NDP Leader Avi Lewis and NDP Indigenous Affairs critic Leah Gazan stand with Grassy Narrows First Nation member Chrissy Isaacs as she addresses a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, June 18, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Grassy Narrows repeats call for Carney to apologize for comments made about protest

By Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press Jun 18, 2026 | 11:38 AM

A Grassy Narrows First Nation woman who suffers from mercury poisoning repeated her call Thursday for Prime Minister Mark Carney to apologize for saying he could “outlast” her during a March protest.

Chrissy Isaacs stood with Grassy Narrows First Nation Chief Sherry Ackabee, NDP Leader Avi Lewis and a large delegation of community members carrying photos of their deceased loved ones on Parliament Hill to demand both an apology and the termination of the paper mill Isaacs said is still poisoning her people.

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The Dryden Paper Mill released thousands of kilograms of mercury into the community’s river system in northwestern Ontario from the 1960s to 1970s. Community members are still dealing with the fallout today.

“When Mark Carney said that he can outlast me, well, I’m here,” Isaacs said.

“I want him to apologize to my children and my grandchildren, and to the people of Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong, because every day we watch them suffer. Every day I wake up and I have mercury poisoning in my body.”

Isaacs and a group of community members attended a news conference Carney held in Toronto in March with Ontario Premier Doug Ford to announce new funding for housing. She and the other protesters could be heard chanting and shouting in the background about the mercury contamination.

“I can outlast her,” Carney said, laughing briefly along with Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a media statement at the time that the prime minister could not hear what the demonstrators were saying and that members of his staff spoke to them afterward to hear their concerns.

It’s not clear if Carney knew why the protesters were there when he made the remark.

Isaacs said she still doesn’t buy the explanation offered by the Prime Minister’s Office.

“We’ve tried to ask Carney to come to Grassy. He hasn’t even come. So we come here and we bring our people,” Ackabee said.

“Our people need to be respected and listened to and not pushed around person to person. The government should shut down the mill because it’s taking our children.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2026.