Canadian kids can’t go to Detroit Holocaust center due to ‘safety concerns’ at border

The Windsor, Ontario, school board has suspended field trips across the Canada-United States border following US President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order banning citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia from entering the US.

Greater Essex County District School Board superintendent Clara Howitt told the Windsor Star that the decision to suspend school trips across the border was motivated by concern for “student safety.”

“Paramount for us is student safety… we really don’t know what will happen to our students at the border,” Howitt told the Windsor Star.

Among the visits cancelled under the suspension were trips to the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills, Michigan, a 45-minute drive away.

It was reported that the school board had contacted US border authorities following the executive order and was informed that students with citizenships from the seven Muslim-majority countries would not be allowed entry into the US.

Recent court rulings have put a hold on the executive order, but Howitt said that given the discretion that individual border agents have in enforcing regulations and guidelines, the school board decided not to take risks that could subject its multicultural students to possible unpleasant situations.

Howitt’s concern is not unfounded: there have been a number of reported cases in recent weeks of Muslim Canadian citizens originally from Morocco — a country not part of Trump’s ban — being denied entry to the US despite having valid Canadian passports and no history of problems with border crossings.

The decision to suspend trips to the US was made with ‘appreciation for the respect we have given to student safety, well-being and equity’

According to Greater Essex County District School Board spokesman Scott Scantlebury, the decision to suspend trips to the US was made with “appreciation for the respect we have given to student safety, well-being and equity.”

The school board represents approximately 34,000 students studying in 56 elementary schools and 15 high schools in nine different municipalities in Southwestern Ontario.

Scantlebury told The Times of Israel he was unsure of the number of trips the district’s schools make per year to Detroit’s Holocaust Memorial Center. Two scheduled trips for February were cancelled. Future visits will depend on what the board decides when it revisits its cross-border travel ban at the end of the month.

Scantlebury said it is hoped that the visits to the Holocaust Center, which currently has a special exhibition on Anne Frank running through June, can be resumed.

“The study of the Holocaust is part of Ontario’s Grade 10 social studies curriculum and I am told a visit to the memorial is an exceptional experience for these students,” he said.

Holocaust Memorial Center CEO Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld said the center values its relationship with the Ontario students and hopes to see the them back soon.

“The mission of the Holocaust Memorial Center is to set forth the lessons of the Holocaust as a model for teaching ethical conduct and responsible decision-making. As such, we believe that all students in grades eight through 12 should visit the museum to learn about the Holocaust and other genocides in order to prevent these atrocities from happening again. Through education, all people can take positive actions to combat hate and bigotry,” Mayerfeld said.

Windsor West MP Brian Masse told the Windsor Star that politics are changing the personal and business ties Canadians and Americans have across the border, and he accused Trump of building a “virtual wall” between the two countries. He especially found it “ironic” that school trips to a Holocaust education center had to be cancelled.

“If ever there was a point in which the world needed to learn about racism and prejudice and the unspeakable truths that need to be spoken,” said Masse, it is now.