A Native American canoe flotilla leaves Belle Isle, Mich., to head to Windsor Canada and back in celebration of heritage and the demonstration of treaty rights. According to Dennis Banks, Co-founder and Leader of The American Indian movement, the shores of the Detroit River are one and the same for Native Americans. According to the 1796 treaty they are guaranteed free passage. Banks also complained about the harassment and intimidation that Native Americans face when they try to cross the border. (AP Photo/Marcin Szczepanski - Detroit Free Press)

It wasn’t the 500 canoes organizers had hoped for, but the Native American and First Nations people from Canada and the United States who showed up yesterday to cross the Detroit River by canoe made their point.

About a half-dozen canoes and some kayaks made the trip between the United States and Canada to emphasize that tribal members are sovereign people and have a right to cross the border on their own terms.

As the Detroit Free Press reported:

Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, said such crossings are guaranteed by the Jay Treaty of 1796.

“I come here to support an idea that this territory that we are standing on and the territory across the river are one and the same,” said Banks, a longtime activist. “I have sons and daughters on this shore and that shore.” …
He said activists have tried for 20 years to persuade U.S. and Canadian authorities to allow them to use a sticker for easy passage between the two countries. Banks, who carries an identification card of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, said “our brothers and sisters” are often harassed by border officials and have to carry pounds of documents. He said carrying a U.S. or Canadian passport “assaults our sovereign status.”

Gwen Florio

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