ANIMAKEE WA ZHING — To visit friends and relatives in Minnesota, members of one First Nation must cross the Canada-U.S. border three times.
Chief Linda McVicar says her members haven’t had any trouble making the trip — so far.
The Animakee Wa Zhing 37 chief told Newswatch the triple border crossing is a routine matter for the 60 or so people living on Windigo Islands, one of the First Nation’s two reserves.
They commonly go to Minnesota to shop and see friends and family, she said.
Windigo Islands lies just outside a small northward jut in the Canada-US. border with Manitoba to the west and Ontario to the north and east.
The least inconvenient way to leave is over water to The Angle, as locals call it.
The area belongs to the U.S. and is mostly Lake of the Woods water except for some islands and a piece of land that is itself isolated from the rest of Minnesota but accessible by road from Manitoba.
“We have band members that live in Warroad (Minn.),” McVicar said in a phone interview. “They have children that live in Warroad.
“Historically there wasn’t a border. So, we have relatives that belong to Red Lake First Nation (in Minnesota) and relatives that belong to Shoal Lake 39 and Shoal Lake 40, and … if you want to see them, you would go that way and cross the border.”
The trip to Warroad involves travelling by boat in warm weather or ice road in winter from the island (in Ontario) to the Angle, in the U.S., then driving to Manitoba, crossing back into Canada and heading south to cross the border again into Minnesota.
McVicar said some members of Animakee Wa Zhing 37, which is also known as Northwest Angle 37, work in Minnesota “from time to time” and some shop in the gopher state.
So far, she said, she hasn’t heard of any band members getting trouble from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol, though she has noticed troubling reports in the news.
On Jan. 23 the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) issued an advisory to “be cautious” when crossing the border.
First Nations citizens visiting the U.S. should “carry valid identification, including a Status Card or a Canadian passport,” the advisory stated.
Information on status cards can be obtained on the Indigenous Services Canada website or at 1-800-567-9604.
In emergency cases, Canadian citizens in the U.S. can contact the Canadian consulate for assistance through 1-613-996-8885.
Rainy River First Nations advised its members in mid-January to be careful when in the U.S. as it had received credible reports of First Nations individuals “being targeted, assaulted and detained” by ICE.
Animakee Wa Zhing 37 is connected to the Minnesota landing on the west side of the Northwest Angle by a short winter road and to Kenora by a longer winter road heading north on the Lake of the Woods, McVicar explained.
To get to Warroad, a small city just southwest of the Northwest Angle, Windigo Island residents drive the short ice road to the U.S. landing and then drive a short distance in Manitoba’s southwest corner and cross back into the U.S. through the Sprague border point.
(When the winter road is no longer in service, they boat to the U.S. landing, where their vehicles are parked, and then drive from there.)
McVicar said she’s heard of no members having trouble on that journey this winter, but she advises them to be prepared with “as much identification as possible.”
The 1794 Jay Treaty, which the U.S. recognizes but Canada does not, permits First Nations people to freely cross the border. But McVicar said that’s no guarantee that First Nations members from Canada will be accepted by ICE or border patrol agents.
“I mean, in the end, if you are a Canadian citizen and they don’t want you there, they’re going to send you back to Canada.”
There’s always the possibility of a member being assaulted or detained, she said, “but, you know … we can’t control that.”
