Cree Sixties Scoop survivor James Mast remains in a New York jail weeks after tribal police arrested him while he was trying to return to his adoptive father in Oklahoma.
Mast, 60, was born James Cardinal in Fort McMurray, Alberta. As a child, child welfare authorities took him from his Cree and Métis parents during the Sixties Scoop. A Mennonite family in Oklahoma later adopted him.
On April 14, Mast crossed the St. Lawrence River by boat into the U.S. without identification. St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Police arrested him and handed him over to U.S. Border Patrol. He has been in custody at Clinton County Jail in Plattsburgh, New York, ever since.
“I want to get back home. I’m tired of immigration telling me I’m not American,” Mast told CBC News by phone from jail. “I was raised in the States.”
Authorities originally charged Mast with unlawful re-entry. However, prosecutors dropped the charge after learning of his Cree background. His public defender, Gabrielle DiBella, explained that Mast qualifies for protection under the Jay Treaty. The treaty allows First Nations people with at least 50% Indigenous ancestry to cross the U.S.-Canada border and live in the U.S. as permanent residents.
DiBella said the U.S. has never prosecuted a Native American client of hers for illegal re-entry. She added that Alberta may take four to six months to release Mast’s adoption records, which could help confirm his legal status.
Mast said child welfare officials took him at age two when his mother became ill. He moved between foster homes and faced abuse until Moses and Sadie Mast adopted him. They raised him in Spencer, Oklahoma.
At 16, Mast hitchhiked from Oklahoma to Anzac, Alberta, to find his biological mother. He reconnected with her but chose to return to Oklahoma. “That’s the only family I have,” he said of his adoptive parents.
In the 1990s, Mast served 17 years in Missouri for assaulting a police officer. After returning to Oklahoma, immigration officials arrested and deported him to Calgary in 2010. Without legal support, he didn’t know how to fight the deportation.
He said he spent one night at Calgary’s airport before turning to shelters. Over the next decade, he drifted between cities, jails, and jobs across Canada. He eventually settled in Cornwall, Ontario, where he worked as a mechanic.
In April, Mast said he crossed the river into Akwesasne, intending to reach Oklahoma. The next day, tribal police stopped him and accused him of being intoxicated. Mast denies drinking. “They didn’t give me a breathalyzer. I don’t even drink,” he said. He claimed they arrested him after he slapped the trunk of their cruiser and said, “There, now you can arrest me.”
Mast said he regrets not being with his adoptive mother before she passed. He hopes to return and care for his adoptive father, Moses, who suffers from dementia and now lives in assisted care.
“My dad needs me. It’s time I go back and take care of him like he once did for me,” Mast said.
His cousin, Bonnie Bellah, now cares for Moses. She confirmed the family wants James back. “He’s adopted, but he’s family. We love him and we would all welcome him home,” Bellah said from Spencer, Oklahoma.
