With Donald Trump’s revised travel ban focusing on six majority-Muslim counties, the Toronto District School Board in Canada has halted future student and staff trips to the U.S., according to CNN.
Though Trump’s executive order earlier this month was almost immediately blocked by a federal judge, meaning the travel ban is not in place at the moment, Canada’s largest school district is worried how the potential ban could affect its students, particularly since it’s quite possible that some of the district’s 246,000 students in its 584 schools are citizens of the countries that Trump wants to ban and, therefore, would not be allowed to enter the U.S.
Though the school trips that have already been scheduled will be allowed to proceed unless Trump’s order is put into place, John Malloy, the school board’s director of education, said no new trips will be allowed until further notice.
“We do not make this decision lightly, but given the uncertainty of these new travel restrictions and when they may come into effect, if at all, we strongly believe that our students should not be placed into these situations of potentially being turned away at the border,” Malloy said in a statement. “The [Toronto District School Board] remains committed to ensuring that fairness, equity, and inclusion are essential principles of our school system and are integrated into all our policies, programs, operations, and practices, including school trips.
“For the trips that will be continuing—should students with the appropriate documentation be denied entry to the U.S. for no legitimate reason, the entire trip will return to Toronto and will not proceed.”
It’s yet another ally who’s become wary of U.S. policy, as Canada joins Australia, the U.K., and (of course) Mexico in showing its disdain for the president and his policies.
The school district also has followed the lead of the Girl Guides of Canada—basically, that country’s version of the Girl Scouts—in suspending all travel to the U.S., because it’s worried about some members possibly being turned away at the border.
H/T Mic