Canadians fighting for their right to read
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
February 13, 2008
 Let's say you couldn’t read your favourite book because someone didn’t agree with the content. Would you willingly put down the book, or would you stand up for your freedom to read? Canadians everywhere are getting ready to do the latter during Freedom to Read Week, held Feb. 24 until March 1.
For 24 years, Freedom to Read Week has celebrated our freedom to read and has promoted awareness of challenged and banned books. Challenged books are much different than banned books. Books are first challenged by an individual.
Books are challenged for numerous reasons such as having inappropriate sexual content; offensive language; violence; or racial, cultural, religious, gender, or political bias. “Homophobia is also at the root of many book challenges—as in the case of challenges to Asha’s Mums and And Tango Makes Three, for instance,” explains Emily Sinkins, Chair of the Freedom of Expression Committee. It is important to have different viewpoints available, allowing an individual to reach their own conclusions and have their own opinions on issues.
If the committee reviewing the challenge deems it necessary, then the book will be banned. Books that have been challenged in the Windsor Essex County area include A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Deliverance by James Dickey, Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis, and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler. These books are all still available in libraries and schools, however.
“The cases that tend to receive the most coverage involve special interest groups who object to work that they feel threatens their ideology or parents who lobby their school boards to remove titles from libraries and/or curriculums because, for whatever reason, they believe their children need to be protected from ideas presented in the book,” says Sinkins.
Even though some books seem innocent enough, many popular titles receive public backlash. “What is amazing to me is the large scale on which the Harry Potter books were objected to. The series topped the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books of the twenty-first Century based on the perception that the books promote witchcraft and the occult,” says Sinkins.
“These books have done so much good in captivating children’s’ imaginations, stimulating their creativity and cultivating a genuine enthusiasm for reading. They’re made better for being exposed to these books and to suggest that the work will corrupt them is ridiculous—particularly when you take into consideration that readers are rooting for Harry throughout; they want him to triumph over evil. It’s goodness that’s celebrated, not wickedness,” she explains.
Surely a compromise can be reached between an offended party wishing to challenge a book and the school, library, or group opposing the challenge. “School boards need to take parental complaints seriously, even if a complaint comes from just one person. A formal review may be a part of policy—so, as long as it is conducted in a reasonable and timely fashion and keeps the book off the shelf for a minimal amount of time, that’s fair,” explains Sinkins.
Librarians have procedures in place that they must follow in case of a book challenge. “I would certainly expect them to argue that a library exists to offer free and ready access to a variety of materials representing a wealth of differing opinions, and one person should not be allowed to bar this access for all of the rest,” Sinkins says.
“We get few challenged materials, considering the size of our collections,” says Janet Woodbridge, manager of the Central and Budimir branches of the Windsor Public Library. During the past five years, two books, one newspaper, and two films have been challenged: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Alice on Her Way by Phyllis Naylor, Metro Times, Kirkou, and The Best of Britney, Justin, and Christina.
The Windsor Public Library has a policy and procedure to follow. “A customer is requested to read the Statement on Intellectual Freedom and then fill out the Request for Reconsideration form,” explains Woodbridge. “The form asks if they have read or viewed the item in question, and then asks them to detail their objections. All requests for reconsideration are treated seriously. A panel of librarians reviews the request, researches the items in question and decides whether the objections are warranted. Part of the research is to search for reviews that would substantiate the purchase of the item,” says Woodbridge.
The University of Windsor’s Leddy Library follows the same procedure, although “There has never been a book banned at Leddy,” says Leddy librarian Mita Williams. When a book is challenged, the Leddy brings out the Statement on Intellectual Freedom as well.
“The number of banned books in Canada is very small,” explains Williams. “These things usually happen in public libraries. People are more understanding in a university context that libraries have responsibility to show different points of view. And there are no children involved.”
During Freedom to Read Week, Canadians are encouraged to leave copies of challenged books in coffee shops, libraries, park benches, or wherever else they see fit. The BookCrossing website offers book labels to place inside of the books left out for others to spread the word about Freedom to Read Week as well as about challenged and banned books in Canada.
“The Committee was inspired by the BookCrossing site where book lovers from all over the world connect by registering books and then leaving them in unexpected places—tracking their progress as others discover the book, report back, and then leave it for someone else to read,” says Sinkins.
A list of challenged books is available on the Freedom to Read website, but it is far from complete. “Many of these challenges go unreported mainly because there is no mechanism in place to track them. The Freedom of Expression Committee is currently working with the Canadian Public Library community to develop such a tracking system,” explains Sinkins.
Most importantly, it is imperative that readers spread the word about how our freedom to read is being threatened, “Whether it is through removing books from school library shelves, or intimidating journalists with the threat of legal action or giving Customs Agents the authority to decide what reading material should be allowed into the country,” says Sinkins.
There will be a display of challenged books in the Leddy Library during Freedom to Read Week, highlighting some of the more recently challenged books in Canada. For more information on Freedom to Read Week, visit http://www.freedomtoread.ca. To learn more about how to free a challenged book visit http://www.bookcrossing.com.
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