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Honouring Truth and Reconciliation: Learning from Grassy Narrows’ Fight for Justice

YWCA Toronto
YWCA Toronto
September 30, 2025
Categories: Advocacy 

September 30th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, a time to reflect on the history and ongoing impacts of residential schools and to honour the resilience of Indigenous communities across Canada. This day calls on all of us to learn, listen, reflect and take meaningful steps toward reconciliation.

As part of our commitment to learning, last week staff from across our association came together for a presentation from the Toronto Grassy Narrows Solidarity Group who shared insights into the decades-long fight for justice led by Grassy Narrows First Nation, a community that has endured one of Canada’s worst environmental disasters—living with mercury contamination in their river for over 60 years.

Grassy Narrows First Nation (Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinaabek) is a community situated 80 km north of Kenora, Ontario. Home to approximately 1,000 Anishinaabe people, the community has lived sustainably for millennia, using the forests, rivers and lakes for physical, economic, cultural and spiritual sustenance. Approximately half of the Grassy Narrows community still depend on hunting, trapping, and gathering berries and medicines from the land.

However, the community has endured many traumas: forced attendance in residential schools, displacement from traditional lands, hydro damming flooding in sacred sites and wild rice beds, mercury contamination of their river, mining and clearcut logging. These injustices have led to devastating social, health, and economic challenges. Despite this, the people of Grassy Narrows continue to resist, reclaim their lands, revive their culture, and fight for self-determination.

Members of our YWCA Toronto staff team shared reflections on the presentation from the Toronto Grassy Narrows Solidarity Group, particularly highlighting how it will influence their own journey towards truth and reconciliation. Here are some of their thoughts:

“I learned a lot more about Grassy Narrows and the issues affecting the community, [this has inspired me] to continue researching and learning on the issues that continue to affect Indigenous and First Nations communities.”

“This session taught me that First Nations People are often fighting for issues that are relevant to ALL people and yet the framing by politics and the media do not always reflect that. I also took away that there are things worth fighting for – and that although we may not be around to see the outcomes, the fight itself - the advocacy, the pressure, the participation, no matter how seemingly small, is worth it.”

“The session deepened my understanding of the systemic injustices faced by Grassy Narrows and the resilience of their community in the fight for justice. It reminded me that reconciliation is not just about reflection but about action—supporting Indigenous sovereignty, amplifying their voices, and challenging systems that perpetuate harm.”

We extend our deepest gratitude to the Grassy Narrows Solidarity Group for leading such an impactful session and for their tireless advocacy to support Grassy Narrows First Nation. Their decades-long fight for justice is a reminder that reconciliation requires action from all of us.

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If you would like to learn more or support their work, here are some ways to get involved: