Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs respond to passport issue

As previously reported by Indian Time newspaper, a local community members’ passport was seized on June 18, 2011. Although the Canada Border Services Agency is unable to comment on specific complaints due to privacy issues, they had indicated that the Haudenosaunee Passport is not recognized as a valid piece of identification for entry/re-entry into Canada under Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

Due to this unrecognized status, the Haudenosaunee Passport is classified as a ‘Fantasy’ document and that the CBSA is authorized to seize and hold any document that gives the border services officer reason to believe that the document was fraudulently or improperly used, or that the seizure is necessary in preventing fraudulent or improper use of the document. Further to that, the Manager of CBSA’s communication office has stated that CBSA officers are highly trained in investigative and examination techniques for persons, goods and documents, and work diligently to ensure the laws of Canada are respected by all those wishing to enter the country.

On July 7, 2011 the Mohawk Nation Office forwarded a letter to the Aboriginal Liaison Officer, whose role is to “promote dialogue and share information,” between Akwesasne leadership and the CBSA.

The letter expressed the MNCC concern over the entire incident, and outlines their position that, “The Haudenosaunee passport is a valid traditional form of identification issued by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to its citizens.” The letter then outlines the process to obtain a Haudenosaunee passport, and that there is a tightly prescribed process to verify who is and is not a citizen of the Haudenosaunee. Passports are only issued to those people who pass the process, which includes listing which clan a person belongs to, and which Nation they are from. The MNCC maintain that the community member in question had not improperly obtained the document.

The letter goes on to state that, “the Haudenosaunee passport is an expression of our peoples’ right to govern ourselves an to determine who our citizens are.” In closing, the MNCC requested that CBSA return the passport to the person it was issued to, as it is the property of the Mohawk Nation and that Canada had no right to seize the document in the first place.