada stillwater, the legends of who we are as a people.cabin, a wigwam, and a fancy outhouse to advising people to limit fish intake in theThe research study allowed us to captureensure that we have what we need when Fishermans Guide? They couldnt answerthe knowledge of our Elders. These Elderswe gather here. The blockade site is now that question. educated us as Anishinaabe Kweg aboutour safe space, and it reflects hard work, 62Fall/Winter 2021'