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Shutdown of Dryden Fibre Canada mill ‘would be devastating,’ mayor says

Dryden, Ont. Mayor Jack Harrison says answering calls to shut down the city’s Dryden Fibre Canada mill could have severe economic repercussions for the local and regional economy.

“If it was closed down now, that would be a significant blow to our community,” Mayor Jack Harrison said.

“It would really collapse the forest industry in the Dryden area — well, Northwest Ontario, because (of) the way our forest industry works.”

The region’s forests supply inputs to Dryden’s pulp mill, a hardwood facility in Kenora and a sawmill in Ear Falls, Harrison said.

“Those are so integrated that if you pulled out one of those, none of those could operate,” he said.

“So Ear Falls would go down and Kenora would go down. You’d lose all the logging jobs across this whole area.”

In short, he said, closing the Dryden mill “would be devastating for our whole area.”

Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong) First Nation has called for the Dryden mill’s closure as the community downstream from the mill continues to be beset by significant mercury contamination in their waterways and fish.

The mill dumped several tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon River in the 1960s and ’70s.

A public health catastrophe followed as Grassy Narrows First Nation members ate contaminated fish and suffered serious effects from it.

A study published in a 2022 issue of Environmental Health found mercury poisoning continues to have a profound impact on the physical and mental health of people in Grassy Narrows.

Though the mercury emissions ceased decades ago, a study released earlier this year said sulphate and organic matter currently being released stimulates the formation of especially toxic methylmercury in the Wabigoon-English river system.

The mill effluents are slowing the area’s recovery from mercury contamination, according to Western University biologist Brian Branfireun.

Free Grassy Narrows and its allies say the emissions problem must be corrected or the mill should cease operations.

Harrison said “there should be some discussion going forward” and a solution that doesn’t involve closing the mill.

Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle said the economic concerns have to be put in the proper perspective.

“I do understand there are (hundreds of) jobs at the mill, but they’re still putting poison in the river,” he said. “That needs to stop. And if they don’t stop that, then they should shut the mill down.

“There’s 1,000 people in Grassy Narrows and there are other people, small camps here and there, that live along the river, and they’re poisoning them too.

“There’s more of us that are being poisoned than 300 workers.”

The emissions “need to be addressed if they want to keep the mill going,” Turtle said. “And if they can’t, then they should shut it down.”

Dryden Fibre Canada said in a statement: “We took over operations of the Dryden mill recently in 2023. We work diligently to ensure the mill operates in compliance with extensive environmental regulatory requirements.”