March for the Land: Grassy Narrows

Black Outdoors

Oct 20

The future stood on the ledge, their short chubby arms holding up placards above their heads as part of the protest. The teachers next to them fussed, as teachers must do when corralling a class of elementary school children. This was taking the education our of the enclosed classroom and into the big wide world. The children were relaxed.

Then sitting on the ledge, the children ate their snacks and sipped drinks as the march paused. The children were from Kapapamahchakwew Wandering Spirit School. A teacher said two classes were at this year's protest to support Grassy Narrows.

Protest march in Toronto, supporting the Grassy Narrows Indigenous community

Grassy Narrows is an Indigenous community some 2,000 kilometres northwest of Toronto. It has fought environmental pollution for decades. First it was the mercury poisoning from paper mills dumping chemical byproducts into the river.

The people ate and drank from the river; they were poisoned by the polluted fish and water. The government denied there was a problem. When the rate of birth defects, disability, and chronic health problems was at crisis level, the mills were shut. The legacy of the poisoning still shows up at births.

Now the government plans to allow mining in Grassy Narrows. It is replacing one environmental disaster with another. In Canada, it is Indigenous communities that face the brunt of environmental racism from extractive industries like mines, mills, and forestry. As the communities are isolated and far from the main cities, they must bring the protest to the cities.

Two PhD students at the Grassy Narrows protest.

Some 6,000 people came to support them on September 27, 2023, on the march from Grange Park to parliament at Queen's Park. Along the way we chanted, clapped, and drummed. The crowd was typical of Toronto. It was multicultural, including Black people, Muslims, and Sikhs.

The protesters blocked the main intersection on University Avenue, forcing the traffic to a standstill. It was here that the school children climbed up on the wide ledge of the long planters in the middle of the road. They had a better view of the large crowd, and they could be seen as part of the protest.

The children must believe that they have a future. We must fight the triplet of industrial pollution, the climate crisis and environmental racism to make sure that they do. That was why I was at the protest. We all need a tomorrow. And so, we marched to save the land.