To librarian friends and other book lovers: The Ontario book banning story happened in Peel District (English), just outside Toronto, a week ago, and, a few years ago, in one French district. There's a parents' group called* Libraries, not Landfills <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://librariesnotlandfills.ca/about-2/__;!!KGKeukY!08grmihYh1hRk69Z9B692-6MyzX3yOTeUBMINp6NHM3hawc7YjvganINS8_wp6ZhXhZGSSGlvRcacBv5gmCSlWrihQI$ >* that is fighting this:
In Peel <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lecce-ford-order-end-to-book-banning-at-peel-schools__;!!KGKeukY!08grmihYh1hRk69Z9B692-6MyzX3yOTeUBMINp6NHM3hawc7YjvganINS8_wp6ZhXhZGSSGlvRcacBv5gmCS0KwP1GU$ >, the word was given to librarians to weed out all books *dated before 2008*. The board is now denying this and saying that Anne Frank's diary is still on the shelves, but diligent reporters (*not* from the right-leaning Toronto Sun!) have actually dug up the 51-page booklet of guidelines to weeding put out by the board. It is all done in the name of "inclusion," but of course it is really done in the name of Philistinism. Here's how the Sun article opens (though the story was broken by the left-leaning CBC): The* Very Hungry Caterpillar* is now banned from the libraries belonging to one Ontario school board. It joins Anne Frank’s *Diary of a Young Girl*, the *Hunger Games* and Harry Potter books on the banned list. Back in 2019, a French-language board did the same thing, but they brought the kids to burn (yes, burn!) the books in a "flame-purification ceremony". I guess they never heard of Heine's famous statement, "Those who burn books will soon burn human beings." In 2019, the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence, a French language school board covering Southwestern Ontario, held a “flame purification” ceremony <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/book-burning-at-ontario-francophone-schools-as-gesture-of-reconciliation-denounced*:*:text=A*20book*20burning*20held*20by,it*20regrets*20its*20symbolic*20gesture__;I34lJSUlJSUlJQ!!KGKeukY!08grmihYh1hRk69Z9B692-6MyzX3yOTeUBMINp6NHM3hawc7YjvganINS8_wp6ZhXhZGSSGlvRcacBv5gmCSsK8LFJM$ .> to dispose of books as an act of reconciliation with the Indigenous community. If you can’t tell by the name, they purified themselves by burning 30 books and then took the ashes to use as fertilizer for planting a tree. To my American friends, has this story broken in any American papers yet? [image: image.png]
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran@lists.osu.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
