Joe Biden and White House support Haudenosaunee Nationals for 2028 Olympics

Canada's sport minister is supporting the Haudenosaunee Nationals' bid to compete as a separate nation in lacrosse at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Carla Qualtrough issued a statement supporting the team on Wednesday, hours after U.S. President Joe Biden announced a similar stance. If the Haudenosaunee are allowed to compete as a separate nation in 2028 it would be an unprecedented moment in Olympic history.

"Lacrosse is Canada's national summer sport," said Qualtrough in a written statement to The Canadian Press. "It has been played by Indigenous peoples for hundreds of years. The Haudenosaunee Nationals are among the best in the world.

"When lacrosse returns to the Olympics in the 2028 Games, I hope to see the Haudenosaunee Nationals qualify and compete under their own flag."

Biden requested the International Olympic Committee allow the Haudenosaunee Nationals to compete as their own team at the Los Angeles Games at the White House Tribal Nations Summit earlier Wednesday.

"Their ancestors invented the game. They perfected it for a millennium," Biden said. "Their circumstances are unique and they should be granted an exception to field their own team at the Olympics."

That would require the IOC to make an exception to a rule that permits teams playing only as part of an official national Olympic committee to compete in the Olympics. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), is a collection of six nations whose territory covers upstate New York and adjacent sections of Canada. They invented the sport of lacrosse before European colonizers arrived in North America and have competed as a separate nation in international lacrosse events since 1990.

"We're hopeful the IOC will see it our way, as well," Tom Perez, the White House senior adviser and director of intergovernmental affairs, told The Associated Press. "If we're successful, it won't simply be the flag of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy that marches in the Olympics, it will be the flag of Indigenous people across the world."

Perez added the U.S. is working with Canada to support inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.

"I can't think of a more worthy candidate for inclusion than a confederation that literally invented the sport and has some of the most elite men and women in the sport in their nation," Perez said.

Fawn Porter, who is Cayuga from Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, plays for the Haudenosaunee Nationals women's team in both box and field lacrosse. She said the government's support "will help build additional momentum as we continue our journey as Haudenosaunee people with a desire to bring the medicine of lacrosse to the world."

Leo Nolan, executive director of the Haudenosaunee Nationals, said the Nationals' board of directors is working with World Lacrosse to determine what it takes to gain International Olympic Committee recognition.

Lacrosse last played at Olympics in 1904

The last time lacrosse was played in the Olympics was in 1904 when Canada fielded two teams: the Shamrock Lacrosse team and one called the Mohawk Indians, made up of Kanien'kehá:ka players, who won the bronze medal.

Kevin Sandy, First Nations director of Lacrosse Canada, told CBC News the sport's inclusion in the Olympics is the first step in getting the Haudenosaunee Nationals teams to the competition.

"There's still a lot of work to do that must take place by IOC and its membership and everyone else who will grant us the status to play and compete in the Olympics," he said.

Shortly after the IOC announced in October that lacrosse was returning to the Olympics, it reiterated its stance about teams having to compete under the flag of an established Olympic committee. It suggested the U.S. and Canadian Olympic committees would have to find a way to include Indigenous athletes on their respective national teams.

Carving out certain spots for the athletes on U.S. and Canadian teams would create logistical problems of its own in the selection process. It wasn't the goal of Haudenosaunee leaders when they pushed for lacrosse to come back to the Olympics.

"The ultimate goal is for the Haudenosaunee to win a gold medal," Nolan said. "It's a delicate situation because there are so many moving parts to this whole thing."

Porter has been playing since she was "as tall as the goal posts" around six or seven years old. 

"We actually have a chance to be Olympians now," she said, adding there's still a lot of work she and her teammates would need to do to compete at that level.

3rd in men's world rankings

"We're going to be there on the forefront to help with the men, to provide that good medicine to the world and I really feel like we're going to remind everyone what it is to play a sport."

But, he said, if the goal at the Olympics is to showcase the best in every sport, the Haudenosaunee should have a place in the games. The current world rankings have the Haudenosaunee men in third, behind the U.S. and Canada.

Qualtrough said that having the Haudenosaunee Nationals play their sport at the 2028 Games is in keeping with the Olympic spirit.

"This would elevate the already immense talent on display, and harness the very best of sport to advance reconciliation," reads her statement.

Haudenosaunee players could, theoretically, play for Canada or the United States depending on which country they reside in. However, most Haudenosaunee players maintain that they would only play for an Indigenous team.

The modern Haudenosaunee Nationals were formed in 1983, playing for the first time in the 1990 men's field world championship. Players are from both sides of the Canadian-American border, with the majority coming from Six Nations of the Grand River, or Onondaga Nation, outside Syracuse, N.Y.

In around the year 1100, First Nation communities in northeastern North America invented the first version of lacrosse, playing games that could involve more than 100 men on a side. The sport was viewed to prepare for wars, but also as a religious experience and even as a tool used to settle disputes.

"We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the International Olympic Committee, LA28, and the U.S. and Canadian Olympic Committees to explore potential pathways for the Haudenosaunee to participate in the Olympics while respecting the Olympic Games framework," World Lacrosse said in a statement Wednesday.

It also released a statement from Haudenosaunee player Fawn Porter, who said the government's support "will help build additional momentum as we continue our journey as Haudenosaunee people with a desire to bring the medicine of lacrosse to the world."

David Shoemaker, CEO and secretary-general of the Canadian Olympic Committee, said Wednesday that his organization is "thrilled" to see lacrosse back on the Olympic program. The COC believes the inclusion of lacrosse is an opportunity to further embrace the Truth and Reconciliation Committee's Calls to Action.

"The COC looks forward to speaking with the Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse Organization to understand how we can support their objectives around participation and leveraging the positive impact of bringing the sport to a global audience at LA28," said Shoemaker.

"We are committed to being a collaborative partner with all parties, including the Haudenosaunee, Lacrosse Canada, IOC, World Lacrosse, USOPC and LA28 in maximizing the opportunities presented by lacrosse being on the Olympic program once again."