Ontario gives green light to clearcutting at Grassy Narrows

Grassy Narrows youth blockade logging trucks, 2002.

Ministry of Environment rejects First Nations request for second look at forest management plan

By Jody Porter, CBC News, Dec 30, 2014

Ontario’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has cleared the way for logging to resume near Grassy Narrows First Nation after rejecting the community’s request for an individual environmental assessment.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry had approved a new forest management plan in 2013 that includes cutting trees on the First Nation’s traditional territory. But the community, already a victim of historic mercury poisoning from a nearby pulp mill, was seeking a more thorough examination of the link between logging and mercury in the environment.