OTTAWA — The federal government has committed to funding a treatment centre for an Ontario community plagued by mercury contamination, says Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister.
Fobister said Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott delivered the news during a meeting in Toronto Wednesday that included Ontario's Indigenous Relations Minister David Zimmer.
"We've been requesting for this for years and years," Fobister said.
"The government of Canada has stepped up to build this . . . mercury home and treatment centre for our people."
The treatment centre is "dream come true" and once it is built, those affected by the serious impacts of mercury contamination will not have to travel to centres like Winnipeg or Kenora, Ont. to receive care, Fobister said.
"We were all happy and clapping our hands."
Mercury contamination has plagued the English-Wabigoon River system in northwestern Ontario for half a century, since a paper mill in Dryden, Ont., dumped 9,000 kilograms of the substance into the river systems in the 1960s.
The symptoms of mercury poisoning include impaired peripheral vision, muscle weakness, impaired speech, hearing and cognitive function and numbness or stinging pain in the extremities and mouth.
Earlier this month, the Ontario government reaffirmed in its fiscal plan to spend $85 million on cleaning up the site of a paper mill upstream from Grassy Narrows where mercury was first dumped.
The community believes the price tag for the centre will be around $4.5 million, but a feasibility study needs to be completed to determine the cost, Fobister said.
A conceptual plan and design have already been developed.
The nearly 62-year-old chief spent time at a similar centre in Japan earlier this year, the world authority on what's also called Minamata disease.
"The design will be shaped like a canoe or a fish and it is going to have ... eight residences and hopefully we will get the specialized equipment that ... Minamata patients receive in Japan to ease the suffering and pain," Fobister said.
"Hopefully it will be built ASAP and we are so happy about it."
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Kristy Kirkup and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
