The Bad Guys
For years, the Dryden Chemical Company recklessly dumped tons of raw mercury into Ontario's public waters, causing irreparable damage to the environment and widespread Minamata Disease among the indigenous people of the Grassy Narrows Reservation.
Early Truth Tellers
The Mercury Tragedy is not just a powerful example of the broader need for relentless environmental vigilance, it is also an emotional, heroic story of a courageous group of early truth tellers, fighting for justice, remediation and accountability.
In the face of a massive federal and provincial government cover up, combined with an incredible level of denial and skepticism on the part of local city leaders, health officials and fishing camp operators, all who sought to minimize the dangers of mercury poisoning and ignore the economic and health impacts on Ojibway indigenous people, a courageous group of early truth tellers spoke truth to power and offered solutions and remediations.
Barney & Marion Lamm, whose 5-star resort, Barney’s Ball Lake Lodge was located on the affected waterway, put their multi-million dollar business interests on the line to expose the tragedy. It is estimated that Barney & Marion Lamm’s dogged search for the truth about mercury contamination and their fierce and resolved decisions to “stand with” their employees and friends at Grassy Narrows and Whitedog Reserves, led them to spend over $1 million of their own money to expose the dangers of mercury and advocate for the best interests of the Ojibway people.
The Lamms became so reviled by local elected officials, tourist industry organizations and the local community of Kenora, Ontario, that Barney Lamm was hung in effigy in the town square.
Our Mission
Overarching Objectives & Desired Outcomes
Document the Mercury Tragedy
as it has unfolded over fifty years, between 1970 and 2024. When mercury hit, Marion Lamm went on to champion the rights of her friends on the Grassy Narrows and White Dog reserves. Her determination over a period of 20 years to bring the dangers of mercury pollution onto the public agenda in Canada and the United States left the legacy of a massive library about Minimata Disease, the largest collection of research and resource material available in North America."
- Peter Warren - Canadian Investigative Journalist and Talk Radio Host of Action Line - Winnipeg Manitoba
Educate, Inform & Outrage
In order to change hearts & minds among the Canadian public and environmentalists worldwide about an enduring 50+year economic, environmental, health and human disaster that was the result of industrial mercury pollution.
Pay a Long Overdue Tribute to Early Truth Tellers
From the earliest days of the mercury tragedy in Ontario, scientists and other bold environmental advocates, including Barney Lamm and the two chiefs and their council members from Grassy Narrows and Whitedog, “took a stand” about the dangers of mercury. Paying tribute to these bold truth tellers, who chose the high stakes of “going against the flow” and speaking truth to power is several decades overdue.
A Call to Action
Join in our effort to resolve, remediate, to whatever extent possible, the environmental, health and human disasters wreaked by industrial mercury pollution.
