U.S. band pulls out of Victoria parade

Tighter border rules could ensnare some students on return

An American high school band that has been coming to the Victoria Day Parade for 18 years has cancelled plans to return this year, citing fears that U.S. President Donald Trump’s stricter border rules could prevent some students from getting back into the United States.

The school board in Kent, south of Seattle, has cancelled all international school trips because of confusion over American policy toward undocumented immigrants.

The decision means the Kentlake High School band will not be in the Victoria Day Parade on May 22.

Chris Loftis, a spokesman for the Kent school board, said the goal is to ensure equity for all students, including those without proper documentation. “Certainly, the new immigration and border control policies of the current administration have created a lot of anxiety,” he said.

Kelly Kurta, executive director of the Greater Victoria Festival Society, which organizes the parade, said she received an email from the school’s band director on Friday saying the trip would not go ahead.

“For a lot of these kids, it’s a rite of passage,” Kurta said. “They book their hotels a year in advance.”

Kurta worries other school boards might follow suit, resulting in fewer U.S. bands in the parade.

Thirteen U.S. bands, including Kentlake, and six Canadian bands were scheduled to play in this year’s parade.

Jodi Mechum accompanied her 16-year-old son, Kenny, on the band trip to Victoria last year. Both are disappointed it has been cancelled. “We had a fabulous trip. I’m so impressed with the whole parade and the whole weekend,” Mechum said.

Loftis said the school board cannot support school trips where only some students are able to attend. “Having a situation where some students go on a wonderful trip, for other students in our community it would not be fair,” he said. “Because if some cross the border, they might not be able to come back.”

The school board knows how important the Victoria trip is to students and Loftis said he can understand why parents and students might be upset, especially with the cancellation coming just three weeks before the trip.

The board members “know the beauty of the city and the hospitality of the city. They know how special a trip it is for these students, but they also know in their heart of hearts there’s a moral decision that has to be made,” Loftis said.

“We would never have a prohibition against a student because of their disability or ethnicity or the colour of their skin. So why should we have a delineation between documented students and undocumented students?”

In his campaign for the presidency, Trump promised to deport illegal immigrants.

The Kent school district’s policy is similar to one adopted by the Greater Victoria school district in February. No school trips will be planned to the U.S. until there is more certainty around the rules for entering the country. There was also a worry that some students could face discrimination at the border due to their race.