The 49th parallel, a seemingly innocuous line stretching 545 miles across Montana, serves as the International Boundary, a division between the United States and Canada. Born from the negotiations that concluded the American Revolutionary War, this border symbolizes nationhood and sovereignty for many. However, for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Blackfeet Nation, and other Indigenous peoples, this line represents something far more complex: an arbitrary division of ancestral lands, the separation of families, and a persistent challenge to tribal sovereignty. The issue of the Customs agents lack cultural awareness and respect for Indian tribes along the US-Canadian border needs to be addressed.
For tribal members, crossing this border is a routine necessity. Whether for family visits, participation in tribal council meetings, or the observance of cultural and religious ceremonies, the need to traverse the International Boundary is frequent and essential. While sometimes a mere inconvenience, these crossings can, and often do, become sources of deep offense and disruption, stemming from a perceived lack of cultural awareness and understanding on the part of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.
The stories shared within tribal communities paint a troubling picture. Accounts abound of family members denied entry due to a lack of passports – documents they are not legally required to possess under specific treaty rights. Even more concerning are the instances of religious or cultural items, integral to Indigenous identity and spirituality, being unknowingly desecrated by CBP personnel. Eagle feathers, revered for their spiritual significance; sweetgrass, used in sacred ceremonies; and medicine bundles, holding deep personal and communal meaning, have all been subjected to disrespectful handling and scrutiny.
Vernon Finley of the Kootenai Culture Committee articulated the frustration felt by many. "A lot of law enforcement and border patrol are ignorant about our culture and tradition in general," he stated. "They don’t understand that as a tribe who lives along the border, we are allowed to move fluidly throughout our territory. We always have been. And they don’t understand the significance of our religious objects." This sentiment underscores a critical disconnect between the legal rights afforded to Indigenous peoples and the practical realities they face at the border. The Customs agents lack cultural awareness and respect for Indian tribes along the US-Canadian border has had a negative impact on their lives.
The roots of this issue stretch back to the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which established the border between the newly formed United States and British North America. This treaty, while defining national boundaries, effectively bisected numerous Indigenous territories, dividing communities and disrupting traditional ways of life. In Montana, the Kootenai and Blackfeet Nations serve as poignant examples. Their populations are scattered across the international line, with communities on both sides inextricably linked by kinship, culture, and history.
The Kootenai, for instance, comprise seven bands spanning international and state lines – five in southeastern British Columbia, one in northwestern Montana, and one in northern Idaho. Despite this geographical dispersion, they maintain a unified tribal council, highlighting the enduring connection that transcends political boundaries. Similarly, the Blackfeet Nation is divided into four tribes, one residing in northern Montana and three just across the border in southern Alberta.
Recognizing the unique circumstances of Indigenous peoples, Article III of the 1794 Jay Treaty explicitly grants American Indians the right to travel freely across the international boundary for various purposes, including employment, study, religion, commerce, and immigration. This treaty provision acknowledges the inherent right of Indigenous peoples to move within their ancestral territories, irrespective of imposed national borders.
Laurence Kenmille, records research manager at the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes enrollment department, emphasized the frequency and importance of cross-border travel. "We cross all year long for all kinds of reasons," he explained. "We go there for the tribal council when the seven bands get together. We have language-sharing events and cultural meetings. The travel is constant." This constant movement underscores the vital role that cross-border travel plays in maintaining cultural continuity and fostering intertribal relations.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, brought about significant changes to border security protocols worldwide. The International Boundary, often touted as the "world’s longest undefended border," was not immune to these changes. The passage of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) by the U.S. Congress restricted the list of acceptable documents for entering the United States, leading to increased scrutiny and stricter enforcement at the border.
While tribal identification cards were included on the list of acceptable documents under WHTI, the implementation of the initiative has, paradoxically, led to escalating conflicts over the legitimacy of these cards. This discrepancy highlights a gap between policy and practice, where valid forms of identification are still met with skepticism and resistance by some CBP officials.
In response to these escalating conflicts, tribal officials from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have engaged in numerous meetings with representatives from Customs and Border Protection. These discussions have focused on developing an enhanced form of tribal identification cards, incorporating advanced technology to streamline the border crossing process. Furthermore, these meetings have emphasized the critical need for mandatory cultural awareness and sensitivity training for all border security personnel. The Customs agents lack cultural awareness and respect for Indian tribes along the US-Canadian border can be overcome by this training.
The proposed enhanced tribal identification cards would utilize radio frequency identification (RFID) microchips, similar to those considered under the REAL ID Act. These chips would contain personal information, allowing CBP officials to quickly verify the identity and citizenship of tribal members. While the efficiency of these microchipped cards is not in question, concerns have been raised regarding the privacy and security of the data stored within them.
Lynn Shozda, the Customs public affairs liaison and agriculture specialist at the Sweetgrass port of entry, sought to allay these concerns during a recent meeting with tribal members. She assured them that the enhanced identification cards would contain a limited range of personal information, including a photo, name, date of birth, and country of citizenship. "There would be a small amount of data encased in this card," she stated. "We hope that puts to rest some of the unease about privacy."
Laurence Kenmille, having thoroughly researched the technology, plays a crucial role in the ongoing dialogue surrounding the enhanced identification cards. He believes that such a card is acceptable, provided that privacy concerns are adequately addressed and the costs associated with upgrading the current system are reasonable. Kenmille advocates for the tribal government to create the cards "in-house," pointing to the success of other tribes that have already adopted similar systems. Currently, five tribes have transitioned to enhanced identification cards, including the Kootenai of Idaho.
Until the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes implements its own enhanced identification card program, Kenmille hopes to see a more consistent and uniform understanding of the rights of Native Americans when crossing the border. He emphasizes that valid tribal identification cards are still acceptable and that efforts are underway to educate border security officers at all ports of entry.
However, the issue of cultural insensitivity and lack of awareness remains a significant challenge. Kenmille looks forward to seeing concrete changes made to the Customs training protocol, ensuring that border security personnel are equipped with the knowledge and understanding necessary to interact respectfully with tribal members.
"Border crossing has always been a problem," Kenmille said. "We have individuals who cross the border with religious items and there is no recognition by the border patrol that these are sacred objects. They desecrate them, either by handling them or forcing individuals to open up their medicine bundles. They need to be educated."
Sunshine Nicholson, a member of the Kamloops Indian Band in British Columbia and a third-year law student at the University of Montana, has experienced these challenges firsthand. Married to a Gros Ventre tribal member from the Fort Belknap Reservation, she regularly travels between Canada and the United States. Despite possessing both a Canadian passport and a U.S. Social Security card, she and her husband have encountered problems that, in her view, should never have arisen.
"It’s annoying because depending on which port of entry you go through and who stops you, there is always different treatment," Nicholson said. While she often crosses without incident, she recounted a frustrating experience in which a border patrol officer insisted that she required a green card to re-enter the United States.
"Obviously that wasn’t true, but it was insulting," she said. "As a law student you try to understand these things. You think about your rights. I was able to explain why I didn’t need a green card, but then you think of all the people who can’t articulate their rights, like maybe a Kootenai elder who doesn’t know the law or isn’t accustomed to defending his rights. You have to feel for them."
Nicholson also has friends and relatives who routinely cross the border to perform in powwows and religious ceremonies but who now refuse to travel with their authentic feathers and regalia, fearing that these sacred items will be confiscated.
"It is a reality that a lot of people face right now, and it’s degrading because some of these objects are so sacred that people don’t even discuss them," she said. "And then at the border someone with no grasp of the cultural importance starts thumbing through them. I think some sort of cultural competency training would help."
Lynn Shozda has stated that she and the agency take these concerns seriously and will move forward with regular cultural sensitivity training at Montana’s ports of entry.
Kenmille hopes to see improved recognition of the rights of Native Americans across the entire International Boundary.
"This doesn’t just affect the Kootenai," Kenmille said. "It’s tribes all along the 49th parallel and up the St. Lawrence River. We need to be able to pass through our ancestral lands freely." The persistence of the issue that Customs agents lack cultural awareness and respect for Indian tribes along the US-Canadian border is a call for policy change.