For the hundreds of Kashechewan First Nation evacuees in Niagara Falls, the Canada-U.S. border crossing is just a short walk away. But the First Nation is directing its members to stay on the Canadian side, following concerning actions by ICE in the United States.
Nearly 900 evacuees arrived at several Niagara Falls hotels earlier this month, after a water crisis forced them from their northern Ontario community. The First Nation is citing “heightened patrol enforcement measures” in the U.S. as a safety concern for those who wish to cross. But the warning is not isolated here.
Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict says he’s aware of at least one First Nations man who was detained by ICE and brought back to Canada, his status card seized.
“These are targeting aspects. They are essentially targeting people of minority,” says Benedict.
“He was quite fortunate to have an interaction just like that. We definitely don’t want any First Nation member in the United States getting put into detention centres.”
Assembly of First Nations National Chief, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, says cross-border familial and cultural ties make it difficult to order First Nations to stay on the Canadian side. But the AFN has issued a travel advisory, urging extreme caution.
“It’s disheartening to come to this point with our closest allies and friends,” she tells CityNews.
“We advise any First Nations members travelling to the U.S. to carry valid identification, including a status card, a Canadian passport, as well as maybe a blood quantum letter, noting that proof of 50 per cent blood quantum.”
Mississauga First Nation and several others have issued similar warnings.
Indigenous people have the right to freely cross the U.S.-Canada border under what’s known as the Jay Treaty, signed in 1794. It is recognized by the U.S. government but not by Canada.
“The reason why Canada says they don’t acknowledge it is because it was an agreement made between the United States and Great Britain,” explains journalist Mark Trahant, a member of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes in Idaho. He advises against travelling under the Jay Treaty, noting that recently an Indigenous man in the U.S. was reportedly detained by ICE agents.
“The young man, who is Navajo, was carrying documents from the tribe that showed he was a tribal citizen, and they took him anyway. They basically didn’t believe it until they ran their own document search,” said Trahant. “So I think this is such a precarious moment in history, because the agency is basically not following its own protocols.”
CityNews reached out to ICE, but they did not respond to a request for comment.
Global Affairs Canada, meanwhile, encouraged people travelling to the U.S. to check the Global Affairs website for information specific to Indigenous travellers.
