Last Updated on June 26, 2019
The film We Can’t Eat Gold, which focuses on the struggle against the proposed Pebble mine, has been updated and re-released to cover the Trump Administration’s recent dash to permit the proposed mine. You can watch it for free here.
“How does it feel when your ancestors have been surviving off the same land for thousands of years and then that land is threatened?” The Indigenous Peoples of Bristol Bay face this very question.
The Yup’ik-Eskimo, Aleut and Athabaskan Peoples continue to maintain the subsistence way of life practiced by their ancestors. The proposed Pebble Mine would seek to extract vast deposits of gold, copper, and molybdenum from the region, threatening that way of life.
The award-winning film, “We Can’t Eat Gold” gives voice to Elders and Youth alike who are concerned about the future impacts of the mine as well as ongoing impacts on Bristol Bay’s King Salmon and Caribou populations from exploration activities.
With the release of the EPA’s Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment, it would appear that the Pebble mine is done for. Northern Dynasty, the Canadian mining company behind the project, has no intention of simply giving up.
Fortunately, neither will the Indigenous Peoples of Bristol Bay and their many allies. There’s far too much at stake.
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
