Poison Ivy Injustice 2

[Christa Voth]

Thecharacter affected by poison deals 20% less damage. This stacks additively with itself (e.g. with 2 stacks of poison active, they deal 40% less damage), and with other damage modifiers. It stacks multiplicatively with damage reduction.

She is a plant controlling super-villainess who frequently battles with the Dark Knight, Batman. She is also a longtime friend and ex-wife of Harley Quinn. Despite her plant-based powers, she is a Gadget User. Poison Ivy appears as a playable character in Injustice 2 (2017).

Poison Ivy ambushes and captures Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Harley Quinn when they try to intercept the shipment of fear gas in Slaughter Swamp. Harley is at first relieved to see her, hoping that she will help them, but Ivy later admits that she is part of the Society, much to Harley's disappointment and sadness. She then explains that Batman had promised to preserve the Green, but all Batman had done was build more cities over the Green, making Batman no different than Superman in her eyes. While she was explaining her motives, however, Harley had been cutting the vines holding her, and after Ivy finishes her statement, she successfully escapes, followed by Canary and Arrow. Harley tries one last time to convince her to turn on the Society and join them; she coldly refuses the request, and the two fight, with Harley emerging as the victor.

She later ambushes Cyborg, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn at Arkham Asylum and infects Harley with her iconic pink pheromones, causing her to attack either Cyborg or Catwoman (depending on the player's choice), while the other will battle Poison Ivy. Either way, Harley Quinn is eventually defeated. Poison Ivy then expresses disgust towards Catwoman, who was spared from the harsh treatment at Arkham Asylum (thanks to Batman) that the other inmates had to undergo. Suddenly, Harley Quinn begins to go into shock, forcing either Catwoman or Cyborg to try to take care of her, while the other fights Poison Ivy, with either Cyborg or Catwoman emerging victorious. She is not seen again for the rest of the game.

Ivy uses her plants to assist in her attacks with methods such as poison, tendrils, and even creatures made from her plants. Ivy's agility and strength have improved, allowing her to fight bare-handed with little difficulty.

Of all the men I've charmed, Brainiac was the most useful. With his help, I finally slaughtered the so-called heroes. Then I whispered in his ear, "Collect every last city on Earth and I'll give you a kiss." And he did. Every last city, I finally brought human civilization crashing to the ground. As for Brainiac, he got the kiss he deserved. But he was just a fling. After all, I was going to be busy leading the Green... I should've known there'd be some competition. Swamp Thing's sympathy for humans makes him weak. The plants know I'm their real guardian. And when the leaves settle, there will be no doubt--this world is mine.

The discovery of mercury poisoning in 1970 was a devastating blow to Grassy Narrows. Fish, their main source of food, contained extremely high levels of mercury from toxic dumping by the Dryden Chemicals pulp and paper mill upstream (Kraus 2013). The mill leaked about 9000 kilograms of mercury into the English-Wabigoon river system between 1962 and 1970 (ibid). In 1970, the high levels of contamination forced the community to stop commercial and tourist fishing (Kerr 2010) - one of the last avenues for traditional economic living (Kraus 2013). The Ontario government insisted that the poisonous fish were safe to eat, while the community increasingly showed signs of mercury poisoning (Vecsey 1987).

Using an environmental injustice framework, this paper explores how the case of mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows exists as part of broader colonial processes in Canada. Environmental injustice here is defined by four factors: the distributional patterns of environmental hazards, the historical processes which determine hazard distributions (Schlosberg 2007; Ali 2009), patterns of non-recognition (Fraser & Honneth 1998), and unequal access to decision making. Unpacking the Grassy Narrows case study using these four factors illuminates how governments and corporations produce and maintain Indigenous oppression to secure their land for capitalist expansion.

Important to note, Grassy Narrows is not a homogenous group of one mind. They are diverse and maintain varying perspectives, ideologies, and practices. Cultural groups cannot be understood as fixed and static entities (Woolford 2009). Instead, they can be seen as social structures, people, and the environment existing through the fluid and ever-changing processes of relations (Powell 2007). Cultures exist as continuous networks of interactions and negotiations, and are constantly shifting and adapting (Woolford 2009).

The community is divided over the appropriateness of certain tactics (p.o. (personal observation) 28 Sept 2012) [1]. While some value direct action on the ground, others feel the court-system is a better avenue for protecting their land (ibid). While many community members protest logging companies that contaminate the water (da Silva 2008) and clear-cut their land (i.e. Weyerhauser) (Wolfson 2011), some work for these companies and rely on them for their livelihoods and subsistence (p.o. 28 Sept 2012).

Similarly, the Ontario and federal governments, as well as capitalist industry in Canada, cannot be understood as monolithic entities. The government (provincial and federal) and corporations are bureaucratic fields of ongoing negotiations (Bourdieu in Webb et al. 2002). Not every program, policy, and individual working within these fields contributes to the colonization of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Rather, these fields demonstrate patterns of relations where certain practices and ideologies are valued over others. In fields of government and corporations, processes of nation-building and colonial ideologies are valued over Indigenous sovereignty and land rights, creating inequality (Milloy 1999).

Mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows is interconnected with government and corporate colonial practices and policies. I will draw upon secondary sources, primary accounts, personal experiences, and observations to make my arguments. The concluding section highlights the unyielding resistance efforts of the community and how their struggle against mercury poisoning is also a struggle for decolonization.

Within environmental injustice and environmental racism literature, a gap presents itself; there is limited work focusing on Indigenous communities in Canada. An edited book of Indigenous authors, Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada, offers detailed accounts of environmental justice in Canada from Indigenous perspectives (Haluza-DeLay et al. 2009). Otherwise, the majority of case studies look at Native Americans in the United States (see Adamson 2001; Cole & Foster 2001; Pellow 200; Turner & Pei Wu 2002) or focus internationally (see Schlosberg 2007; Westra 2008), without taking an in-depth look at Canada. This paper contributes to filling that gap by discussing these topics in a Canadian context.

Next, I begin an analysis of the data collected. I organize my arguments within each of the four factors of environmental injustice: historical processes, distribution of environmental hazards, misrecognition, and procedural injustice. In the historical section, I mostly use information gathered through literature review and the teachings of community Elder Judy da Silva who speaks from personal experience and Anishinaabe oral history. I avoid autoethnography because I did not personally experience the socio-historical colonial processes that led to the mercury poisoning. In the remaining three sections, I use all three methodologies to analyze the historical and contemporary aspects of the mercury poisoning and how they interconnect with broader colonial processes.

In 1970, mercury poisoning forced the community to stop commercial fishing on all lakes and streams in the English-Wabigoon river system (Kerr 2010). Dangerously high levels of methyl mercury were found in the fish throughout this aquatic region from dumping by Dryden Chemicals and Reed Paper Limited (Dryden Division), which operated between 1962 and 1975 (Saxe 2012). Instead of listening to the needs and requests of the community to stop the contamination of their water, the government either avoided the issue or used compensation as a band-aid solution (Rodgers 2009), neither of which prevented the ongoing poisoning of the community and loss of commercial fishing-based livelihoods (Saxe 2012).

Scientists tend to downplay scientific evidence of mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows in the mainstream media, either suggesting the results are inconclusive or completely ignoring the issue (Rodgers 2009). Scientists funded by the government and corporations are intentionally obtuse when presenting conclusive scientific findings made by impartial researchers, like Dr. Masazumi Harada (CBC 2009). This prevents companies from having any repercussions for their environmental hazards (Vecsey 1987).

Upon my next visit to Grassy Narrows, I will be attending a Youth Gathering. It is taking place to educate and mobilize Indigenous youth and settler supporters about protecting water from contamination for future generations. It will involve team building exercises, water ceremonies, Pipe songs, music, art, feasts, a Pow wow, sweat lodges, and direct actions talks. People from all different organizations and communities are attending, including Idle No More, Anti-Mining, and anti-fracking, (Free Grassy Narrows 2013). This event demonstrates environmental justice issues being addressed using a networked approach embedded in cultural practices and decolonizing strategies. Resistance in Grassy Narrows continues building momentum as more and more people become educated and awakened. I continue to be humbled and appreciative to have the privilege to work as an ally to the Grassy Narrows community in their struggles towards environmental justice and decolonization.

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