‘Full confidence in the professional judgment of our educators and librarians’: Prairie Rose rejects book ban

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A southern Manitoba school division has rejected calls to ban certain books from its libraries, after a board of trustees meeting on the issue last week drew supporters and protesters from across the province.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2023 (833 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A southern Manitoba school division has rejected calls to ban certain books from its libraries, after a board of trustees meeting on the issue last week drew supporters and protesters from across the province.

A statement from Prairie Rose School Division (which operates 11 schools in centres including Carman, Miami and Roland) signed by board chairwoman Elaine Owen and superintendent Terry Osiowy called claims that books on its library shelves contained pornography or were somehow breaking the Criminal Code of Canada “without foundation, hurtful, and harmful.”

“All school libraries within Prairie Rose School Division have age-appropriate texts that are only available to the age group or maturity level for which they are appropriate. Books containing material appropriate for mature students are kept segregated and where necessary, (in) secured locations,” the statement released Tuesday reads.

Prairie Rose School Division has rejected calls to ban certain books from its libraries, after the board of trustees met last week at Carman collegiate. (Kathlyn Hossack /Winnipeg Free Press files)

Prairie Rose School Division has rejected calls to ban certain books from its libraries, after the board of trustees met last week at Carman collegiate. (Kathlyn Hossack /Winnipeg Free Press files)

“The Prairie Rose School Division board of trustees has full confidence in the professional judgment of our educators and librarians regarding access to material based on their knowledge of not only content, but also of the students they teach.”

A board meeting June 19 brought speakers for and against pulling certain books (many of which are on the topic of sexual health or LGBTTQ+ issues) off school bookshelves, including the presentation of a petition to remove the non-fiction This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson from Carman Collegiate’s Grade 7-12 library and four speakers against book banning.

At the meeting, excerpts from books covering issues of sexuality and sexual and gender identity were read aloud. Protesters carried signs implying pornography was available in school libraries.

A special meeting was held Monday to decide the board’s stance on the issue.

The statement also refers to a policy adopted by PRSD administration on fostering respect for human diversity: “This includes raising awareness and learning, as well as supporting and protecting everyone, including transgender and gender diverse people.”

Organizations across the province celebrated the news.

“This decision will validate students who identify as (LGBTTQ+), give them critical information and guidance, and show that the board and MTS members have the best interests of every student at heart,” Manitoba Teachers Society president Nathan Martindale said in an email.

Manitoba School Library Association president Sandy Welbergen commended the strong stance in the statement.

“Unfortunately, sometimes, soft censorship happens if people are afraid to make a decision about a book, they may, unwittingly, not put books into their library, because they are afraid they may be challenged,” she said.

“It’s really good to know that they’re supporting the people.”

Others were not so pleased.

Raelyn Fox, who spoke at the June 19 PRSD meeting in support of creating a policy that would remove books with certain sexually explicit material, referred to the criminal code and suggested children were not being protected under the current library standard.

“I expect that every child in Canada has the same right of safety provided under the Criminal Code of Canada… I would fiercely advocate that the children in our school division be granted that same standard of safety,” she said in a social media message.

The PRSD decision comes as the debate over library materials continues in Brandon.

During a Brandon School Division board of trustees meeting Monday, local resident Kathy Smitzniuk suggested several trustees had acted out of order in their rebuttals against calls to set up a book review committee May 8.

She suggested they be reprimanded for breaching the school division’s code of conduct.

In one example, trustee Jim Murray told a parent in support of a book review committee they “should be ashamed of himself” during a board meeting.

Calls to set up a review committee were lambasted as a tool for censoring LGBTTQ+ content by advocates, and the idea was shot down in a 6-1 vote from trustees May 23.

A statement Tuesday from the BSD board said three trustees — Murray, Linda Ross and Kim Fallis — had been formally reprimanded for breaching the trustee code of conduct policy and had all “agreed to follow all division policies and bylaws going forward.”

— with files from Brandon Sun

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas

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.

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