{"id":493,"date":"2015-08-12T15:22:57","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T19:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?post_type=cu_story&p=493"},"modified":"2025-02-03T11:30:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:30:19","slug":"metal-and-mercury-exposure-in-water-on-temagami-first-nation","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/story\/metal-and-mercury-exposure-in-water-on-temagami-first-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury Exposure in Water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Mercury Exposure in Water\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n
\"Murray
Murray Richardson, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University, is researching the effects of industry on the Temagami First Nation waterways and fish.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Daisy Fannin describes the Temagami First Nation\u2019s (TFN) relationship to the land and water as sacred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why Fannin, a communications officer with the TFN Band Office, says the community is concerned about metal and mercury exposure in fish and waterways because of mining, and other industrial activities within their traditional territory.
\nNow, a Carleton researcher is teaming up with this community and an educational organization to try and solve the problem.
\n\u201cMercury is one of the leading causes of fish consumption advisories for Ontario\u2019s inland lakes,\u201d says Murray Richardson, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University.
\nWith funding from Health Canada, Richardson is conducting research in the community, located near Sudbury, Ont., from June 2014 to March 2015. He is studying the types of metals and amount of mercury found in aquatic life and water, and establishing a database that can be used to track changes in metal contaminants from local industries and regional pollution sources over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This data will help create a baseline that will be available to the community, says Murray \u2013 which is especially important since pressure for industrial development is expected to increase, such as the new Young-Davidson gold mine in the northern end of the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It will allow Temagami First Nation to give potential industrial users strict expectations of the conditions they expect the land to remain in, it will be a very powerful tool for the people to use to protect their homeland.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

He is also working in close consultation with the community \u2013 including a local fisher, Alex Paul, who will use traditional knowledge, skills and harvesting techniques to select different types of fish from up to 15 lakes throughout the Temagami First Nation territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned to do this from my parents and grandparents, and the harvesting techniques and the way we collect the samples is how it\u2019s always been done before,\u201d says Paul. Murray says there are a few different aspects to the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, he would like to monitor the situation and set up a community-owned database of metal concentrations of water in the fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says he is also interested in looking at the data trends, and the impacts that acid rain has left on metal levels in the water ways as a result of the close proximity to smelting activities in Sudbury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project also has an educational component. Murray has partnered with Tin Roof Global, a Canadian charity that works on projects in Canada and Uganda to help protect and provide clean water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to creating a detailed curriculum for the community\u2019s students, elementary students will enhance their scientific and traditional knowledge through field trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to use some of the educational outreach to inspire the next generation of water scientists, and water technicians,\u201d says John Millar, the organization\u2019s executive director and founder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fannin, who is also a co-ordinator between the team members, says the dataset will provide a very clear baseline of evidence for the present and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will allow Temagami First Nation to give potential industrial users strict expectations of the conditions they expect the land to remain in,\u201d she says. \u201cIt will be a very powerful tool for the people to use to protect their homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She adds that First Nations throughout Canada are especially vulnerable to the effects of industrial pollution, and that this partnership could mark the beginning of helping others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTemagami First Nation is delighted to work with Murray and John not only to protect its own territory, but also in hope of building a template to assist other First Nations to protect their territories.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daisy Fannin describes the Temagami First Nation\u2019s (TFN) relationship to the land and water as sacred. That\u2019s why Fannin, a communications officer with the TFN Band Office, says the community is concerned about metal and mercury exposure in fish and waterways because of mining, and other industrial activities within their traditional territory. Now, a Carleton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[573,568,574,575],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-493","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-environmental-studies","cu_story_type-faculty-research","cu_story_type-geography","cu_story_type-research"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31504,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/493\/revisions\/31504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}