DRYDEN – Some have called for the Dryden Fibre Canada mill to be shut down, but the city’s mayor says that would have severe economic repercussions for the local and regional economy. “If it was closed down now, that would be a significant blow to our community,” Mayor Jack Harrison said in an interview this week. Furthermore, he said, “it would really collapse the forest industry in the Dryden area – well, Northwest Ontario, because (of) the way our forest industry works.” The region’s forests supply inputs to Dryden’s pulp mill, a hardwood facility in Kenora and a sawmill in Ear Falls, he said. …Grassy Narrows (Asubpeeschoseewagong) First Nation have called for the Dryden mill’s closure as the community downstream from the mill continues to be beset by significant mercury contamination in their waterways and fish.

Additional coverage in the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism news, by Dima Mironov: Indigenous Activists March for a Cleaner Grassy Narrows