Freedom to Read Week in Canada
February 23-29,2020
30 Challenged Publications
https://www.freedomtoread.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/30-challenged-publications-6-
Some titles:
Go Ask Alice /Anonymous
In 1978, school boards in Richmond and Langley, B.C., removed this book from their high schools. Go Ask Alice, which reads like a diary, describes a teenage girl’s experiences with narcotics and sex. In Richmond, students sent a petition to the school board to protest the ban, and the Richmond Teacher-Librarians’ Association supported them. In Langley, a committee of school trustees, librarians and parents recommended keeping copies in school counsellors’ offices. But these efforts failed; both bans stayed in effect.
To Kill a Mockingbird/Harper Lee
In 1991, an African-Canadian organization called PRUDE (Pride of Race, Unity and Dignity through Education) in Saint John, N.B., sought to remove Lee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from school reading lists. PRUDE disliked the portrayal of racial minorities in both novels.
Of Mice and Men/ John Steinbeck
In 1994, in Alberta’s legislature, Victor Doerksen called for the removal of profane, irreligious books from Alberta’s schools. He cited Steinbeck’s novel, which describes the hardships of migrant workers in California during the Great Depression, as an example. Doerksen had a petition that bore the signatures of 811 Albertans who wanted schools to withdraw books that “demean or profane the name of God and Jesus Christ.”
Asha’s Mums/ Rosamund Elwin and Michele Paulse
In 1997, school trustees in Surrey, B.C., banned the use in the elementary grades of children’s storybooks that depict same-sex parents. One of the banned titles was Asha’s Mums. A teacher, James Chamberlain, challenged the ban in court. In 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada declared that B.C.’s School Act required secular and non-discriminatory education. A ban on books about same-sex parents could not be legally justified.
The Harry Potter Series / J.K. Rowling
In 2000, a Christian parent in Corner Brook, Nfld., complained about the presence of these popular fantasy novels in an elementary school. The parent objected to the depiction of wizardry and magic, and the school principal ordered the books’ removal. Neither the parent nor the principal had read the novels
The Golden Compass /Philip Pullman
In 2007, Ontario’s Halton Catholic District School Board voted to ban Philip Pullman’s trilogy of fantasy novels—The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass— from its schools. The board objected to “atheist” themes in the British author’s books.
The Handmaid’s Tale /Margaret Atwood
In 2008, a parent in Toronto complained about the use of this dystopian novel in his son’s Grade 12 English class. The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of Offred, a woman who lives in a future patriarchal theocracy. The parent disliked the novel’s “profane language,” anti-Christian overtones and themes of “violence” and “sexual degradation.” In 2009, a review panel of the Toronto District School Board recommended that the novel be kept in the curricula for Grades 11 and 12. The Handmaid’s Tale remained on Grade 12 reading lists.
Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak /Deborah Ellis
In 2006, the Ontario branch of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) objected to the inclusion of this nonfiction book in a voluntary reading program in Grades 4–6 of Ontario’s schools. In Three Wishes, children speak frankly about the strife around them in Palestine and Israel. Concerned about the “toxic effects” of the book on students’ minds, the CJC urged school boards to withdraw Three Wishes from the reading program. At least five school boards restricted or denied access to the book.
2016 List of Challenged Materials
http://cfla-fcab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2017-challenges-survey-bpc-titles-and-policies.pdf
Lists of Previously Challenged Materials (2006-2016)
http://cfla-fcab.ca/en/programs/intellectual-freedom-challenges-survey/
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