Oldal 269 [269]
JAY TREATY: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS OF FREE CROSS¬
BORDER PASSAGE BETWEEN CANADA AND USA
—t1o>
DENISA KRASNA'
ABSTRACT
Dislocation, loss of access to traditional lands, suspension of contact and
land intrusion are some of the issues the Indigenous tribes residing on or near
the boundary between Canada and the USA have faced after the borders’
implementation. The Jay Treaty of 1794 signed by the British and the Americans
had guaranteed Indigenous peoples the right of free passage and this right
was reaffirmed by the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. However, as this article shows,
both countries vary in their respective interpretations of these treaties and by
misconstruing their contents they further perpetuate systemic racism against
Indigenous peoples of North America who are subject to border discrimination
as their rights are often obscured. The article further explains why a passport
requirement breaches Indigenous treaty rights, contradicts fundamental
Indigenous cultural beliefs, and questions Indigenous sovereignty. Lastly, it
discusses Canada’s progress towards guaranteeing First Nations people Jay
Treaty rights.
“Long before the white man came over to our country, we passed
freely over this land. Now since the coming of the Europeans, a border
has been set up separating Canadians and Americans, but we never
believed it was meant to separate Indians. Our people are one.”
Clinton Rickard, Tuscarora Nation?
INTRODUCTION
Most present-day international borders are artificial political constructs
that were established by governing powers without much consideration of
the impacts their decision would have on the people inhabiting the new
borderlands. Boundary, understood as “something that indicates or fixes a limit
Masaryk University.
2 Quoted in Rachel R. Starks — Jen McCormack — Stephen Cornell, Native Nations and U.S.
Borders, University of Arizona, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, 2011, 19.
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