Protesters pack Carman school board meeting with book-ban arguments on agenda

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2023 (882 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Carman became the latest hub for a discussion on banning books in schools Monday evening when protesters packed a regular meeting of the Prairie Rose School Division board of trustees.

The board moved the meeting’s location from its office to Carman Collegiate Theatre in anticipation of the response to the scheduled delegations, which included the presentation of a petition to remove the non-fiction This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson from the collegiate’s grade 7-12 school library shelves.

The agenda also included four speakers speaking against book bans and the submission of 67 written submissions — from school staff, teacher organizations, parents and residents — on both sides of the issue.

There were about 150 people in the theatre when the meeting was called to order. Security guards were posted by the exits.

Two women stood at the back with signs attached to wooden crosses, one reading “Protect children not porn,” and another, “Yes to kids no to porn.” One person sitting in the audience held a small sign reading “My indoctrination was at Sunday school.”

Others in attendance distributed small rainbow flags. One person sat with a pride flag draped around their shoulders.

The board, which officially received information on the subject Monday, will discuss it at its June 26 meeting, and intends to put out a statement afterward.

Parents Raelyn and John Fox called on the trustees to begin creating a policy that would allow them to pull books off of shelves.

Raelyn Fox read aloud several from what she claimed were books in the collegiate’s library that included depictions of sexual acts and sexual violence.

“You will not be able to hide the content of these books forever,” she told trustees.

“Tonight, please remember who elected you into these positions and who you represent. Your stakeholders are the members of this community, not the outside organizations who have managed to push their way into this meeting.”

She and her husband alleged groups from outside southern Manitoba “with deep pockets” had infiltrated the community, about 85 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

Lisa Carlson has been a teacher at Elm Creek School for 23 years and told the board she has seen more than one of her students harm themselves as a result of struggling with their identity. Part of her work as a teacher is supporting those students, in part, by keeping books with a diverse range of experiences in her classroom.

She said she and other teachers and librarians at the school will work with parents and students if there’s any concern over what books children are taking home.

“As an English teacher, watching what is going on in the United States right now in terms of banning books, it is frightening,” she said.

“Never, in a million years, did I think I would have to be worried about this as a teacher in Elm Creek, Manitoba.”

It’s a clash that has made its way into several Manitoba municipal councils and school boards this year, generating headlines.

A Winnipeg city council executive policy committee meeting in March included a delegate who distributed “information” on library materials that one city councillor said was “beyond just coded language and hate speech.”

Calls to remove books with content on gender and sexuality in Brandon drew hundreds to a school division meeting in May. A proposal to create a committee that would review books in schools was rejected by 6-1 vote.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Biidaajimowin | News from the Centre

Wednesdays

Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences.

Sign up for Biidaajimowin | News from the Centre

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

In July, South Central Regional Library (which has branches in Altona, Manitou, Miami, Morden and Winkler) was asked to remove three books from its shelves, all of which discussed topics of gender and sexuality and are aimed at children and young adults. One book was moved from the children’s section to the young-adult section, and the other two remained in place.

Manitoba Teachers’ Society president Nathan Martindale said parents should not be given the right to determine what is appropriate reading material for other parents’ children.

“In a democratic society, no matter what our personal values are, all individuals have the right to voice their opinions,” he wrote in an email to the Free Press last Thursday.

“But hateful behaviour has no place in a civilized society and cannot be tolerated. All individuals have the right to participate in and access information that affects their lives and well-being.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.