Terrine Friday, National Post · Wednesday, Jul. 14, 2010
Iroquois travellers may no longer be able to go outside of North America solely on their confederacy-issued passports because of a security measure that one native leader says undermines the sovereignty of the nation.
A 47-person delegation of Iroquois athletes from Canada and the U.S. travelling from New York to England on Tuesday was promptly turned away from their London-bound flight after they were denied British entry visa clearance by the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. government offered the group U.S. passports for travel, which they refused.
The move is a blow to the pride of the Iroquois nation, said Iroquois Confederacy secretary Jessica Shenandoah, who is the sole person authorized to issue all Iroquois — or ‘‘Haudenosaunee’’ — passports from an office near Syracuse, N.Y. The Iroquois Confederacy includes Mohawks, Seneca and other native groups on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.
“That border has been imposed on us right in the middle of our territory. We are not U.S. nor Canadian citizens,” Ms. Shenandoah said.
“By doing this [not recognizing Iroquois passports], we are not recognized as people, the people that we are.”
Iroquois travellers have for years been able to cross borders with the passport, apparently as a courtesy by host countries. Passport Canada could not on Tuesday clarify the federal government’s position on the legitimacy of the Iroquois passport, or provide any other comment.
Last month, a Mohawk group ran into problems when travelling back from the World Conference on Climate Change in Bolivia. The group was delayed by more than a week for fear the passports were invalid.
Robert J. Miller, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., told The New York Times that only a few native nations issue passports, and the U.S. government has never previously objected, so far as he knows. The U.S. State Department told the paper that its policies changed in October 2008.
The Iroquois group is scheduled to take part in the world championships for men’s lacrosse, a sport whose origins lie in Native American culture, from July 15 to 24. There are 11 Canadians on the 23-person team.
The American government processed all visa applications for the entire delegation since the yellow-coloured Iroquois passport is the same for Canadians and Americans, said Ansley Jemison, general manager of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse league. The British Consulate would not offer entry visas unless the American government guaranteed their return. The U.S. would not agree to the terms and dropped the applications.
Mr. Jemison said the team has already racked up an additional $25,000 in airline change fees. He called the American government’s actions inadequate and the offer of an American passport insulting.
“We’re not going to accept that; we consider ourselves indigenous to North America, meaning U.S. and Canada,” he said. The Iroquois Nationals have in recent years travelled to compete in Japan, Australia and England with little trouble.
Across the Atlantic, Canadian Cree Chief Wilton Littlechild raised the issue during a United Nations Human Rights Council meeeting on Tuesday in Geneva. “The right to participate in sports at the world championship level is all being jeopardized by the United States’ refusal to issue proper travel clearance for the team members who carry Iroquois passports,” he said, noting the denial is a violation of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Mr. Jemison said he will “just keep fighting” to get his team into the country by gametime. “If it doesn’t happen today, it happens tomorrow,” he said. “We’re planning on being there for Thursday for the opening game against the host country, England.”
There are 30 teams registered for the championship games. Out of 21 teams that competed in 2006, the Iroquois Nationals finished fourth. Canada defeated the United States for the title and Australia finished third.
Team Canada spokesperson Neil Stevens said if team Iroquois does not make it to the games, “a vital and colourful dimension of the tournament would be missing.”