Border protest planned

Don Plant 2009-06-01 Kelowna Daily Courier:
Native people are holding a demonstration at the American border today to protest tough border regulations requiring them to carry passports when they travel to and from the U.S. Starting today, B.C. travellers need either a passport, a NEXUS card or an enhanced B.C. driver‘s licence to cross into the United States. Native people from the Okanagan, the Similkameen and the Colville Confederate Tribe plan to gather on both sides of the 49th parallel south of Cawston to show their opposition to the new rules. Leaders argue the documents required at the border impose another “prohibitive, colonial-style restriction” that divides a people that used to enjoy free, fluid movement between Canada and the U.S. “We‘re what‘s known as a trans-boundary nation,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, chairman of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. “Our territory extends beyond the 49th parallel. Consequently, many of our relatives live south of the 49th parellel.”

American officials are pushing for tighter security along a border they say allows terrorists easy access to the U.S. from Canada. Many still believe the fiction that some of the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Centre in 2001 travelled to New York from Canada. Until today, native people living in Canada could travel south of the border by showing a driver‘s licence or an Indian Status card, Phillips said. The changes preclude the “vast majority of our people” the ability to cross the border, he said. “In many, if not most cases, people don‘t have passports. Unfortunately, the harassment of our people moving north and south continues.”

Before the U.S.-Canada border was established in 1846, the Sylix First Nation lived in northern Washington and southern B.C., according to the Okanagan Nation Alliance. Leaders from the Alliance and Colville Confederated Tribes met in Omak, Wash., three weeks ago to discuss the passport issue and other grievances. Spiritual leaders who cross the border often face guards who seize their spiritual bundles, Stewart said. The new rules represent the latest obstacle to what should be free movement for indigenous people, he said. “The border-crossing issue has been of concern for our people for a very long time in B.C. and across Canada. In some areas (in Eastern Canada) they‘ve set aside one day a year for cross-border protests.” The Assembly of First Nations and the federal government are working on ways to enhance Indian Status cards, which would allow First Nations people to travel back and forth without a passport. Protesters aren‘t expected to cross the border at today‘s demonstration. Stewart predicts hundreds of people to show up on both sides of the line. Thousands more are affected, he said.