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To: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister Bardish Chagger (Waterloo MP, Minister for Tourism, House Leader), Minister for Foreign Affairs (Chrystia Freeland), Global Affairs Canada, Canadian Ambassador in Cairo (Jess Dutton)

Ensure Fair Travel Advisories for Egypt and the rest of the Middle East

This campaign has ended.

Please ensure that travel advisories for Canadians travelling to other countries are assessed in a fair, clear and non-discriminatory manner. Ensure that Middle Eastern countries are not receiving unfairly stronger advisories, while Western allies receive unfairly light advisories. The impact of these advisories goes far beyond security, and the livelihoods of countless people rely on strong, positive, bilateral relationships.

Why is this important?

Many countries in the Middle East, particularly Egypt, rely heavily on tourism for employment - providing direct and indirect income to countless people. When Western countries put up travel advisories, many people are discouraged from visiting. As a result, local incomes are reduced, unemployment is increased, poverty is worsened, and countless families suffer unnecessarily. This is an avoidable tragedy, and directly contradicts the aims of our international aid, and the great work of countless NGOs and others who are working on development in the region.

At the same time, many Western countries have had significant security events happen in major urban areas, and have not had similar advisories placed on them by the Canadian government.

Canadians (including myself) and other expats have lived, worked and traveled in and out of Egypt happily and safely over the last several decades, even when travel advisories have been present, including staff at the Canadian embassy in Cairo. This petition is not suggesting that there are no safety risks - simply asking that the region get treated fairly, and endorsed equally compared to Western countries.

Category

Updates

2018-09-17 14:03:04 -0400

"The lonely pyramids of Giza: Egyptian tourism's decline" (AlJazeera English)

A fairly quick read summarizing some of the ups and downs of the industry, and the effects on the local economy (although it is about a year old). Any changes to the travel advisories that would open up safe spaces for people to travel would help to stabilize this piece, and provide stability for the country (and region), as a whole.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/lonely-pyramids-giza-egyptian-tourism-falling-170418050241421.html

Thank you for your continued support,

SJM

2018-06-17 16:04:29 -0400

Hello all,

I started two petitions at the same time - this and another one. The other one (related to school funding in Ontario), has over 600 signatures and growing. For some reason, I have had trouble getting momentum started on this one. However, I do not want to close it, and I believe that it has significant value.

Despite the widely different travel advisories, the BBC reported recently on a Gallup poll which found that people felt safer in Egypt than in the US or the UK. "The survey placed Egypt 16th out of 135 countries, while the UK was 21st and the US 35th."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44467975.

In this era, building positive relationships between countries has never been more important, and unnecessary travel advisories are very damaging.

So, please help me build momentum on this important issue. Sign and share in your circles. Thank you! :)

2018-01-26 08:43:16 -0500

I have had a few discussions with people about this petition, and some, while supportive in principle, don't quite see how this would impact them, so see less need to sign and promote it. While I understand the question (and I don't sign every petition that I come across), I would suggest that the importance of this goes far beyond the realm of those of us who regularly travel to or live in the Middle East. I see this as a request for transparency and accountability from the Canadian government - if there is a chance that a group is getting treated unfairly, it is up to all of us to speak up for peace, justice and equality. Thank you to those of you who have already signed - please help me spread the word! :)

2018-01-24 09:31:25 -0500

We have now reached 32 signatures! We still have a long ways to go to get the attention of the Prime Minister. Please help me today by sharing this with 5 (or more! :)), people in your circles, and asking them to sign as well. Let's show the world that Canada treats all of our international neighbours fairly and justly. Thank you for your support! :)

2017-12-18 09:41:05 -0500

25 signatures reached

2017-12-08 22:15:58 -0500

10 signatures reached