Louisa Olebar, a Kyuquot First Nation grandmother and life-long U.S. resident, is warning cross-border travellers to make sure their status cards are current.
Olebar became stranded in Canada for weeks because she didn’t have sufficient identification to get back to her Seattle home.
On March 5, Louisa was at her Seattle home when she received the terrible news that her father had passed away in Tofino. The following day she and her daughter boarded a ferry from Seattle to Victoria.
Disabled from a back injury years before, Olebar had no income and relied on her daughter to pay for the trip.
Officials at the border informed Louisa her Canadian birth certificate would allow her to enter Canada, but she would have trouble getting back home without a status card or a passport.
Feeling she had no choice, Olebar continued on her journey to be with family members as they laid their father to rest.
One week later, Louisa tried to return home to Seattle but was turned back at the Victoria, BC ferry terminal. Without an Indian status card or passport, U.S. border patrol officials refused her entry to the U.S.
Louisa was born in the late 1950s in Tofino. She lived with her parents in Canada until about 1965. At that time her parents split and Louisa and her siblings moved with their mother to Seattle, WA.
In 1966 the family moved to California.
“Mom met my step dad and the family moved to Nevada and California until mom got homesick for family in Seattle,” Louisa recalled.
In 1974, her step-dad sent his family to Seattle for what was to be a two-week visit.
“But we never went back to California,” Louisa smiled.
In later years, Olebar made her own home in Seattle, coming back to Canada from time-to-time for family visits.
“I never had problems crossing the border until the past two years, and especially after the 9-11 thing we started having problems,” she said.
On the American side of the border, security tightened up after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. And, in the eyes of the border patrol Olebar is a Canadian crossing back into home country. Her only American-issued identification was her Washington State driver’s license.
According to the government of Canada, status Indians are people who are registered with the federal government as Indians, according to the terms of the Indian Act. The Certificate of Indian Status, more commonly referred to as the status card, is an identity document issued by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
Indian status cards must be obtained in person; something very difficult to do for those living in foreign countries. Most go to offices in Canada where Indian status cards are issued, but sometimes a membership clerk will travel to the U.S. to issue cards.
So when Olebar was turned back at the Victoria ferry terminal she waved goodbye to her daughter who would return back to their Seattle home. With very little resources to get her through the coming days, Louisa was grateful for family members and others who came to her rescue.
“I was kind of homeless in Seattle; I stayed with family there,” she shared. She didn’t need to worry about home expenses and was getting by on state-issued food stamps. Her personal belongings were safe at her daughter’s home, but she was worried about her storage locker. She hoped a family member would keep up the monthly storage fees while she was gone.
Olebar had more urgent things to think about; like how she would get the daily medication she needs for her hypertension. She had no BC Care card.
“My brother paid the $68 so I could be seen at a walk-in clinic, then another $44 for my medication,” said Olebar. Kyuquot First Nation took care of Louisa’s medication expenses the following month.
Staying in Port Alberni with family members, Olebar was able to connect with resource workers who would help her get her identification in order and help her with other needs.
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Nurse Advocate Pearl Dorward was a great help to Olebar. By the end of March Olebar was able to obtain social assistance to help her family with her living expenses. She applied for a BC Care card and Dorward drove Louisa to the tribal council building so that she could apply for a status card.
NTC Membership Clerk Rosie Marsden was able to put a rush on Louisa’s new card, which was in Olebar’s hands by March 22.
But it’s now early summer and Olebar is still in Canada.
“I could have gone home by now, but I wanted to get all my documents done so that I would never have this problem again,” she explained.
Olebar never considered applying for US citizenship because she didn’t have to. Prior to the 9/11 terror attacks, being aboriginal was all that was necessary to freely cross the border and live in either country.
But she has always thought about moving back to B.C.
“I couldn’t due to family obligations, but now my kids are grown and my grandchildren are teenagers,” she said.
What started out as nightmare has turned into a long sought-after dream. Louisa has decided to stay on Vancouver Island, closer to her Nuu-chah-nulth home.
With the help of her First Nation, Olebar hopes to go back to school in Canada to finish up her accounting training that she started in the U.S.
