The Toronto District School Board, Canada’s largest, announced Thursday that it will no longer book trips across the border to the U.S. for its students due to the “uncertainty” surrounding President Trump’s travel ban.
“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,” said John Malloy, TDSB director of education, in a statement.
Because Trump’s revised travel ban blocking immigrants for six North African and Middle Eastern countries is tied up in the courts, Malloy said school trips across the border that have already been approved will be allowed to proceed but no new excursions will be scheduled. However if the executive order ends up being fully implemented then the Board asked that these pre-approved trips will be canceled, Malloy added.
“It is my hope that our students, staff and parents will understand and support this difficult decision,” Malloy said. “We feel it strikes a balance between our equity and inclusion commitments as a school board, while not canceling already-approved trips for which a financial loss would be incurred.”
Malloy, whose district covers approximately 246,000 students in 584 schools, said they may “revisit” these decisions should the need arise.
