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From Native America, Discovered and Conquered - Robert J. Miller's Blog
The Associated Press writes about the Iroquois passport issue and highlights the key point – tribal sovereignty.
“The rights of Native nations to govern themselves independently has long been recognized by federal treaties, but the extent of that recognition beyond U.S borders is under challenge in a post-Sept. 11 world.
After initially refusing to accept Iroquois-issued passports because the documents lack security features, the State Department gave the team a one-time waiver.
But leaders of the Iroquois Nationals squad announced Saturday that a last ditch attempt to persuade British officials to recognize their passports had failed, meaning the team wouldn’t play in its last scheduled game.
The team has maintained that traveling on anything other than an Iroquois-issued passport would be a strike against the players’ identity. But the British government wouldn’t budge in denying team members entry into England without U.S. or Canadian passports, keeping the Iroquois Nationals from competing at the World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester in the sport their ancestors helped create. . . .
The Iroquois, whose members mostly live in New York, Ontario and Quebec, along with the Hopi and Western Shoshone are among the few American Indian nations in which members have had a form of their own passports.
The understanding that the Iroquois Confederacy’s lands are independent from the U.S. is taught early on in school, team member Gewas Schindler said Thursday as the team waited out the dispute in New York. . . .
In recent months, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been working with tribes to develop tribal ID cards with enhanced security features. Those would be good for arrivals in the U.S. only by land or sea but couldn’t be used in lieu of a federal passport. Twenty-five tribes already have or are working toward formal agreements. . . .”
U.S. Senator calls on State Department to work on Iroquois passport issue
July 21st, 2010
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to work with American Indian governments and the Canadian and United Kingdom governments to develop acceptable travel documents for tribal citizens and to avoid a reprise of the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team incident of last week.
Gillibrand wants internationally-recognized travel documents to be developed for the Iroquois Nation and other tribes and Indigenous nations in North America.
The issue came to a head this past week when the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team was first denied by the U.S. government the opportunity to travel abroad with their Haudenosaunee Confederacy passports for the Lacrosse World Championships.
The U.S. eventually agreed to allow the team to travel on a special waiver, but the British would not allow the players into their country with the Haudenosaunee passports.
The lacrosse team, stuck in New York City, was forced to forfeit its first game in the championships Thursday.
The Iroquois have refused to get U.S. or Canadian passports, saying they do not want to lose their own identity.
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