FREEDOM TO READ: THE RIGHT TO READ

VUE Weekly
57
Feb 18 2010
Canada

Freedom to Read week explores access to challenging books Tiffany
Brown-Olsen / tiffany@vueweekly.com

We have access to more information, books and magazines than ever
before but many people, including librarian Ken Setterington, argue
that we must remain on guard in the fight for intellectual freedom. As
the Children and Youth Advocate for the Toronto Public Library, and
the author of the children’s book Mom and Mum Are Getting Married,
Setterington sees the positive results of a free exchange of ideas
on both adults and children. He also sees that challenges to books
in schools and libraries occur regularly.

"There are constantly challenges that come up in the most surprising
ways," he explains. "All the Harry Potter books were challenged and
the Philip Pullman books were challenged not that long ago. People
get upset about a variety of things and we have to be ready to leap
to the defense of these books."

Librarians across Canada defend books because they understand the
value of free and open dialogue. To help make the public aware of
the continual skirmishes in this ongoing fight and to mark Freedom
to Read Week, taking place February 21 – 27, The Book and Periodical
Council has released a list of challenged books and magazine.

The Challenged Books and Magazines List contains some challenges that
are not so surprising: parents have complained about their children
reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, arguing it contained racist
language; a patron of a public library disapproved of Maxim magazine
for being pornographic; and The New York City Bartender’s Joke Book by
Jimmy Pritchard was challenged in Saskatoon for containing offensive
material. In the first two cases the library retained the items
in their collection, while the joke book was found to be offensive
and withdrawn.

Challenges do not just come from people disapproving of sexual or
adult content; challenges also come in the form of human rights
complaints. The publication Catholic Insight was challenged by
someone arguing it promoted hatred against gays and lesbians with
its conservative religious message; the now-online magazine, Western
Standard, was challenged for its publication of eight of the Danish
cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed in 2006; and most recently,
Maclean’s was challenged for printing a book excerpt dealing with
Islam in Europe. These challenges illustrate the difficult issues
considered when thinking about intellectual freedom.

Catholic Insight was found to not be "likely to expose a person or
persons to hatred or contempt based on sexual orientation" by the
Canadian Human Rights Commission. Ezra Levant, the then publisher of
the Western Standard, was brought before the Alberta Human Rights and
Citizenship Commission and asked to explain his intent in publishing
the cartoons. In his spirited defense, Levant vigorously argued that
the commission, by forcing him to appear and defend his decision
to publish, was attacking freedom of speech. The complaint against
the Western Standard was eventually retracted, but the footage of
the hearings, available on YouTube, is essential viewing for those
interested in the questions surrounding freedom of expression in
Canada. In the case of the complaint against Maclean’s, three human
rights commissions dismissed the complaint.

Proponents of free speech argue that challenges, even when
overturned, create an atmosphere of self-censorship. Freedom to Read
Week celebrates both the freedom to read and the importance of the
fight to keep that freedom. Jason Openo, Chair of the Edmonton Public
Library’s Adult Services Team and a member of the organizing committee
for Edmonton’s Freedom to Read Week, believes that libraries have
a role in "facilitating democracy and civil rights" by bringing the
widest range of materials into the libraries. Quoting from Canadian
Library Association’s statement on intellectual freedom he says,
"It is the responsibility of libraries to guarantee and facilitate
access to all expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity,
including those that some elements of society may consider to be
unconventional, unpopular or unacceptable."

Setterington agrees, stating, "All these [challenged] books demand
that somebody thinks and we want to create a society that is engaged
with literature and is a thinking society."

Freedom to Read Week events coordinated by the Edmonton Public Library
give Edmontonians the opportunity to discuss these issues and express
their own freedom. V

CHALLENGED BOOKS

Despite guarantees to freedom of speech in the Canadian Charter,
books and publications can still find the path to your library and
bookstore filled with obstacles. Here are just some of the books that
have been challenged from being on Canadian bookshelves.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Cause of objection–A parent
formally complained in 2008 about the use of a dystopian novel
in a Grade 12 English class saying the novel’s "profane language,"
anti-Christian overtones, "violence" and "sexual degradation" probably
violated the district school policies that require students to show
respect and tolerance to one another.

Update–In 2009, a review panel of the Toronto District School Board
recommended that schools keep the novel in the curriculum in Grades
11 and 12.

Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide by Barbara Coloroso
Cause of objection–In 2007 The Council of Turkish Canadians objected
to the inclusion of the book for a Grade 11 history course. The book
describes the deaths of more than a million Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire early in the twentieth century as genocide. Update–In April
2008, a committee of the Toronto District School Board decided to
remove the book from the reading list because "a concern was raised
regarding [its] appropriatenes." The decision to remove Extraordinary
Evil, however, prompted new protests from the book’s defenders,
including Canadian publishers, the Writers’ Union of Canada, the Book
and Periodical Council and holocaust scholar Gerald Caplan. In June,
the school board reversed its decision, putting the book back onto
the recommended reading list.

Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah
Ellis–In 2006 the Canadian Jewish Congress urged public school
boards to deny access to Three Wishes. Cause of objection–The CJC
said that Ellis had provided a flawed historical introduction to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The CJC also said that some children
in the book portrayed Israeli soldiers as brutal, expressed ethnic
hatred and glorified suicide bombing. The effect on young student
readers, the CJC said, was "toxic." Update–Although the Ontario
Library Association (OLA) had recommended Three Wishes to schools
as part of its acclaimed Silver Birch reading program, at least five
school boards in Ontario set restrictions on the text.

Source: Freedomtoread.ca