Terrine Friday and Toby Cohen, National Post, Postmedia News · Thursday, Jul. 15, 2010
The failure of Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom to clear up any misunderstanding about their recognition of Iroquois passports for international travel is indicative of “fork-tongued” governments, Canadian Mohawk leader Kenneth Deer said yesterday.
Players of an Iroquois lacrosse team who live on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border are stranded in New York, unable to fly to Britain for an international tournament because they refused to use state-issued passports to obtain British entry visas.
The Iroquois have travelled for years on their “Haudenosaunee” passport issued by their own confederacy, apparently as a courtesy by foreign governments, even as Ottawa officially states all travellers should use Canadian passports.
"It shows the relationship that indigenous people have with governments; it's always that fork-tongued, two-faced government," Mr. Deer said and that the Canadian government has willfully avoided the issue, and not explicitly stated its position, for years.
“It’s typical,” he said. “Having agreements overturned is not unusual. It seems to be the common behaviour for states when it comes to agreements with indigenous people.”
Mr. Deer said the issue of travelling on a Haudenosaunee passport is unrelated to enhanced international security standards; it is a question of identity and legitimacy.
“The object of security is to keep terrorists and undesirables out of the country. We understand that and we support that,” he said. “ We don’t want places bombed either. We’re not the terrorist.”
The Bloc Québécois’ Indian affairs critic, Marc Lemay, said on Wednesday the Iroquois nation should not be allowed to travel abroad on their own passports if other nations, such as the Québécois, do not have their own passports. But Mr. Deer rejected the comparison between native and Quebec nationalism since “Quebec joined Canada in 1867 willingly.”
The Iroquois Nationals men’s lacrosse team was supposed to make it to England in time for its first match yesterday. The group was scheduled to fly to England on Tuesday but was prevented from boarding due to a lack of proper documentation.
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department agreed to a “one-time waiver” and promised to recognize their Iroquois passports when they return — but the British government has yet to issue the visas.
Courtney Battistone, a spokeswoman with the British High Commission in Ottawa, said the team is welcome in Britain provided it presents valid documentation.
While the Iroquois passport may have been honoured in the past, she said “travel document validity is regularly reviewed and updated” and documents must comply with the latest “international civil aviation standards.”
The Iroquois group is scheduled to take part in the world championship for men’s lacrosse, a sport whose origins lie in Native American culture.
“They’re still there in New York and they’re working on it,” said Jessica Shenandoah, secretary of the Iroquois Confederacy, which includes Mohawks, Seneca and other native groups whose territory stretches across parts of Quebec, Ontario and New York state.
“They’re not giving up at all. We can still get there in time to be a part of the tournament.”
The tournament began Thursday and is scheduled to run until July 24.
National Post, Postmedia News