Girl Guides of Canada cancel trips to America because of 'Muslim ban'
'We just want to make sure that no girl gets left behind,' spokeswoman Sarah Kiriliuks says
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Your support makes all the difference.The Girl Guides of Canada will stop organising trips to America, because it is concerned that some of their members will be refused entry at the border because of Donald Trump's travel restrictions.
Spokeswoman Sarah Kiriliuks said it spoke to the organisation's "commitment to inclusivity.”
"We just want to make sure that no girl gets left behind,” she said, adding that its membership was diverse and leaders were worried that some girls could be stopped from travelling into the US.
A nationally sponsored trip to a California camp that was scheduled for this summer will now take place elsewhere and the group is encouraging local leaders to consider domestic trips instead of heading south of the border.
New travel arrangements to the US were banned until further notice, the organisation said on its website.
"While the United States is a frequent destination for Guiding trips, the ability of all our members to equally enter this country is currently uncertain," it said. "This was a very difficult decision to make. We hope that members will appreciate this reflects our commitment to inclusivity and equal opportunities for all girls and women."
Canadian schools have expressed similar concerns about how foreign-born students will be treated on trips to the US following the travel ban.
Jim Cambridge, superintendent of the Sooke School District in British Columbia, said a number of trips planned for sports, music and educational purposes in the coming months are being reconsidered.
The Greater Essex County school board in southwestern Ontario also decided to cancel a handful of trips.
Mr Trump is in the process of implementing a second version of his executive order banning travel from certain Muslim-majority countries.
Replacing an earlier version that was blocked by federal judges, it will exclude Iraq from the blacklisted countries, but continues to block entry to the US for citizens of Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya and Yemen, for 90 days.
It will also suspend the resettlement of refugees for 120 days
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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