“It causes me a lot of disability, because of the pain, and this doctor felt as though he could help me with that,” Woods, 52, of Duluth, said. “It’s unique in that there are ways to be able to put me through a particular kind of ceremony and pull the disease from my body.”
Woods, the executive director of the Duluth Art Institute, was already experiencing a troubling year. It felt for her like the arts had been abandoned among the pandemic closures and lost gatherings.
So it was with pain in her hands and heart, that Woods, a Bois Forte Band of Chippewa member, made an appointment with a healer across the U.S.-Canada border living on a tribal reserve outside Fort Frances.
But the visit never happened. Instead, Woods was turned away by Canadian border officials Feb. 27, and even, she says, threatened with arrest and fines.
Numb from her interactions at the border, Woods wasted little time in calling U.S. Sen. Tina Smith’s office “to report what happened and the systemic racism I faced trying to advocate for myself in trying to see a traditional doctor,” Woods said.
Officials in Smith’s office listened to Woods, and took up advocacy of her case. The Canadian Border Services Agency directed Woods to a complaint form. Smith’s office wasn't satisfied. Instead, the office raised the issue with the Canadian consulate, where they believed real attention could be paid to Woods and bring follow-up to the matter.
Tina Smith
“Senator Smith’s office is actively following Christina’s case,” spokesperson Katie McElrath said. “After talking to Christina, we were deeply concerned about the experience that she had, including the dismissive treatment of traditional Indigenous practices.”
The senator’s office staff further explained that Woods wasn’t alone. Throughout Canada's more than year-old ban on cross-border travel, there have been complaints from tribal nations related to similar cultural matters. Others, too, notably property owners and people living in border communities, have also registered frequent concerns with the senator’s office.
Her office described the senator as pressing throughout the year for the U.S. state department to prioritize negotiations and for the Canadian consulate for updates and workable solutions. The Canadians haven’t been amenable to broader exceptions to their rules, the senator's office said, and it remains a difficult situation. But while the senator can bring issues visibility with her large platform, she can't move foreign policy on her own. Ultimately, solutions would need to come from executive levels of both federal governments.
This month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau extended the nonessential travel restrictions through April 21, saying he would continue to protect Canada's citizens from the pandemic.
Woods was taking a chance at the border, hoping she’d be found exempt for arranging what she believes were "essential" medical services.
Update on our border: Non-essential travel restrictions between Canada and the US have been extended by another 30 days - until April 21st. We’ll continue to do whatever is necessary to keep you and your loved ones safe.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 18, 2021
But when the News Tribune contacted the Canada Border Services Agency, it pointed to language in the order which says medical services needed to be “those that are necessary to maintain the basic functions of life or require urgent attention.” It specifically does not include routine care, such as regular doctor or dental appointments, preventative care, and treatments such as acupuncture.
Woods admitted that a phone call two weeks prior with border agents informed her she wouldn’t be allowed in the country.
But people she knows and trusts convinced her to try anyway — talking anecdotally about exceptions made in the moment, and crossings OK'd by the judgment of border officers on duty.
Again, that’s something the Border Services Agency denied. Without commenting specifically on the case, it repeatedly highlighted existing rules — this one saying border officers “do not have discretion or authority to overcome the obligations and requirements" prescribed in the pandemic order.
Woods made the point that, until the conclusion of the War of 1812 settled the border between the countries, Anishinaabe people lived their lives freely and spread across the border.
She described her trip to the border as one she was compelled to take, believing she had a right to traditional medicine. Even so, she braced for the worst.
“I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t get through,” she said. "So I was prepared and had already organized in my mind how I would handle it — how I would interact, be very cooperative, and how I had to keep my emotions regulated, because I knew it was going to hurt me.”
Christina Woods talks on Monday, March 22, 2021, about being denied entry into Canada to receive tribal medical treatment. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@duluthnews.com)
Woods was prepared to quarantine for 14 days as required, and carried a fresh negative COVID-19 test to show border officials. She grew hopeful the closer she got and longer she waited. But after two hours of waiting and intermittent interactions with three officers, the final one delivered a firm denial along with what she said was a warning not to try again. Smith's office was not able to confirm that part of the story, and border officials did not either.
Inside Canada, Gilbert Smith waited. The 73-year-old is a tribal elder, and self-described "helper." As he gets older, he continues to encounter more and more of what his grandmothers on both sides of his family first showed him in how to recognize and impart nature’s medicines.
“I’ve helped a lot of people in that way, using traditional healing,” he said.
Woods was clear to point out that her tribal helper was not a board-licensed medical doctor, but a traditional doctor within the context of the Anishinaabe culture.
Smith was disappointed when he learned from Woods about her border plight. He said he’s got a lot of questions for border officers, but doesn’t want to come across as the bad guy.
“It wouldn’t work if I was to tell her over the phone,” Smith said of Woods’ treatment. “She has to go to the tree with me, take medicine from the tree and make the medicine before she starts taking it. That’s why I wanted her to come to Canada, because that’s the only way it would work.”
Gilbert Smith (Photo by Merna Emara / Fort Frances Times)
Neither the senator’s office nor Woods say she should have known better.
Instead, Woods believes the problem is with a system which doesn’t account for tribal self-governance.
“I want to help that by bringing attention to the cultural context of the Anishinaabe, so it would help in the future, and governments will remember to include us,” Woods said. “We’re invisible in all of this.”
On the topic of race, the Canadian Border Service spokespeople noted the country's ban "does not distinguish between specific types of healthcare approaches."
Everyone involved on the U.S. side of the border is awaiting an update on the outcome of Woods’ situation. Depending on what it hears from the Canadian consulate, Sen. Smith's office said it would be open to future engagement on the topic.
For Woods, there's no giving up hope for better representation.
"The Bois Forte nation is not far from Fort Frances," she said. "It's always been part of our community, and that border has separated our community for generations now."
Christina Woods wears metal splints on several fingers to help with her rheumatoid arthritis. (Steve Kuchera / skuchera@duluthnews.com)
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'Invisible' at the border? Duluth woman denied traditional medicine confronts Canadian border closure - Duluth News Tribune
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