For Canadians, "sending your children to the United States is like playing Russian roulette"

On 28 April, Canada elected its new government. The big winner? The Liberal Party led by Mark Carney. 

In response to the trade war launched by the American president and the threat of annexation, Mark Carney warns: "President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us, but that will never happen... Our former integrated relationship with the United States is over. We have overcome the shock of American betrayal; we must now look out for each other," he emphasised in his victory speech. 

As the new Canadian Prime Minister expresses his desire for independence, the population is following suit and some Canadians are even going so far as to snub the United States by cancelling school trips. 

An engaged population

A Montreal resident, Maya Cholette-Tétrault, whose two daughters aged 14 and 15 were due to go to New York at Easter, cancelled the trip. Together, the three of them decided to give the United States a miss. As the mother explains, it was a precautionary gesture but also a political act. "At first, it was 100% ideological, because the American administration promotes values completely contrary to those I want to teach my children. And sending our children to a country where security is uncertain and always changing is like playing Russian roulette." Other pupils from the same school have also chosen to opt out of the trip. 

For the Mont-Sacré-Cœur school, which is close to the Canadian-American border, the visit to the United States has turned into a trip to Montreal. As reported by Franceinfo, it is a historic tradition affected by Trump's new policies.

The threat of a boycott

An economic activity to add to the list of those threatened by the boycott. A representative from travel agency Éducatour explained that 25% of their turnover comes from school trips to the United States. He added: "We want to diversify our product offering for next year, and we are thinking about it, but it's not easy to replace a flight to New York with Canadian destinations, which are smaller."

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: Franceinfo - Illustration: ©Unsplash)