The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is speaking out against potential treaty violations at the border.
As proposed Tariffs from the United States on Canadian imports are on the horizon, the FSIN says Jay Treaty rights of First Nations people are starting to be ignored.
The Jay Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Great Britain, aiming to recognize the rights of First Nations people from Canada to freely enter the United States for study, employment, residency or cultural connection.
The FSIN says they have heard of multiple accounts of these treaty rights being denied at the border.
“The Jay Treaty didn’t give us rights – it acknowledged the rights we’ve always had,” said Chief Bobby Cameron in a media release on the matter sent out by the FSIN on Tuesday afternoon. “It’s unacceptable and insulting that First Nations’ jurisdiction is ignored while provincial and federal governments decide our futures without us.”
The lobby organization says they want to ensure that governments of both Canada and the United States are held accountable to upholding the rights of First Nations people.