{"id":109050,"date":"2026-09-24T08:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=109050"},"modified":"2026-09-24T08:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:36:35","slug":"thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Kathryn Mannie The smell of burning tobacco and the sounds of banging drums hung in the air in Toronto&#8217;s downtown core as thousands of supporters of the Grassy Narrows First Nation marched to Queen\u2019s Park on Wednesday. Members of Grassy Narrows, alongside labour unions, environmental groups, and faith-based organizations, took to the streets to call for justice for the Ojibwe community in northwestern Ontario, which has for decades suffered from the aftershocks of thousands of kilograms of mercury being dumped in their river system in the 1960s and 1970s. Grassy Narrows Chief Sherry Ackabee said the First Nation has lost untold members to the effects of mercury poisoning. \u201cEverybody\u2019s lost somebody,\u201d she said. \u201cI myself have a child who was born with one functioning kidney \u2026 And my other&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F09%2F24%2Fthousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kathryn Mannie The smell of burning tobacco and the sounds of banging drums hung in the air in Toronto&#8217;s downtown core as thousands of supporters of the Grassy Narrows First Nation marched to Queen\u2019s Park on Wednesday. Members of Grassy Narrows, alongside labour unions, environmental groups, and faith-based organizations, took to the streets to call for justice for the Ojibwe community in northwestern Ontario, which has for decades suffered from the aftershocks of thousands of kilograms of mercury being dumped in their river system in the 1960s and 1970s. Grassy Narrows Chief Sherry Ackabee said the First Nation has lost untold members to the effects of mercury poisoning. \u201cEverybody\u2019s lost somebody,\u201d she said. \u201cI myself have a child who was born with one functioning kidney \u2026 And my other... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F09%2F24%2Fthousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kathryn Mannie The smell of burning tobacco and the sounds of banging drums hung in the air in Toronto&#8217;s downtown core as thousands of supporters of the Grassy Narrows First Nation marched to Queen\u2019s Park on Wednesday. Members of Grassy Narrows, alongside labour unions, environmental groups, and faith-based organizations, took to the streets to call for justice for the Ojibwe community in northwestern Ontario, which has for decades suffered from the aftershocks of thousands of kilograms of mercury being dumped in their river system in the 1960s and 1970s. Grassy Narrows Chief Sherry Ackabee said the First Nation has lost untold members to the effects of mercury poisoning. \u201cEverybody\u2019s lost somebody,\u201d she said. \u201cI myself have a child who was born with one functioning kidney \u2026 And my other\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-24T12:36:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-24T12:36:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":824,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/\",\"name\":\"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-24T12:36:35+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/24\\\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Kathryn Mannie The smell of burning tobacco and the sounds of banging drums hung in the air in Toronto&#8217;s downtown core as thousands of supporters of the Grassy Narrows First Nation marched to Queen\u2019s Park on Wednesday. Members of Grassy Narrows, alongside labour unions, environmental groups, and faith-based organizations, took to the streets to call for justice for the Ojibwe community in northwestern Ontario, which has for decades suffered from the aftershocks of thousands of kilograms of mercury being dumped in their river system in the 1960s and 1970s. Grassy Narrows Chief Sherry Ackabee said the First Nation has lost untold members to the effects of mercury poisoning. \u201cEverybody\u2019s lost somebody,\u201d she said. \u201cI myself have a child who was born with one functioning kidney \u2026 And my other","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2026-09-24T12:36:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning","datePublished":"2026-09-24T12:36:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/"},"wordCount":824,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/","name":"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-09-24T12:36:35+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/24\/thousands-march-in-toronto-for-grassy-narrows-seeking-justice-for-mercury-poisoning\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thousands march in Toronto for Grassy Narrows, seeking justice for mercury poisoning"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109051,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109050\/revisions\/109051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}