Six Nations lacrosse players are waiting for clearance from the Canadian government to fly to England for the world championship under passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy, a team spokeswoman says.
Ansley Jemison, the team’s general manager, said U.S. government officials have agreed to allow the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team to fly out of New York but the team is now waiting for word from both Canadian and British officials.
But players born on the Canadian side of the border must get clearance from Canada’s foreign affairs department.
Reached at an airline desk at John F. Kennedy Airport at early this afternoon, Jemison said he’s hopeful the 50-person team will make the 4 p.m. flight.
“We’re holding up. There is a busload of guys ... waiting to throw their bags on to the plane,” he said.
“As long as things go smoothly, we should be on the 4 p.m. flight. We have a game to get to.”
Tonya Gonnella Frichner, a member of the Onondaga Nation who works with the team, said the State Department dropped a demand that the team travel using higher-security U.S. passports.
The players regard U.S. government-issued documents as an attack on their identity.
The team still needs British visas to attend the world field championship in Manchester, England. The British government said previously it wouldn’t give the players visas if they could not guarantee they’d be allowed to go home.
U.S. officials previously informed the team that new security rules for international travellers meant that their old passports — low-tech, partly handwritten documents issued by the Iroquois Confederacy of six Indian nations — wouldn’t be honoured.
The team needs to get on this afternoon’s flight to make a game tomorrow night.
There are several Canadians in the Iroquois delegation. They include players Alexander Hill, Cody Jamieson, Craig Pont, Delby Powless, Isaiah Kicknosway, Roger Vyse, Ryan Burnham, Sid Smith and Tom Montour, and coach Cam Bomberry from Six Nations outside Hamilton, Ont. Player Peter Jacobs is from Akwasasne in Ontario.
A State Department official said earlier Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had taken an interest in the case. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because talks are ongoing.
Clinton is a former New York senator. The Iroquois Confederacy oversees land that stretches from upstate New York into Ontario.
On Tuesday, the 23 members of the New York-based squad arrived at a Delta terminal at Kennedy International Airport wearing team jackets and shirts. Jemison didn’t expect to be allowed to board their flight to Amsterdam and wasn’t surprised to be turned away at the check-in desk.
But by showing up, the team avoided forfeiting its tickets. Airline officials said they would allow the squad to rebook its flight for Wednesday without penalty if it secured the proper documents, according to Jemison.
- With files from Canadian Press