Wabigoon River
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The Wabigoon River is a river in northwesten Ontario which flows from Wabigoon Lake at Dryden, Ontario to join the English River.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, a pulp and paper mill in Dryden had been dumping waste water containing mercury into the Wabigoon River. Mercury was used to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide used for bleaching paper. This material entered the food chain in the Wabigoon-English River system and accumulated in fish which were a major part of the diet for First Nations people on reserves at Grassy Narrows and Whitedog. This contamination is believed to have caused increased incidence of neurological problems and birth defects among these people and also resulted in the closure of a commercial fishery and a fishing lodge in the area. In 1985, an agreement was signed which committed the federal and provincial governments and the two private companies involved to provide compensation.
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