Natives exempt from passport rule

Welcome to the United States. No passport required.

Scores of native North Americans poured across into Canada from the U.S., then returned home without a passport Saturday, despite new American rules requiring most people to carry a passport or some other approved government document to enter the United States.

Natives have been able to travel freely across the border for years, but they sympathize with Canadians and Americans whose identification requirements have been increased in order to get into the United States.

The American government might have made a “hasty decision” that curtails the ability of non-Natives to travel back and forth, said Leroy Hill, a spokesman for the chiefs council of the Six Nations.

“We would like to see this border as open and simple as possible for the average working Canadian and American,” Hill said in an interview Saturday.

Regardless of the so-called passport requirement, Natives are still allowed to cross freely, a right they say they’ve had for more than 200 years, though they had to fight to preserve it.

The Indian Defence League of America’s annual free border-crossing event Saturday celebrated the right of Natives to travel between the countries without having to submit to customs inspections.

It’s a tribute to the terms of Jay’s Treaty, a 1794 agreement between Great Britain and the United States that Natives say recognizes their right to cross the border because their populations were established in North America before the creation of an international boundary.

This is the first time the crossing, an annual event for 82 years, has been held since the U.S. government brought in its controversial Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that requires all travellers, including American citizens, to present a form of secure documentation like a passport, Nexus card or enhances provincial drivers licence. In the post 9-11 world, the American government insists everyone entering the country have documentation that proves citizenship.

Prior to June, a provincial drivers licence and birth certificate were sufficient for Canadians entering the U.S. Many people who live in border communities were accustomed to showing little more than a smile to U.S. border guards. All that changed as the U.S. clamped down on security following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Despite the historic treaty, natives had to fight for its terms to be upheld. In the early 20th century, both countries tried to prevent them from travelling between the two countries, even though many natives have family and friends on both sides of the border. After Natives pressed their case in the early 1900s, they were allowed to exercise the free-crossing right in Jay’s Treaty.

Saturday’s event in Niagara Falls was the 82nd annual parade to celebrate that right. Scores of natives, many from the Mohawk, Tuscorora and Oneida nations who inhabited what became southern Ontario and western New York crossed the Whirlpool Bridge at noon and paraded to Oakes Park for a picnic and celebration of the cultures of the Six Nations Confederacy.

The event celebrates the maintenance of Native culture in a sea of American and Canadian influences, said Dakota Brant, using a Mohawk word that encompasses all the people indigenous to North America before European contact.

“Unlike Canadians and Unlike Americans, Onekwehonwe people have to fight to survive as Onekwehonwe people every day,” said Dakota Brant, a Mohawk woman.

larocque@nfreview.com

Article ID# 1663037


	Natives exempt from passport rule
	Niagara Falls Review July 19 2009

	Welcome to the United States. No passport required. Scores of native North Americans poured across into Canada from the U.S., then returned home without a passport Saturday, despite new American rules requiring most people to carry a passport or some other approved government document to enter the United States. Natives have been able to travel freely across the border for years, but they sympathize with Canadians and Americans whose identification requirements have been increased in order to get into the United States. The American government might have made a “hasty decision” that curtails the ability of non-Natives to travel back and forth, said Leroy Hill, a spokesman for the chiefs council of the Six Nations. “We would like to see this border as open and simple as possible for the average working Canadian and American,” Hill said in an interview Saturday. Regardless of the so-called passport requirement, Natives are still allowed to cross freely, a right they say they’ve had for more than 200 years, though they had to fight to preserve it. The Indian Defence League of America’s annual free border-crossing event Saturday celebrated the right of Natives to travel between the countries without having to submit to customs inspections. It’s a tribute to the terms of Jay’s Treaty, a 1794 agreement between Great Britain and the United States that Natives say recognizes their right to cross the border because their populations were established in North America before the creation of an international boundary. This is the first time the crossing, an annual event for 82 years, has been held since the U.S. government brought in its controversial Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that requires all travellers, including American citizens, to present a form of secure documentation like a passport, Nexus card or enhances provincial drivers licence. In the post 9-11 world, the American government insists everyone entering the country have documentation that proves citizenship. Prior to June, a provincial drivers licence and birth certificate were sufficient for Canadians entering the U.S. Many people who live in border communities were accustomed to showing little more than a smile to U.S. border guards. All that changed as the U.S. clamped down on security following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Despite the historic treaty, natives had to fight for its terms to be upheld. In the early 20th century, both countries tried to prevent them from travelling between the two countries, even though many natives have family and friends on both sides of the border. After Natives pressed their case in the early 1900s, they were allowed to exercise the free-crossing right in Jay’s Treaty. Saturday’s event in Niagara Falls was the 82nd annual parade to celebrate that right. Scores of natives, many from the Mohawk, Tuscorora and Oneida nations who inhabited what became southern Ontario and western New York crossed the Whirlpool Bridge at noon and paraded to Oakes Park for a picnic and celebration of the cultures of the Six Nations Confederacy. The event celebrates the maintenance of Native culture in a sea of American and Canadian influences, said Dakota Brant, using a Mohawk word that encompasses all the people indigenous to North America before European contact. “Unlike Canadians and Unlike Americans, Onekwehonwe people have to fight to survive as Onekwehonwe people every day,” said Dakota Brant, a Mohawk woman. larocque@nfreview.com Article ID# 1663037