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Iroquois Passports No Good: Uk
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» recoil replied on Mon Jul 19, 2010 @ 9:42am |
 Coolness: 87225 | this is a disgrace.. the First Nations people who invented Lacrosse - the national game of Canada - are not allowed to travel on their Iroquois passports to play Lacrosse in England. Even though they have been able to travel to international Lacrosse tournaments with the Iroquois passports in the past, this time the UK refuses to grant it. So unless they use Canadian or American passports, they wont be competing in the Lacrosse tournament there. The Canadian government has done little to assist them.
[ www.thespec.com ] Iroquois passports no good: UK 
AP Photo/Bebeto MatthewsPercy Abrams of the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team and one of the passpsorts that has squad trapped in international limbo. Insists on Canadian or US documents July 15, 2010 The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department said Thursday it was unable to persuade the British government to allow an American Indian lacrosse team to enter Britain without U.S. or Canadian passports. Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said U.S. officials discussed the matter with British officials Thursday. “We did our best from our point of view to satisfy the initial concerns that the U.K. had,” the spokesman said. He said it was made clear to the British officials that although the lacrosse team members would not be travelling on U.S. passports, they would be allowed to re-enter the U.S. when their visit to Britain was completed. They had planned to participate in a lacrosse tournament in Manchester, England. Despite the U.S. clarification, the British government decided to disallow entry for the team members, Crowley said. “We’re satisfied that they looked at this fully,” he said. Crowley described the decision as unsurprising, and he said both governments share the view that ultimately the Iroquois must have internationally recognized travel documents. The United States initially refused to accept the Iroquois team members’ travel documents, but on Wednesday the State Department announced that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was making a one-time exception. The remaining problem for the Iroquois, however, was getting Britain to allow them to enter the country. The team, which includes several Six Nations players, won't be attending the world championship in Manchester. "They're telling us: 'Go get U.S. passports or Canadian passports,' " said Tonya Gonnella Frichner, a lawyer for the team. "It's pretty devastating." The team's first game is scheduled for tonight. For the past five days, travel and security authorities have refused to allow the team, which includes several Six Nations players, to fly out of New York's Kennedy airport. Members of the fourth-ranked Iroquois Nationals don't have internationally recognized travel documents. They carry Six Nations or Haudenosaunee-issued passports, which are simple, partially handwritten documents which lack new security features now required for border crossings because of post-Sept. 11 crackdowns on document fraud and illegal immigration. The players are eligible for either Canadian or U.S. passports but say that accepting them would be a strike against their identity. In a statement, the U.K. Border Agency said: "Like all those seeking entry into the U.K., they must present a document that we recognize as valid to enable us to complete our immigration and other checks." The British government's decision was announced hours after the U.S. cleared the team for travel on a one-time waiver at the behest of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. U.S. authorities initially had refused to accept the passports. Federation of International Lacrosse spokesperson Ron Balls said in a statement on the championship website that the Iroquois team would forfeit the opening game against England tonight if it didn't arrive on time. Frichner and other team supporters had held out hope that the game would be rescheduled. The Iroquois Confederacy oversees land that stretches from upstate New York into Ontario. There are several Canadians in the Iroquois Nationals delegation. They include players Alexander Hill, Cody Jamieson, Craig Pont, Delby Powless, Isaiah Kicknosway, Roger Vyse, Ryan Burnham, Sid Smith and Tom Montour, and coach Cam Bomberry from Six Nations outside Brantford. Player Peter Jacobs is from Akwasasne in Ontario. The Iroquois, known to members as the Haudenosaunee, helped invent lacrosse, perhaps as early as 1,000 years ago. It is the only First Nations squad in the 30-nation championship. Their participation in the once-every-four-year world championship tournament is a rare example of international recognition of their sovereignty. Canadian foreign affairs officials refused comment yesterday, citing privacy concerns, but confirmed they are aware of the situation. NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said Canadian authorities should have reacted quicker to help the stranded squad. "Why is it that the Americans can respond and rise to the occasion so quickly but Canada can't?" he said. "This is our national sport. It wouldn't take more than a phone call to iron out but it's amateur hour for Canada on the world stage again." Dewar says the broader issue of native passports needs to be addressed but that shouldn't come at the expense of the dreams of a lacrosse team. Paul Williams, a lawyer for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy who lives in Caledonia, says native border crossing rights born out of historic treaties are being eroded. That is causing ongoing problems for Six Nations people at the Canada-U.S. border. That's significant because the New York-Ontario territory of the Six Nations is bisected by the border. "It's causing a lot of families real hardship at the border ... this goes far beyond lacrosse. It's a complicated mess." -- With files from Meredith MacLeod, The Hamilton Spectator Featured Sections |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» JojoBizarre replied on Tue Jul 20, 2010 @ 8:42am |
 Coolness: 295695 | they lost me at
lacrosse - national game of canada - |
| I'm feeling grey right now.. | |
Iroquois Passports No Good: Uk
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