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JAY TREATY: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS OF FREE CROSS-BORDER PASSAGE...
little effort to solve border issues faced by First Nations.*® Theoretically,
Canada acknowledges the “aboriginal right to freely pass the border,” however,
recognition of this inherent right has been highly inconsistent.”
Canada’s stance towards Indigenous border crossing rights contradicts the
claim that Canada and the US share the “longest undefended border in the
world.” Even before it became more militarized following the terrorist attacks
of 9/11, the border had been nowhere near “invisible.”** Stirrup and Clarke
suggest that Canada’s frail identity plays a role in the heavier scrutiny on
the border. While the US has historically treated its northern border as a
meeting point rather than a defense barrier, the boundary has a much greater
significance for Canada as it functions as a metaphorical fence inhibiting the
US political and cultural imperialism from penetrating its northern neighbor.”
However, one of the defining aspects of Canadian national identity, as it is
presented to the world, is its adoption of “liberal” values of acceptance and the
nation’s recognition of its multiple cultural minorities. However, the truth is
that preventing Indigenous people from exercising their Jay Treaty rights is
constitutive of Canadian identity. Drawing on the first-hand experiences of
Indigenous people from both US and Canada, the following section details
some of the most recurrent injustices they face when crossing the border.
BORDER DISCRIMINATION: SCRUTINY AND HUMILIATION
“I try not to be nervous, but I can’t help it - I am carrying those eagle
spikes and although I have a right to carry them and I have my band
enrollment card, I hate the questioning, the scrutiny, the suspicious
nature of the border guards.”
Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (2003) by Louise Erdrich*®
Louise Erdrich devotes a whole chapter of her memoir to border discrimi¬
nation. Her personal account is representative of the unjust treatment
Indigenous people are often subjected to when crossing the border.
Questioning, scrutiny and profiling are among the most common manifes¬
tations of this discrimination and the reason for Erdrich’s professed
nervousness.
Starks — McCormack — Cornell, Native Nations, 55.
Boos — McLawsen — Fathali, Canadian Indians, Inuit, Metis, and Metis, 371 (original emphasis).
28 David Stirrup — Jan Clarke, Straddling Boundaries: Culture and the Canada-US Border,
Comparative American Studies: An International Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1-2 (2015), 6.
2 Ibid. 2.
Louise Erdrich, The Border Crossing, Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country, Washington,
D.C., National Geographic, 2003, Kindle, n.p.n.
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