Two weeks ago, CNN News reported that a Canadian school district had canceled all field trips to the United States until there was some “clarity” on President Trump’s travel ban out of concern for the safety of their students.
Since that time, other school districts across Canada have been grappling with the uncertainty of U.S. travel restrictions and the real possibility that Trump’s ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries may still go into effect. School districts are concerned with how their foreign-born students would be treated at the border.
British Columbia’s superintendent of the Sooke School District, Jim Cambridge said there were a number of trips planned for sports, music and educational purposes, but those plans are being reconsidered, according to the National Observer.
Even though the refugee population in the Vancouver Island school district may be small, Cambridge said the school board must make a decision based on their student’s safety and also for ethical reasons. “The board is concerned some students may be stopped at the border, and if that’s the case, they want to examine whether or not they’ll support any trips to the States right now,” he said.
In many cases, the issue comes down to making a stance against what is considered an unfair ban. The question of fairness to students who may not be affected by the ban not being allowed to travel to the states on a school trip has been raised. But it comes down to a question of fairness for all the students.
Sooke trustees have contacted neighboring school boards in trying to make an informed decision, and it seems that across the country, the issue has been discussed at length with most school districts taking the stance that the travel ban Trump wants to impose would go against everything Canada stand for.
Superintendent Ted Fransen of the Pembina Trails School Division in Winnipeg told CTV News, “I just can’t imagine that we would get a request from a school principal to approve a trip to the U.S. where students in the group wouldn’t be allowed to go,” he said. “That would be counter to our culture.”
