Blackbear

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This Message Is Reprinted Under The Fair Use
Doctrine of International Copyright Law:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
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FROM: THE WULUSTUK GRAND COUNCIL HOMEPAGE VIA THE GATHERING PLACE FIRST
NATIONS CANADA NEWS WEBSITE


http://www.gatheringplacefirstnation...ustuk/050602_0
4.htm

JAY TREATY NOW 211 YEARS OLD AND COUNTING

p.paul

Two international and renowned treaties constitute and entrench the right of
Indians to cross and re-cross the Canada/United States border freely and
legally. From these treaties Indians are free from official requirements,
bureaucratic red tape and/or physical harassment or molestation, and are not are

subject to conventional border crossing searches or procedures. Those, plus
other
attributes of the treaty assure and guarantee border crossing rights for Native
people.

(This material made available through the auspices of the Indian Defense
League of America, (IDLA) Est. Dec. 1, 1926 by its late founder, Chief Clinton
Rickard. Current address is PO Box, 305, New York, 14302)
[*] It is agreed that it shall, at all times, be free to His Majesty's
subjects and to the citizens of the United States, and also to the INDIANS
dwelling
on either side of the boundary line, free to pass and repass by land, inland
navigation, into the respective territories and countries of the two parties on
the Continent of America (the country within the limits of the Hudsons Bay
Company only excepted) and to navigate all the lakes, rivers and waters thereof,

and freely to carry on trade and commerce with each other.
[*] No duty of entry shall ever be levied by either party, on peltries
brought by land or inland navigation into the said territories respectively, nor

shall the Indians passing and repassing with their own proper goods and effects
of whatever, but goods in bails or other large packages unusual among Indians,
shall not be considered as goods belonging bona fide to Indians.

Further to reinforce and consolidate the right, and as Chief Rickard had
instructed, a mass Native American (IDLA sponsored) border crossing exercise is
celebrated each year in July, at Niagara Falls, New York and Canada. The Rainbow

Bridge is the annual crossing point.

More recently, in Wabanaki Legal News, Fall edition, 1996, an article was
published that highlighted a brief summary and some facts about the Jay Treaty,
and its affect on Native Americans born in Canada. It reads as follows:

Some of the specific rights include the right to:

Cross the U.S./Canada border freely

Visit the United States

Live or work in the United States

You do not have to:

Have an alien card, "green card"

Register at the post office as an alien

Obtain work authorization

The U.S. Government cannot:

Deport you

Exclude you from entry

Deny you services

Impound or search sacred objects you have

in your possession having religious significance


To you as a Native American

Private Employers cannot::

Deny you employment for lack of a "green card"

NOTE:

In the United States: Jay Treaty rights were originally recognized under
statutory conditions but were later made law.

Situation in Canada:

Canada has failed to recognize and ratify the Jay Treaty for 211 years in
face of continuous urging and lobbying by native people in Canada. The most
recent national effort to enforce and ratify the Jay Treaty in Canada was made
at
an AFN (Assembly of First Nations) general assembly, July 17-19, 2001, in
Halifax, N.S., where designated native leaders from across the country were
assigned specifically to prepare a Resolution for submission to Parliament for
consideration. As in previous attempts, Canada failed to acknowledge this
submission
and no progress was made.

Situation, post 9/11:

According to Bill Trahan, Area Director, U.S. Immigration Service, Houlton,
ME. As at 2003, no procedural changes have come down to local level regarding
regulation or procedural adjustments for North American Indians born in Canada
crossing Canada/ United States border. The original standard of blood quantum
remains in effect.

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