Meaningful Movies Presents: Fish War July 17th
Every 3rd Thursday we will be screening a documentary related to sustainability at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard.
On Thursday July 17th, we will screen Fish War, which documents the historic struggle of Washington tribes banned from fishing in their traditional waters. When law enforcement began arresting Indigenous fishers, it sparked the Fish Wars—violent protests that culminated in a 1974 court decision affirming treaty rights and establishing tribes as co-managers of salmon. Despite this victory, the fight to protect salmon in the Pacific Northwest persists 50 years later.
At the height of the Fish Wars, the civil rights of the region’s first inhabitants were violated with clubbings, tear gas, arrests and confiscation of fishing gear—all in disregard of the treaty rights their ancestors secured during the formation of the United States.
Footage from that painful era is threaded with stories told by the children and grandchildren of some of those harmed during altercations, and a few tribal elders who were there themselves during the action, in FISH WAR, a documentary produced by Northwest Treaty Tribes Media and North Forty Productions.
While a ruling by federal Judge George Boldt in 1974 helped bring the Fish Wars between the state and tribes in western Washington to a close, various battles have since continued; issues with racism, development and climate change among them. FISH WAR sheds light on those issues and the ways treaty tribes continue to fight for their treaty-protected right to access salmon.
We will be joined for our post-film discussion by NWIFC Chairman Ed Johnstone who notes, “In western Washington, the treaty tribes, we’re still here. This is the story of our lives. It’s an emotional journey.”
Free to the public but RSVPs appreciated. Meaningful Movies Ballard will continue to meet every third Thursday at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard
