Canada NewsWire (press release), Canada
May 27 2008

PEN Canada to Toronto District School Board: uphold freedom of expression

TORONTO, May 27 /CNW/ – In a strongly worded letter to John Campbell,
chair of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), PEN Canada urges
reversal of the Board’s recent decision to remove Extraordinary Evil:
A Brief History of Genocide, by Barbara Coloroso, from the resource
list of a new Grade 11 course on genocide and crimes against humanity
to be taught next year.

"PEN Canada would like immediate clarification regarding the basis on
which the Board has moved ahead to remove Extraordinary Evil from the
resource list for this course," said Nelofer Pazira, President of PEN
Canada. "Under the circumstances, PEN has to question why the TDSB is
engaging in what can only be described as censorship."

The TDSB has determined that the proposed Grade 11 course, to be
called Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, will contain a module on
the killing of over one million Armenians in Turkey in 1915, and that
that massacre will be defined as genocide. However, the Director of
Education recently upheld a recommendation of a review committee that
the book by Barbara Coloroso be removed from the resource list for the
course. That decision is now being reviewed by the Program and School
Services Committee of the Board.

"In Canada, everyone has the right, within the bounds of the Criminal
Code as it pertains to hate speech and similar actions, to a fair
expression of views," said Ms Pazira. "Removing this book constitutes
the suppression of an important perspective, for the students in this
course, on the Armenian genocide."

PEN Canada notes that the Canadian government recognizes the Armenian
massacre as genocide. In April 2004 Parliament passed, with an
overwhelming majority, the following motion: "this House acknowledges
the Armenian genocide of 1915 and condemns this act as a crime against
humanity." This motion was re-affirmed by Prime Minister Stephen
Harper in 2006.

PEN Canada believes it is the duty of public institutions in a
democracy, such as school boards, to defend vigorously the right to
freedom of expression. Anything short of this is an extremely
dangerous precedent for any public institution, and especially for one
of the largest school boards in the country.

"We urge the Board to reinstate the book as resource material for the
course," said Ms Pazira in her letter to Mr. Campbell. "It is
essential that you and your fellow trustees respect freedom of
expression and not allow this book to be censored as the result of
pressure from partisan organizations."

PEN Canada is an independent non-profit organization committed to
defending freedom of opinion, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). We campaign on behalf of
writers around the world who are persecuted for the expression of
their opinions. In Canada we speak out regularly to defend the right
of freedom of expression as enshrined in Section 2(b) of the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms.

For full text of letter:

For further information: Isobel Harry, PEN Canada, (416) 703-8448 ext.
22, iharry@pencanada.ca

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