Ontario premier says she never received Grassy Narrows mercury report
TORONTO — Ontario’s government has had a report in hand about mercury contamination upstream from the Grassy Narrows First Nation for more than a year, but the premier says she didn’t see it.
Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister David Zimmer said this week the report was received by the government in September 2016. But it apparently never made its way to Premier Kathleen Wynne.
“We are not sure exactly how that information hadn’t made it to my desk, but we’re asking that question,” Wynne said Wednesday. “It is always a concern if we don’t have the information that we need to make good decisions.”
Zimmer said the report was received by the Ministry of the Environment, though he was unsure of whether it was also received by his ministry. He would “not categorize it as a communications breakdown,” he said.