Gwich’in man faces Indigenous status scrutiny at US airport

A Gwich’in man from Inuvik says he barely made his flight back to Canada after border officers at a US airport required further documentation of his Indigenous status.

Harley Minakis said he recently travelled to Costa Rica with his wife and two children to attend his eldest daughter’s wedding. On their way back to Canada, Minakis and his family were trying to catch a connecting flight to Toronto through Houston, Texas, when he said he was stopped by US border agents.

“They picked me out of the line and took me to a separate room,” he said.

“My wife and my daughter were frantically calling me because I have an eight-year-old autistic son and everybody was freaking out.”

Minakis said he had his Canadian passport, an Indigenous status card and a Gwich’in tribal card with him but officers told him he needed to provide further proof of blood quantum or they would revoke his Jay Treaty rights.

Minakis said one of the border officials told him that Canada gives out Indigenous status cards “like candy.”

“I thought I had all my ducks in a row,” he said, adding he did not expect to face issues as he was just in the US for a short layover.

“I was stressed out for my wife and my kids.”

Jay Treaty and blood quantum

Under the Jay Treaty, a 1794 treaty signed between the United States and Great Britain, First Nations people born in Canada who have at least 50 percent First Nations blood – also known as blood quantum – can freely enter the US for travel, study, employment, retirement and immigration.

Some people have criticized the blood quantum requirement as a colonial practice that violates Indigenous sovereignty. In Canada, the Indian Act uses ancestry rather than blood quantum to determine Indigenous status.

Minakis said while border officers in Houston let his family through, he was stopped as he has a 2002 conviction for possessing marijuana, the only charge on his criminal record.

It has since become legal for adults to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis in public in Canada. In the US, possssing cannabis remains illegal under federal law but some states have legalized its use for medical or recreational purposes.

While most Canadian citizens convicted of possessing cannabis require a waiver to be admitted into the US – even if they have received a pardon in Canada – Indigenous people with Jay Treaty rights should be able to enter the US without a waiver.

Minakis said he has never faced issues due to the conviction in Canada.

He said he was previously able to travel to the US for a Hawaiian cruise in 2013, when he had his tribal card with him. Only after the cruise ended, he said, were he and his family taken off the ship, he was accused of being an “illegal alien” and told he needed to show his Indigenous status card and provide proof of blood quantum.

“Any Native that travels that has previous hiccups with the law, that’s their stepping stone to more or less pull you to the side,” he said.

Tribal council acted quickly

Minakis said he believed that while recently passing through the US on a connecting flight, his Indigenous status card and tribal card would be adequate. He said his family used points to travel, so they were not able to select the route their flights took.

At the Houston airport, Minakis said while officers yelled at him to turn his phone off, he was able to tell his wife that he was being asked to provide proof of blood quantum. He said his wife was then able to get in touch with the Gwich’in Tribal Council who quickly sent a supporting letter.

“Thank God for my chief and council, they came through right away,” he said.

Minakis said officers’ demeanour changed after he received the letter and they released him after about two and a half hours. He and his family made it to their gate shortly before their flight to Toronto finished boarding.

Had he not received the letter, Minakis said officers told him they would have put him through their processing system before allowing him to continue on his journey home.

The Gwich’in Tribal Council did not return Cabin Radio’s request for comment.

Minakis said he has no plans to return to the US and recommends that other people reconsider travelling to or through the country.

“There’s different countries that they can spend their money on if they want to be like that and not try to honour treaties and stuff,” he said.

“Now, even if I have to fly over the States, I’m going to ask the airline to make me a note that if my plane has to go down for any mechanical reasons, I’m not getting off.”

Snookie Catholique, a Dene resident of the NWT and former CBC broadcaster and NWT languages commissioner, said she plans to avoid travelling in the US, particularly after learning that a resident from the territory was detained.

“You really don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “That’s too close to home.”

Catholique said she is flying to Germany this spring and advised her travel agent to ensure her flights do not go through the US. She added that she usually travels to Las Vegas every year to play pool with an Indigenous team from Canada, but does not think she will go this year.

“When I go to Mexico, people mistake me for [being] Mexican and when I go to Hawaii I get mistaken for Hawaiian there. So who’s to say that this could happen to me, too?”

‘More scrutiny’

Heather Segal, an immigration lawyer based in Toronto and founding partner of Segal Immigration Law, told Cabin Radio the US-Canada border “manifests the political environment” between the countries.

“If I were going to talk about trends that I’ve been seeing over the last year, I would say that – and I would say this going both ways, Canada is doing the same thing to Americans coming in – there is more scrutiny,” she said.

“They are potentially holding people for longer, eventually letting them in. There’s more crossing their ‘t’s by US immigration and dotting their ‘i’s than ever before. And so, if there’s a reason to make it more difficult, they might be inclined to do so and I attribute it to the politics.”

Segal pointed to US President Donald Trump’s recent threat to impose a 100-percent tariff against Canada if Prime Minister Mark Carney makes a trade deal with China.

Segal said anyone with Jay Treaty rights travelling to the US should carry their treaty card and get a letter from their First Nation confirming the 50-percent blood quantum requirement, as well as a record of their family history from their First Nation or Indigenous Services Canada.

“At this point –with where we’re at with politics and what’s going on – these are not recommendations. These are deal breakers,” she said.

Segal said any Canadian travelling to or through the US should have good documentation, know what is on their social media as border agents may look it up, and be prepared to have their phone searched.

“People are going into the United States and they are travelling and they do it every day, so it’s not like there’s no movement, but you’ve just got to be smarter,” she said.

“It’s not the same border that we used to be living in. Things have changed.”

A broader issue

Minakis is not the only Indigenous person who has faced issues with immigration officers in the US.

The Assembly of First Nations, or AFN, issued a travel advisory last week saying it had “heard reports that some First Nations have been subject to increased questioning and detainment by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” commonly known as ICE.

“The AFN strongly condemns these actions actions and reaffirms First Nations’ inherent and Jay Treaty rights to cross-border mobility,” the advisory stated, adding that First Nation members travelling to the US should carry valid Canadian identification including a status card or Canadian passport.

US Customs and Border Protection officers enforce the country’s immigration laws at border crossings and ports of entry, while ICE does so in the US interior. Both agencies are part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict told the Canadian Press he was aware of a First Nations man who was detained by ICE and had his “certificate of Indian status” seized before he was returned to Canada.

Indigenous citizens of the US have also reported being questioned or detained by ICE agents, include Elaine Miles, an actor known for her role in Northern Exposure, who said she was detained in Seattle and told that her tribal identification looked fake.

CTV reported in December that a growing number of Canadians have been arrested or detained by US immigration authorities in the past two years.

Those include the high-profile case of Jasmine Mooney, a woman who grew up in Whitehorse and lives in Vancouver, who was detained by ICE for two weeks. Another case involved Johnny Noviello, a Canadian citizen and permanent US citizen who died while in ICE custody last year.

The Canadian government currently advises people travelling to the US to take “normal security precautions,” similar to those they would take in Canada.

Thida Ith, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, told Cabin Radio in a statement that the federal government is aware of multiple cases of Canadians currently or previously being held in immigration-related detention in the US.

Ith said the federal government “cannot intervene on behalf of Canadians who do not meet entry or exit requirements for the United States.” Ith said consular officials can provide assistance to Canadians detained abroad but “cannot exempt Canadians from the due process of local law.”

For Indigenous travellers, Ith said status cards are generally accepted at US land and water border crossings but their acceptance “remains at the discretion of US authorities.”

Internationally recognized passports are required when crossing the border by air.

Ith directed people to the Canadian government’s Indigenous travellers guide and webpages published by US Embassy and Consulates in Canada and US Citizenship and Immigration Services for further information.

US Customs and Border Protection did not provide a response to Cabin Radio’s request for comment prior to publication.