First Nations groups have been participating in active, but peacefully demonstrations around the city of Toronto. These activists are demanding action from the McGuinty government, and are trying to make them acknowledge the long-term health effects mercury contamination in their water can have on their communities. Mercury poisoning has been occurring at Grassy Narrows for decades, and it has been given very little attention  because this area is namely made up of First Nations people.

The devastation of these communities is great and it is imperative that the McGuinty government take responsibility for the damages done. This has been an ongoing issue for over 40 long years, and now the health issues are starting to get worse. Downtown Toronto protests are pushing the provincial government to take “responsibility for allowing the Dryden Pulp & Paper Co. to dump 9,000 kg of mercury into the Wabigoon River between 1962 and 1970.” (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/791803--protesters-demand-action-on-grassy-narrows)

Any minority group that is being oppressed or discriminated against and is not given fair and safe living conditions in a nation such as Canada has the right to protest and voice their discontentment. The First Nations have been exploited and oppressed long enough, and it is about time that the majority starts to realize that issues of minorities are important and need to be addressed. Minorities are what make up the majority of Canada’s population, and if we do not stand together as citizens of a great nation in the name of justice and stand up against wrongdoing, the purpose we serve as a nation would be a failed one.

I’ll end off with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea.”