User:RosamondColton/sandbox

Evaluating Articles and Sources

The article I chose to contribute to (in the Talk page) is titled "Anti-ballistic missile" because after looking through this Wikipedia article, I noticed that there were multiple sentences that needed citations. I felt as if though the authors viewed some information as common sense, so they did not name reports, or attempt to source them. For example, the section in the article that I suggested that needed to be source referenced reports that were published in the spring of 2006, however the author did not name the report or cite the report. It might be useful for students or people that are interested in this topic to cite the reports, or an academic work that claims said reports were published.

• The article references missiles from all countries, and does not focus on a particular country's ant-ballistic missile plan
• I found the Talk page on the article to be extremely useful because editors point out where there are heavy biases, information missing, citations missing and information that needs to be updated in order to make this article more reliable
• There are some links in this article that have been removed- so while some of the information appears to be cited, the information is not because the links do not lead anywhere. Therefore, some of the information is encroaching on plagiarism
• More academic articles should have been utilized in this article- many of the citations are web pages. A selection of sources might have made the article seem more reliable

Proposed Topics for Final Project

1.) Indian Residential Schools in Canada 2.) Education System in Kenya 3.) Methylmercury poisoning among Grassy Narrows and Whitedog First-Nation communities

Final Topic: Methylmercury Poisoning among Grassy Narrows First-Nation peoples Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation

Bibliography for Final Assignment (thus far)

“Dryden Drinking Water System.” Government of Ontario, accessed November 1 2017. www.downloads.ene.gov.on.ca/files/dwo/report/system_dws=220001432.html.         

“History of Dryden Paper Mill.” Keewatin Patricia District School Board, accessed November 3 2017. http://dhseagles.kpdsb.on.ca/about/drydenPaperMill/pictures/originalBuilding.html

Holifield, Ryan. 2001. “Defining Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism.” Urban Geography 22 (1): 78-90.   

Mosa, Adam, and Jacalyn Duffin. 2017. “The Interwoven History of Mercury Poisoning in Ontario and Japan.” CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal 189 (5): E213-5.

Nadasdy, Paul. 2005. “The Anti-Politics of TEK: The Institutionalization of Co-Management     Discourse and Practice.” Anthropologica 47 (2): 215-32. 

Rodgers, Bob, and Ivy Keewatin. 2009. “Return to Grassy Narrows: A Poisoned Community Tells its 40-Year-Old Story.” Literary Review of Canada 17 (1): 22-3.

Simpson, Leanne, Judy DaSilva, Betty Riffel, and Patricia Sellers. 2009. “The    Responsibilities of Women: Confronting Environmental Contamination in the Traditional Territories of Asubpeechoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (Grassy   Narrows) and Wabauskang First Nation.” Journal of Aboriginal Health 4 (2): 6-13.

Troian, Martha. 2016. “Neurological and birth defects haunt Wabaseemoong First Nation, decades after mercury dumping.” CBC News. www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3764315.

Vecsey, Christopher. 1987. “Grassy Narrows Reserve: Mercury Pollution, Social Disruption, and Natural Resources: A Question of Autonomy.” American Indian Quarterly 11 (4): 287-314.  

“Water Treatment Plant.” City of Kenora, accessed November 1 2017. http://kenora.ca/living/water-wastewater/water-facilities/water-treatment-plant/#top

Wong, H.C. George. 2017. “Mercury Poisoning in the Grassy Narrows First Nation: History Not Completed.” CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal 189 (22): E784.

Possible Additions to Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation

• I would like to add citations and corrections to the information cited on the Wikipedia article seeing as there are only four citations for the "Mercury contamination" section of this piece.
• In the article, the author/s claim that the consumption of fish is dangerous for pregnant women only, and I would like to correct this information. In fact, the consumption of fish has negatively affected Grassy Narrows First-Nations people of any age and gender.
• I intend to plot the sum of health issues that the Grassy Narrows First-Nations have experienced due to the consumption of fish that are infected by mercury poisoning like being born without digits and permanent contortion.
• I will explain despite the Canadian government's advice not to eat fish, why the Grassy Narrows First Nation people still do consume fish from the Wabigoon River System.
• I also intend to explain why the Dryden Paper Company disposal of mercury in the Wabigoon River System is an example of environmental racism.
• There is an undeniable correlation between the health issues that the people in Minamata City, Japan and Kenora, Ontario and I intend to explain the similarities and to assure the article's audience that the Grassy Narrows First-Nations are experiencing the effects from methylmercury poisoning.

Wikipedia Article Draft

·       In “The interwoven history of mercury poisoning in Ontario and Japan”, Mosa and Duffin claim that the Dryden Chemical dumped mercury in the Wabigoon River system on a daily basis between 1962 and 1970. It is crucial to understand when this issue of methylmercury poisoning began and how long the issue has occurred for.

·       In the “Mercury Contamination” section of the [null Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation] Wikipedia article, the authors claim that that Dryden Chemical Limited (a paper and pulp mill in Dryden Ontario) discharged mercury into the Wabigoon River system. I would like to add to this section that a former worker at the Dryden Chemical Company has revealed that there are concealed mercury containers that may be to blame for the Minamata disease that continues to affect the [null Asubpeeschoseewagong First-Nation community] today.

·       The authors of the Wikipedia article additionally claim that the Ontario provincial government advised the Grassy Narrows residents to stop eating fish due to the mercury poisoning due to the level of mercury found in the Wabigoon River and Clay Lake. It is important to add that eating fish is not only culturally significant to the Asubpeeschoseewagong First-Nation community, however it is due to the community’s low socio-economic status that the residents have no choice but to consume the fish with high mercury levels.

·       The Wikipedia article claims that it is solely the walleye that are unsafe to eat from the Wabigoon River and Clay Lake, however I plan to write that all fish in the Wabigoon River are unsafe to consume due to the high mercury levels (13-15 times higher than the recommended intake) in the fish.

·       In this section of the Wikipedia article, the authors claim that the mercury poisoning forced the commercial fishing industry to close, however Rodgers and Keewatin claim that the disposal of mercury into the Wabigoon River also made the Kenora tourist industry collapse. In other words, the mercury poisoning did not just affect people’s health and fish, industries collapsed because of the actions of Dryden Chemical Company.

·       On the topic of health, I intend to explain that methylmercury poisoning has caused health issues such as the loss of digits, bodily deformities, and neurological issues.

·       In the article Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation, much of the information does not flow logically—and I plan to restructure the article so that a certain subject matter is discussed in one paragraph rather than in the nonsensical manner that the article is currently organized. 

·       I intend to employ the term environmental racism to describe the methylmercury poisoning in the Grassy Narrows First-Nation community. In “Defining Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism”, Holifield utilized Chavis’ definition of environmental racism. Chavis describes environmental racism as “racial discrimination in environmental policy-making and enforcement of regulations and laws, the deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste facilities, the official sanctioning of the presence of life threatening poisons and pollutants for communities of color, and the history of excluding people of color from leadership of the environmental movement."

·       It is because Dryden Chemical Limited dumped mercury into the Wabigoon River (that has since affected other water systems like Clay Lake) (Bruser and Poisson 2016) which is utilized by a sort of cultural minority and a low-income community (Bruser and Poisson 2016) that the company’s actions can be regarded as environmental racism.

·       It is because the Dryden Chemical Company elected to dump mercury into the Wabigoon River system instead of the Lake of the Woods (the water source that Euro-Canadians utilize) that the methylmercury poisoning among the Asubpeeschoseewagong First-Nation community can be considered as environmental racism.  

Final Article Link

In case you had any time to review some of the articles from your peers, I am linking the article that I have been working on. I specifically focused on the "Mercury Contamination" section. I have taken the peer review into consideration and it has been so useful, so thank you!

Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation