Last Updated on April 10, 2025
In the Spring 2013 American Indian Law Journal, Catherine A. O’Neill examines what it means to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest to have fishable waters. In her discussion of the fish and fishing peoples of Washington State, O’Neill documents the depletion and contamination of treaty-secured resources, and charts a path that honors these treaties. For the tribes, whose rhythm of life was once sustained by the cycle of ceremony and subsistence related to the harvest of seafood, the regulatory violence of lax environmental standards that has diminished tribal properties begs the question of whom our laws protect–the people or the polluters.
Across the world right now, Indigenous peoples are facing a renewed assault on their lands, rights, and ways of life.
From extractive industries pushing deeper into ancestral territories, to governments rolling back hard-won protections,
the threat is global—and it is growing.
What makes this moment especially dangerous is how little attention it receives.
Stories like this are disappearing in real time. Mainstream media
barely covers it and the coverage is fragmented. The public is left without the context
needed to understand what is truly at stake.
That is exactly why IC Magazine exists..
For more than 20 years, IC has reported on Indigenous struggles worldwide — consistently, independently, and without compromise.
We don’t follow news cycles; we trace patterns. We don’t sensationalize; we provide context.
And when the world looks away, we stay focused.
But this work is increasingly difficult to sustain.
We refuse to lock our reporting behind a paywall. We don’t sell access through subscriptions.
And we don’t answer to advertisers. IC Magazine survives solely because readers like you choose to
support independent Indigenous journalism.
Please donate today if you can. Every contribution helps us to continue this crucial work.
Thank you,
John Ahni Schertow
Founder and Editor in Chief
