Environmental Racism in Canadian News Discourse. The Case of Grassy Narrows

• Main Author: Nisco
• Other Authors: Nisco, Maria Cristina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: environmental racism; Canadian press; news discourse analysis; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11367/71515; https://doi.org/10.19231/angl-aion.201812; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g5_rgVDfwqLuHmcfgPdheABorJ2XJxOD/view

Grassy Narrows (Ontario, Canada) came to public attention in 1970 when it was revealed that an alarming number of the community members were displaying symptoms of the Minamata disease, which is a form of mercury poisoning. Studies determined that the fish eaten by the community contained excessively high mercury levels. It emerged that the source of the pollution was Reed Paper Ltd chemical plant operating upstream from the reserve. Surveys proved that from 1962 to 1970, between 4 and 9 kg of mercury per day had been dumped into the Wabigoon river. Although Reed ceased using mercury in its operations in 1975, the economic and social impact of the mercury contamination was devastating to Grassy Narrows – in fact tourism declined while social problems like alcohol, drug abuse, family violence, suicides and depression became increasingly common. In January 2017, the Canadian press covered the news again following declarations by the chief of Grassy Narrows, urging Prime Minister Trudeau to publicly engage the federal government in the clean-up of the river. This paper takes into account the most recent developments of the issue – a dispute that bears important consequences for the community and the Canadian government – analysing the news reports published from early 2017 to early 2018. The paper compares and contrasts the media construal of the event and the political and social actors involved as conveyed by national and local newspapers. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the texts – about 100 – comprised in the corpus is meant to examine differences and similarities in the reporting while also examining how the news is framed in relation to some recurrent themes tackled by newspapers, and issues of visibility/invisibility as forms of violence. Special emphasis is further given to potential debates on governmental responsibilities and the concept of environmental racism which plays a pivotal role in how First Nations communities are treated in Canada.