How US corporations poisoned this Indigenous community

Invisible chemicals changed the Mohawk way of life. They’re probably in you, too.

In the 1950s, the US and Canada embarked on a massive project to widen the St. Lawrence River, transforming the region to facilitate commerce, attract industry, and boost both nations’ economies. But there was a third nation in the region whose people were not consulted, and whose lifestyle was completely transformed by the project: the Mohawk of Akwesasne.

The St. Lawrence River has been central to Mohawk culture in the region for thousands of years. The river’s fish form the central part of their diet. But for the Mohawk, the fish aren’t a “resource” to be used. They’re an equal partner in a relationship in which both humans and wildlife have sacred responsibilities to one another. These relationships are central to the Mohawk worldview, and they mirror similar ways of understanding the natural world in other Indigenous communities.

But the bid to lure industry to the region worked. Two major manufacturers built factories close to Akwesasne, and by the 1980s, the Mohawk learned that General Motors and Reynolds Metal had been poisoning the river for decades with cancer-causing chemicals called PCBs. Fish in the river were found to have extremely dangerous levels of PCBs. It presented the community with a devastating choice: continue to fish and risk health problems like cancer and thyroid disorders, or stop fishing and lose the connection with the river, and with their ancestors.

Sources and further reading:

Winona LaDuke (1999): “Akwesasne: Mohawk Mothers’ Milk and PCBs,” All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (South End Press)

Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner: “Monsanto, PCBs, and the creation of a ‘worldwide ecological problem,’” Journal of Public Health Policy (2018) 39:463-540

Elizabeth Hoover (2013): “Cultural and health implications of fish advisories in a Native American community,” Ecological Processes 2:4

The full statement we received from Alcoa, owner of Reynolds Metals, is as follows:

“Today, Reynolds Metals Company and the U.S. EPA continue to monitor the various remediation solutions related to the St. Lawrence River and the historical operations from Reynolds Metals Company near Massena. The remediation work was designed in 2000, after public input and consultation, to protect human health and the environment. The work included dredging and capping portions of the river.

“In 2021, the U.S. EPA completed its fourth, five-year review of the remediation project. EPA confirmed that the remediation work is effective and that it continues to protect human health and the environment.

“Alcoa Inc., the former parent company to Alcoa Corporation, acquired Reynolds Metals in 2000. In November of 2016, Alcoa Inc. separated into two companies, Arconic Inc. and Alcoa Corporation, and Reynolds was assigned to Alcoa Corporation.”

[jesuschrystler]

This is why regulation is so important. You can never EVER trust corporations and billionaires to do the right thing.

[AdmiraloftheCrackNavy]

Hearing them speak their native language and sing their folk songs hits hard. It really makes you realize what we're losing by killing Indigenous populations through destruction of their homelands. Rich histories, cultural identities, and beautiful languages and traditions are being taken away because white men want to line their pockets. My heart breaks for the Indigenous Americans whose lands and cultures we've taken away. We need to hold our leaders accountable.

[WanukeX]

“Grassy Narrows” (Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation) in Canada is also another awful example of this. Massive amounts of mercury poisoning from a paper mill dumping it into a river in the 1960s and 1970s.

[anthrogeek]

“A river has a right to community and a right to build community around itself.” 💯💯💯

[benmcreynolds]

It reminds me of what they did when Celilo Falls was forever altered here in Oregon and Washington with-in the Columbia River Gorge region and it greatly effected everything. Especially the native people and all of our connections to the ecosystem and our natural resources. All due to dams, pollution, control, miss use of the waterways and completely ruining a flourishing ecosystem and salmon, lamprey, sturgeon, trout habitat biome... It frustrates me. We don't need hydroelectric anymore, we need our Beaver's back. It will help forest health, aid in fire protection, help the ecosystem flourish in biodiversity. So many things. The transportation of nutrients from the ocean to inland, sediment flow through the river out to a estuary at the mouth of the Willamette river. We need to restore that because we are directly connected to our natural environment and if it's flourishing, we are flourishing.

[Fishroads]

the storytelling of natives about the creation of land is so beautiful and touching, and about the pollution, thank you vox for making this public for a wider audience the world needs to know

[linzertube]

It’s sick and sad that the Indigenous Peoples, whom have the closest connection to the land and water, were not consulted. It’s criminal how the First Peoples across North America suffer because of our ignorance, and because of our greed.😢

[veggieboyultimate]

People who build polluting things like that over a fragile place of nature and the homeland of tribes are ignorant and greedy😡

[luis]

It's incredible how Monsanto is always involved in these kind of stories

[lizparsons]

This is a great presentation. Maine just banned the use of sludge on agriculture....which contains PCBs PFAS ect. Please keep doing work that pressures corporations to act responsibly but also warns the public of danger. There is so much PFAS ...the forever chemical....in new England that I'm reconsidering moving there. Sad part is, theres even more pFAS where I live now in NJ

[justlisten]

"Capitalism means weak devoured by the hungry, that's what happens when companies are more powerful than countries..."

[tiffanysandmeier]

There has been a lot of injustices that occurred against all the native people in the United States and Canada. Other countries too, but I am most familiar with United States history.

[mrchristoph]

I got teary eyed when the lady started singing. You can feel the pain of all that was taken.

[stancer]

Thank you Vox for a documentary full of love for minorities. This was made with so much care and respect for the indigenous people and as an outsider, I get to appreciate their fight for their beautiful culture and tradition. It is nice to know that they were somehow compensated but I hope their people will flourish as it should have before the destruction of their homes.

[pattongilbert]

What a depressing yet beautiful story. You really translated the story of these people well. Thank you for telling their story.

[ryerye]

Should we lament the decline of manufacturing in North America when our companies pollute this much? I can only imagine what these corporations are currently getting away with in less developed nations.

[CraftyFX]

The irony of the world is that those who can never be staisfied will always ruin everything for those who are happy with what they have.

[balpreetsingh]

Monsanto, the toxic gift that keeps on taking.

[Thebreakdownshow]

Yet another example of human greed. It's all about what can we take from nature and others. In this case, it is indigenous people. WE NEED MORE SUCH FILMS VOX, I WAS MOVED WATCHING THIS ONE.

[BrokeredHeart]

The disrespect we've had for indigenous peoples, the environment, living creatures, and frankly, ourselves, is truly a depressing sight to behold. The First Nations tribes had solutions and relationships to nature to thrive on this continent, and our ancestors came here, slaughtered the existing communities and wild animal populations, and then poisoned ourselves and the resources we rely on. All for shower curtains and non-stick frying pans. Whoopee.