Lacrosse World Championships begin with one team missing

[Viper]

The sport of lacrosse originated with the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, a fact that led the sport's international governing body to recognize the Iroquois national team apart from the US and Canada.

Unfortunately for them, not every other nation recognizes Iroquois passports. The US and Canada do, but the United Kingdom, which is hosting this year's World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England, apparently doesn't. And so, while the Iroquois Nationals were left stuck on this side of The Pond, unable to obtain visas to enter the UK, the tournament began earlier today without them.

Here's NLL Insider's tournament archive, which so far has been dominated by the Iroquois situation, so you can get up to speed on the whole sorry affair. This sounds like something that all the governments involved should have been able to resolve well in advance. With the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships in the Czech Republic next year, they have no excuse not to make d@mn sure this doesn't happen again.

[Don]

Thats a load of crap if you ask me. What does Britain have to worry about if the US assured them that they would be allowed back in the US? That is a sad sorry situation. Imagine Canada not being allowed to play abroad in a hockey tournament, or England not being allowed to go somewhere to play football. This is wrong.

[Breakwood]

Let's be honest here. This is some publicity stunt for them to try and use their "Aboriginal" passports to enter Britain. Great Britain has the right to not allow the use of a passport of a nation they do not recognize, just as any other nation in the world has the same right. I really doubt any of these players use their Six Nations passports to cross between the US and Canada, so why would they assume they'd be good enough to enter Britain?

[CC97]

Thats a load of crap if you ask me. What does Britain have to worry about if the US assured them that they would be allowed back in the US? That is a sad sorry situation. Imagine Canada not being allowed to play abroad in a hockey tournament, or England not being allowed to go somewhere to play football. This is wrong.

I could imagine it if the Canadian hockey team tried to enter another country with invalid passports.

[Viper]

Let's be honest here. This is some publicity stunt for them to try and use their "Aboriginal" passports to enter Britain. Great Britain has the right to not allow the use of a passport of a nation they do not recognize, just as any other nation in the world has the same right. I really doubt any of these players use their Six Nations passports to cross between the US and Canada, so why would they assume they'd be good enough to enter Britain?

From what I understand, the sticking point isn't that the UK doesn't recognize the Iroquois as a nation, but that their physical passport documents themselves are no longer up to snuff. Specifically, they don't have embedded RFID tags, have most of their information handwritten instead of computer-printed, etc. Several Western nations including the US, UK and Canada adopted new passport standards in the last couple of years and apparently no one bothered to alert the Iroquois and other Native American tribes that issue their own passports about this.

Even so, you'd think that whatever agency issues Iroquois passports would have known, and should have been on top of this long before it became a problem. Not to mention the Iroquois National team officials, FIL officials and the tournament organizers, all of whom should have made sure there would be no problems with any of the participating teams making the trip. In short, a lot of folks dropped the ball here, big-time.

Of course, this episode is also not an encouraging sign for the country that will be hosting the freaking Olympic Games in two years. I can't imagine that most of the nations competing in London use digital passports yet either, or will have them in place by 2012.

[Jer15]

Let's be honest here. This is some publicity stunt for them to try and use their "Aboriginal" passports to enter Britain. Great Britain has the right to not allow the use of a passport of a nation they do not recognize, just as any other nation in the world has the same right. I really doubt any of these players use their Six Nations passports to cross between the US and Canada, so why would they assume they'd be good enough to enter Britain?

From what I understand, the sticking point isn't that the UK doesn't recognize the Iroquois as a nation, but that their physical passport documents themselves are no longer up to snuff. Specifically, they don't have embedded RFID tags, have most of their information handwritten instead of computer-printed, etc. Several Western nations including the US, UK and Canada adopted new passport standards in the last couple of years and apparently no one bothered to alert the Iroquois and other Native American tribes that issue their own passports about this.

Even so, you'd think that whatever agency issues Iroquois passports would have known, and should have been on top of this long before it became a problem. Not to mention the Iroquois National team officials, FIL officials and the tournament organizers, all of whom should have made sure there would be no problems with any of the participating teams making the trip. In short, a lot of folks dropped the ball here, big-time.

Of course, this episode is also not an encouraging sign for the country that will be hosting the freaking Olympic Games in two years. I can't imagine that most of the nations competing in London use digital passports yet either, or will have them in place by 2012.

I work very closely with Canada Customs, as I'm a customs broker. (If you don't know what is, in a nutshell I help companies import their goods into Canada.) and the whole "aboriginal rights" thing is a huge issue(I'm neither saying they deserve or don't deserve the treatment they get, I'm just stating a fact). As is fairly common knowledge they get all sorts of tax breaks and land handed to them and special exceptions. But come on, hand written passports? I don't blame England at all. No one in their right mind would take a credit card number that you just wrote down on a piece of paper, this is the same situation. I'll say this again: I'm not taking a position on wither or not I agree with or disagree with the way the aboriginals are granted exceptions, my opinion has NOTHING to do with that.

All I'm thinking is...keep your heritage, be proud of it, and in terms of the lacrosse world, you are damn well entitled to that, but get a passport from the country you live in. Save this bull for taxes on cigarettes or casino issues, not making passports that can be so easily forged.

[Gothamite]

Even so, you'd think that whatever agency issues Iroquois passports would have known, and should have been on top of this long before it became a problem. Not to mention the Iroquois National team officials, FIL officials and the tournament organizers, all of whom should have made sure there would be no problems with any of the participating teams making the trip. In short, a lot of folks dropped the ball here, big-time.

True enough. I put the blame squarely on the Iroquois League.

Reportedly the US State Department has offered to expedite passports for the players, but the Iroquois nation has refused rather than surrender what they consider to be their tribal sovereignty. Fair enough, but if they want to issue travel documents, those documents must meet the same standards as any other nation's.

[Viper]

I work very closely with Canada Customs, as I'm a customs broker. (If you don't know what is, in a nutshell I help companies import their goods into Canada.) and the whole "aboriginal rights" thing is a huge issue(I'm neither saying they deserve or don't deserve the treatment they get, I'm just stating a fact). As is fairly common knowledge they get all sorts of tax breaks and land handed to them and special exceptions. But come on, hand written passports? I don't blame England at all. No one in their right mind would take a credit card number that you just wrote down on a piece of paper, this is the same situation.

As I mentioned above though, unless the UK changes its stance (or at least temporarily softens it) in the next 24 months, this could be a big problem for the London Olympic organizers. How many nations coming to the 2012 Games, especially those on the smaller/poorer side, also issue "substandard" passports?

[max]

Reportedly the US State Department has offered to expedite passports for the players, but the Iroquois nation has refused rather than surrender what they consider to be their tribal sovereignty. Fair enough, but if they want to issue travel documents, those documents must meet the same standards as any other nation's.

All American Indian tribes that perform all functions of the criteria below should be considered sovereign by the US Congress. The Oglala Nation met all four in 1868 and still meet them today, but are not given sovereign rights.

Quote from footnote #10, Chapter Four, of In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse, by Peter Matthiessen,

"In summary, the law is that native American tribes do not have complete sovereignty, have no external sovereignty, and have only as much internal sovereignty as has not been relinquished by them by treaty or explicitly taken by act of the U.S. Congress."

Criteria for sovereignty have been defined by the National Lawyers Guild as (a) a permanent population; ( a defined territory; © an effective government; (d) a capacity to enter into relations with other states.

Even by ignoring the history of racial and political unrest in America and Canada with regard to the American Indian and First Nations, this is obviously the fault of Britain, the pope will visit Britain between September 16-19, 2010 (List of journeys of Pope Benedict XVI). Hopefully this probably won't happen to the pope, tho.

The RFID passport was started by George W. Bush and was widely considered by the "Campaign for Liberty" (perhaps the Tea Baggers of 2005) to be..."the mark of the beast?"

[Jer15]

I work very closely with Canada Customs, as I'm a customs broker. (If you don't know what is, in a nutshell I help companies import their goods into Canada.) and the whole "aboriginal rights" thing is a huge issue(I'm neither saying they deserve or don't deserve the treatment they get, I'm just stating a fact). As is fairly common knowledge they get all sorts of tax breaks and land handed to them and special exceptions. But come on, hand written passports? I don't blame England at all. No one in their right mind would take a credit card number that you just wrote down on a piece of paper, this is the same situation.

As I mentioned above though, unless the UK changes its stance (or at least temporarily softens it) in the next 24 months, this could be a big problem for the London Olympic organizers. How many nations coming to the 2012 Games, especially those on the smaller/poorer side, also issue "substandard" passports?

I completely see your point.

I'd like to think that no country really allows hand written passports though........I'd REALLY like to think that.

[Gothamite]

That's a good question. How many of the Olympic participant nations issue handwritten passports? I'm guessing that this will essentially be a non-issue for the London Olympics.

[Gothamite]

Even by ignoring the history of racial and political unrest in America and Canada with regard to the American Indian and First Nations, this is obviously the fault of Britain, the pope will visit Britain between September 16-19, 2010 (List of journeys of Pope Benedict XVI). Hopefully this probably won't happen to the pope, tho.

Perhaps you are unaware that the Pope travels under a passport issued by the Secretariat of State of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state, recognized by the United Nations? I'm willing to bet that it isn't hand-written, either.

Obviously, then, not the fault of Britain.

[Shmee]

Holders of Vatican City passports enjoy visa-free access to the UK for stays of less than six months. The Pope will be just fine.

[Saintsfan]

On the Pope, it's also a State visit, so presumably he will be travelling under a diplomatic passport.

On the wider issue it's a tough one. I'd like to think that the UK government could have made some kind of special arrangements in these exceptional circumstances. I guess to an extent though as well the precedent is a difficult one.

[Jer15]

Holders of Vatican City passports enjoy visa-free access to the UK for stays of less than six months. The Pope will be just fine.

Thank God, cause that's what I was most worried about!

[Shmee]

Holders of Vatican City passports enjoy visa-free access to the UK for stays of less than six months. The Pope will be just fine.

Thank God, cause that's what I was most worried about!

I'm more than happy to help!

Seriously though, I found the idea of the Pope having a passport amusing, so I researched it when I read it. And since there is really no parallel between Iroquois lacrosse players and the Pope, I felt it was necessary to post my findings in this thread.

[dfwabel]

I work very closely with Canada Customs, as I'm a customs broker. (If you don't know what is, in a nutshell I help companies import their goods into Canada.) and the whole "aboriginal rights" thing is a huge issue(I'm neither saying they deserve or don't deserve the treatment they get, I'm just stating a fact). As is fairly common knowledge they get all sorts of tax breaks and land handed to them and special exceptions. But come on, hand written passports? I don't blame England at all. No one in their right mind would take a credit card number that you just wrote down on a piece of paper, this is the same situation.

As I mentioned above though, unless the UK changes its stance (or at least temporarily softens it) in the next 24 months, this could be a big problem for the London Olympic organizers. How many nations coming to the 2012 Games, especially those on the smaller/poorer side, also issue "substandard" passports?

Most likely none since the smaller nations have government sponsored sport, thus have a better grip on what is needed to enter the UK or any nation for international competition.

DHS has been working with tribes to develop tribal ID cards with enhanced security features. Those would be good for arrivals in the U.S. only by land or sea but couldn't be used in lieu of a federal passport. It would be more like the passport card.

More from the Native American side of the issue

[Jer15]

I work very closely with Canada Customs, as I'm a customs broker. (If you don't know what is, in a nutshell I help companies import their goods into Canada.) and the whole "aboriginal rights" thing is a huge issue(I'm neither saying they deserve or don't deserve the treatment they get, I'm just stating a fact). As is fairly common knowledge they get all sorts of tax breaks and land handed to them and special exceptions. But come on, hand written passports? I don't blame England at all. No one in their right mind would take a credit card number that you just wrote down on a piece of paper, this is the same situation.

As I mentioned above though, unless the UK changes its stance (or at least temporarily softens it) in the next 24 months, this could be a big problem for the London Olympic organizers. How many nations coming to the 2012 Games, especially those on the smaller/poorer side, also issue "substandard" passports?

Most likely none since the smaller nations have government sponsored sport, thus have a better grip on what is needed to enter the UK or any nation for international competition.

DHS has been working with tribes to develop tribal ID cards with enhanced security features. Those would be good for arrivals in the U.S. only by land or sea but couldn't be used in lieu of a federal passport. It would be more like the passport card.

More from the Native American side of the issue

Very interesting read. Thank you.

[Gothamite]

It is an interesting read, but sidesteps the real issue; if passports are central to the sovereignty issue (and I'm not doubting that they are) then why can't the Iriquois issue passports which conform to contemporary security standards?

In recent months, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been working with tribes to develop tribal ID cards with enhanced security features. Those would be good for arrivals in the U.S. only by land or sea but couldn't be used in lieu of a federal passport. Twenty-five tribes already have or are working toward formal agreements.

Robert Holden, deputy director at the National Congress of American Indians, said the Washington, D.C.-based group is hopeful the use of secured cards could be expanded to allow tribal members to travel abroad.

"It would have all the secure attributes that a passport would have, certainly a record of membership of that respective nation," Holden said. "So why would it not be accepted beyond the borders of the United States and accepted internationally?"

Um, because identity cards aren't passports. Passports are passports.