Canadian school board purges pre-2008 books for ‘anti-racism’
A Canadian school board purged its school libraries of all books written before 2008 to be “anti-racist” and “inclusive.”
It is unclear why the Peel District School Board (PDSB) in Ontario chose 2008 as the cutoff date. According to a report by CBC Ontario last week, the board’s decision to remove all books “from 15 years ago” appears arbitrary.
Students and community members who visit school libraries in the district reported they can no longer find copies of “Harry Potter,” “Hunger Games,” or even more historical literature like Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.” “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” was also removed, along with classics by Mark Twain, Upton Sinclair, Ernest Hemingway and others.
“This year, I came into my school library and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books,” said 10th Grade student Reina Takata.
The move came after Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce directed PDSB to “evaluate books, media and all other resources currently in use for teaching and learning English, History and Social Sciences for the purpose of utilizing resources that are inclusive and culturally responsive, relevant and reflective of students, and the Board’s broader school communities.”
PDSB took the step of ensuring that books available to students qualify as "resources that promote anti-racism, cultural responsiveness and inclusivity."
But while there is a “weeding process” for books that meet certain criteria — such as disrepair, “irrelevance,” or not being checked out by students — Education Minister Leece says publication date should not be the sole determinant of whether a book remains in the library.
CBC says Leece’s office did not comment on PDSB’s book purge, and only issued a statement after the story was published. On Wednesday last week, Leece said he wrote to the school board about the “offensive” practice.
“Ontario is committed to ensuring that the addition of new books better reflects the rich diversity of our communities,” said Lecce. “It is offensive, illogical and counterintuitive to remove books from years past that educate students on Canada’s history, antisemitism or celebrated literary classics.”
PDSB has since published a statement that “Harry Potter” and “The Diary of a Young Girl” remain in school libraries and that there is no order to purge books before 2008.
An advocacy group called Libraries Not Landfills which opposes the purge suggested 2008 was chosen as the beginning of the “anti-racism era” because it was the year Barack Obama was elected US president.
“We agree that adding and addressing issues of equity and supporting more marginalized voices in our education system is of paramount importance,” Libraries Not Landfills spokesman Tom Ellard told CTV News.
“However, what's really concerning is the wholesale removal of huge swaths of books from before 2008. That's really not that long ago. That's when Barack Obama was elected.”
