Potential for Class-Action Mercury Lawsuit-A Letter from Lawyer Tony Merchant, Q.C.

[john]

Dear Friends,

I got the chart showing all chlor-alkali plants in Canada (which I sent in a previous posting) from the "Methylmercury in Canada' document mentioned below.

JH

 

Dear Friends,

 

I just received the attached letter from lawyer Tony Merchant and the Merchant Law Group which just won a compensation settlement for victims of the residential schools. His law group is also presently engaged in a class action lawsuit on behalf of Canadian army personnel who are ill from exposure to dioxin contaminated Agent Orange and other herbicides at Camp Gagetown in the Maritimes.

 

Although he does not believe that much further legal action can occur regarding the mercury poisoning of Grassy Narrows people, he does hold out the possibility of a mercury class action lawsuit on behalf of other First Nations impacted by mercury who have not signed a settlement agreement.

 

I know for a fact from the 1999 Health Canada document: 'Methylmercury in Canada: Exposure of First Nations and Inuit Residents to Methylmercury in the Canadian Environment, Volume 3', that between 1971 and 1996, 17,671 First Nations and Inuit people (in communities coast to coast) were found to have blood mercury levels of between 20 ppb and 699 ppb) That translates into brain mercury levels of between 100 ppb and 4,683 ppb!

 

According to a recent mercury study by Professor Mark Noble at the University of Rochester, New York: when mercury or lead levels of 5 ppb to 6 ppb are found in the brain, 25% of the glial progenitor stem cells simply "shut down"! These particular brain cells are absolutely crucial for building the brain during infancy and beyond. This type of brain cell is also found in adults.

 

My friends, I wonder what that mercury has done to the health of all those thousands of First Nations and Inuit people? How is their health today in 2007? No one has ever taken a systematic look at those questions. I know of many First Nations communities who lived close to mercury spewing chlor-alkali plants, pulp mills, mercury mines and power generation facilities! Also, there are many who have mercury in them from eating contaminated fish which are the direct result of flooding forests in the making of reservoirs.

 

 Off the top of my head, here are a few communities which lived near such industrial activity: Akwesasne, Fort William, Aamjiwnaang, Pictou Landing, James Bay Cree, Cheslatta,Tl'azt'en and there are countless others. To my knowledge, it is only Grassy Narrows, Whitedog and perhaps the James Bay Cree who ever got any type of compensation for mercury contamination.

 

Here is a possible legal option for those forgotten thousands of mercury contaminated people. Please give me your thoughts and opinions on what I have said here and of the attached letter from the Merchant Law Group. All the very best to you.

 

For Land and Life,

John H.W. Hummel

Nelson, B.C.