FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2025
A GLIFWC tribute to Mike Tribble, Animikii Bines
Ojibwe treaty rights ovicidal, and respected Lac Courte Oreilles Band elder Mike Tribble started his journey yesterday at age 85.
GLIFWC shares heartfelt condolences with the family and friends of Tribble, including his brother Fred. As College of St Scholastica students in 1974, the Tribble Brothers helped propel Ojibwe inland harvest rights into the court system. Nearly
a decade of litigation culminated in the LCO v Voigt Decision. The federal ruling affirmed that Ojibwe tribes reserved treaty rights on lands and water ceded to the United States through mid-1800 treaty agreements.
A family man and lifelong harvester, Tribble received widespread acclaim from the Great Lakes region to the Pacific Northwest as an indigenous rights advocate. In 2016, GLIFWC featured the Tribble Brothers in the short film “Crossing the Line,” detailing their experiences in successfully challenging state authority over access to Ceded Territory harvesting.
“We had all our fish shacks up on the north end of Chief Lake,” said Mike Tribble. “And in Chief Lake there’s an imaginary line right down the middle of the lake: this is off-rez, this on-rez.”
The Tribbles slid their shack eastward and beyond the reservation border, finding both ogaawag and unlawful fishing citations from state authorities. Chi Miigwech, Animikii Bines, for your courage and leadership when the tribes needed it most.