Lacrosse Blogs

Iroquois Nationals 2010 Blog #1

By Ted Montour

During her latest visit earlier this month, Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada, made a personal gift to representatives of the Six Nations of the Grand River, and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, of a set of sterling silver hand bells for Her Majesty’s Chapel of the Mohawks. The Chapel is the oldest Protestant church in Ontario, and the only Royal Chapel in North America. Each of the bells is inscribed “The Silver Chain of Friendship 1710 – 2010”, and they are described in official literature as “… symbolic of the … treaties that originated between the English colonies in North America and the Iroquois Confederacy.” The Queen made a point of commemorating three hundred years of friendship between the British Sovereign and the Iroquois, dating back to a state visit by a Haudenosaunee delegation to Queen Anne.

Perhaps nobody thought to remind the British Foreign ministry toffs of the Queen’s gift and her recognition and (re-)affirmation of the relationship with their Monarch’s oldest ally in North America.

The diplomatic and bureaucratic fiasco that has the Iroquois Nationals marooned in New York City on the eve of the 2010 FIL Men’s World Lacrosse Championships could have been avoided, and if not avoided then remedied much more quickly and comprehensively. In the final analysis, it all rests in the laps of the British government. Granted, US officials could have acted more quickly in arranging the waivers issued by Secretary of State Clinton. And what was lost in most of the discussions and media reportage was the fact that half of the team members are Canadian-born and ineligible for US State Department largesse. Canadian Foreign Affairs officials belatedly entered the discussions, with the same kind of mealy-mouthed response as their British counterparts. The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, incidentally, has authority and remedies within his discretion, similar to Secretary Clinton’s powers.

So, after all of the time and money wasted in keeping the Nationals on hold in NYC, the latest word from the Brits is, even the State Department waivers are insufficient, so, no US or Canadian passport, no entry visa. Given the bureaucratic and political mountains that had to be moved to make possible the granting of the waivers, this is an affront to the US, in which Canada is now complicit with the UK.

Perhaps it is time for the Iroquois to petition the Crown one more time; — after all, the Sovereign is still the Fount of Justice, and some justice in the midst of all of this officious puffery would be refreshing.