Several conferences relocate north of the border as Canadians refuse to travel to the U.S. [Video]

After U.S. President Donald Trump took office, sociologist Travers — who goes by one name — nixed plans to attend the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) conference in Seattle this November. 

Travers, an associate professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., is the president-elect of NASSS. But as a trans person, they are wary of visiting the U.S. at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back transgender rights.

“[I] will not be travelling to the United States right now because it feels very dangerous to do so,” said Travers.

The sociologist soon realized the problem was widespread: around 40 per cent of NASSS’s 600 members live in Canada, and many of them reported that they, too, don’t want to attend the Seattle conference, due to reports of increased scrutiny at the U.S. border, Trump’s trade war and his threats to annex Canada.

“If we were to just …