Freedom to Read Week (Feb. 19 to 25) is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Despite having strong traditions of free expression and free inquiry, Canada also has a long-standing tradition of censorship. Historically, books and magazines have often been quietly removed from libraries and classrooms.
Freedom to Read Week was founded in 1984 to challenge the covert nature of censorship, creating a broader awareness of these ongoing challenges to Canadian writing, and to allow Canadians to actively defend their right to publish, read and write freely and to widen their understanding of the negative effects of censorship, not just on readers but on writers and publishers as well.
Not one of the books listed in the letter by the guy who was defeated in the last election for school board (Darrell Furgason, “Former trustee insists porn exists in school libraries”) has been banned or censored as he suggested. All of the books have met the standard for publication and there was never any action to have them banned as indicated for publication. As well, the Criminal Code of Canada does not cite books or publications.
Jack Kopstein
Chilliwack
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