Grassy Narrows Reserve: Mercury Pollution, Social Disruption, and Natural Resources: A Question of Autonomy

Abstract

There are few Indian communities in North America where economic life flourishes. Old skills and the environments-natural and cultural-in which they developed have altered drastically over the centuries. In most cases traditional knowledge and materials are gone, or considered obsolete today. In all cases the land base of particular Indian populations-the reservations or reserves in the United States and Canada respectively-are too small to support the growing Indian populations. These territories were too small in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century when most of them were formed-reduced-to their present size, and when Indian numbers were at their nadir. At present virtually no Indian land base can economically support the people who live on it. United States and Canadian power diminished Indian sovereignty through the process of diminishing Indian land holdings. Indians were conquered as their natural sources of existence were conquered, changed, and taken from them. In contemporary North America, the ability of Indian communities to claim and practice at least partial self-determination depends on their ability to produce at least a portion of their livelihood. Indian autonomy has little or no validity where Indian economy has lost its viability. It is often difficult to say precisely what these words-sovereignty, self-determination, autonomy-mean in principle, and there are arguments for and against their practice, in theory. Nevertheless, the following paper describes the very real results of a lack of Indian local control, at the Grassy Narrows (English River No. 21; see Map 1) Reserve of Ojibways in western Ontario. In this case, non-Indian Canadian entities-including federal and provincial jurisdictions, hydroelectric facilities, and corporations-have usurped Indian control over their traditional environment and have exerted enormous influence over Grassy Narrows existence. The result has been economic and social devastation. It is my view that, whereas the loss of control over land and resources has meant loss of sovereignty and resultant socioeconomic disaster, the path to recovery must be grounded in increased self-determination which can occur only if the people of Grassy Narrows