Rep. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.) brought the Iroquois Nationals'
passport impasse to Congress on Wednesday, demanding a
resolution.
Although the U.S. State Department has issued a waiver for the
team to travel to the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL)
World Championships in Manchester, England on Iroquois
Confederacy-issued passports, the British Consulate has refused to
issue visas. The debate is one of the sovereignty of the
Haudenosaunee people, players said, and they have refused offers
for expedited U.S. passports.
Maffei delivered this speech on the floor of the House at
approximately 4:30 p.m. Wednesday:
“Madame Speaker, I rise to give the House an update on the
situation concerning the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team trying to
travel to the 2010 World Lacrosse Championship in Great Britain.
Madame Speaker I rose this morning to talk about how this team is
trying to travel to this, and they are trying to travel on their
own passports as an indigenous people. They were not allowed to
board the plane multiple times.
“Since I last reported to the House, the State Department,
because of the direct intervention of the Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton, has become involved, and the State Department has
issued an assurance to the British government that indeed these
folks, this team, that has already subjected themselves all the
security considerations, including a full bio-scan, fingerprints
and other background checks, would be allowed back in the United
States and is a legitimate team.
“However, Madame Speaker, the British have not yet decided
whether or not to let this team into this international
competition. Madame Speaker, the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships
are being hosted in Great Britain. The Iroquois nationals represent
the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or as they call it,
the Haudenosaunee people. This team was invited not to compete for
the United States or Canada or any other country other than the
Iroquois Country. They were invited because of their own national
identity. And so it seems particularly odd and contradictory that
the British Government would require them to have passports of a
country that they don’t feel that they’re
representing.
“Now, we do have many examples of times in our history when
we’ve had people who have stood up for principle and have not
been able to compete. In 1924, a Scottish Olympic star named Eric
Little did not want to compete on the Sabbath. He was told that he
would not be able to participate in the 1924 Olympics because of
that. In the movie, “Chariots of Fire” which was an
Academy Award winning movie in 1981, this was chronicled. In that
movie he was called a true man of principle, a true athlete. His
speed is a mere extension of his life as force, and we sought to
sever his running from himself.
“Madame Speaker, if the British or any national entity seeks
to sever this Iroquois Nationals team from their own national
identity, then they’re asking them to not be the athletes
that they are. I urge the British government to do everything in
their power to make sure that given, once safety considerations are
met, that this team be allowed to travel to Great Britain and to be
allowed to compete.
“These Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, were the inventors of the
game of lacrosse. It would be an international embarrassment if
they’re not allowed to compete. They have been allowed to
compete in other countries, such as Australia and Japan. We cannot
lose the forest through the trees. We can not just look at some
bureaucratic excuse, particularly for the country that is allegedly
going to host the Olympics in 2012 in London. If they’re
going to host an international game, they have to be ready to
welcome an international team.”
