TORONTO — Glen Murray, minister of the environment and climate change, issued a statement recently regarding Ontario’s investment of an additional $85 million for the remediation of the English-Wabigoon River system.
According to the statement, mercury contamination has had a profound impact on the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation and Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) Independent Nations, and has to be properly addressed.
In February, Murray, along with David Zimmer, minister of aboriginal affairs, made a commitment to the First Nations to take action on remediation of mercury contamination in the English-Wabigoon River system.
The commitment involves working with First Nations and partners to first identify all potentially contaminated sites and then create and implement a comprehensive remediation action plan.
"As an immediate next step and in addition to previous funding commitments, Ontario is providing $85 million in dedicated funding," the statement indicates.
"This historic financial commitment will be devoted to the cost of the remediation, including the engineering design and implementation of remediation measures and long-term monitoring."
The funds will be spent in partnership with First Nations through the negotiation of a collaborative governance model.
Murray continued: "This $85 million commitment builds on the current scientific work and ongoing community engagement, funded by the province. To date, the province has provided $2.5 million for this accelerated science, sampling and analysis work, which will inform the extent of the mercury contamination and determine which remediation options may be the most appropriate for each site.
"We will be providing an additional $2.7 million this year to accelerate the work now underway. This brings the total budget to $5.2 million for scientific pre-remediation work in the English-Wabigoon River system."
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