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The problem was the English-Wabigoon river had a surrounding population downstream of the chemical plant, which lived on fishing and tourism.
They were members of the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation, also known as Grassy Narrows First Nation, near Kenora in northern Ontario.
It has been known for a long time that methylmercury is extremely toxic.
Indeed, the saying “mad as a hatter” and the Mad Hatter character in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, originally came from the effects of mercury poisoning on workers in the hat-making industry, because of the process to convert fur into felt going back to the 18th century.