{"id":25272,"date":"2019-11-21T14:34:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T19:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25272"},"modified":"2019-11-21T14:34:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T19:34:35","slug":"welcome-to-library-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/welcome-to-library-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Library Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Reccia Mandelcorn<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who has read or listened to media\nthese past months has come to know that there is trouble in Library Land. The\nToronto Public Library, the largest public library system in North America,\nallowed Meghan Murphy, a highly controversial, radical feminist whose ideology\ndoes not acknowledge trans women as \u201creal women\u201d, to speak at their Palmerston\nbranch despite public outcry from citizens, politicians and prominent authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversy about use of public space in\nlibraries is not new. Vancouver Public Library faced similar dissent in January\nwhen they allowed Murphy her platform. Critics decried this decision on the\ngrounds that Murphy promotes fear, discrimination and hatred towards an already\nmarginalized population \u2013 a population that is protected under the Canadian\nCharter of Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I attended a panel discussion\non this very topic with prominent speakers Micheal Vonn (BC) and James Turk\n(Toronto); both speaking from the perspective of the Centre for Free Expression\non the legal definition of what constitutes hate speech. They put forth strong\narguments that I, as a lifetime proponent of the importance of free expression\nsupport, especially in relation to the role of the public library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian libraries are built on the\nfoundation of the fundamental right to free speech. Embedded in our policies\nand value statements is the responsibility to guarantee and facilitate access\nto all expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity, including those\nwhich some elements of society may consider to be unconventional, unpopular or\nunacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is also the legal definition\nof what constitutes hate speech. Canadian Law has a very high bar; Mr. Justice\nRothstein wrote that courts \u201chave generally identified only extreme and\negregious examples of delegitimizing expression as hate speech. This approach\nexcludes merely offensive or hurtful expression from the ambit of the\nprovision\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a parent, I encouraged freedom for my\nchild. Reach out and express yourself; your only limits are when your freedom attacks,\noppresses or hurts another human being. And this is why I angst over the issue\nof freedom of expression within the current controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trans people, in particular trans youth,\nare a particularly vulnerable demographic. According to the Human Rights\nCampaign, they are disproportionately subject to assault and murder as a result\nof their trans status. Often bullied from childhood, two-thirds of trans youth\nengage in self-harm. In Library Land, we pride ourselves on being a safe place\nand space for all members of our society, most especially those who are\nmarginalized.  So, although I believe in\nthe right to freedom of expression, I am concerned about the message sent to\ntrans individuals by public institutions in the guise of this right we hold\nclose as Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, the legal system is slow to\ncatch up with beliefs that were once considered acceptable, such as systems of\napartheid, segregation and anti-Semitism. Populist and right-wing leanings\nthreaten to gain legitimacy through becoming mainstream. What is our\nresponsibility as public institutions to support balanced, respectful and open\ndialogue \u2013 and where do we draw the line between free speech and hate speech? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is trouble in Library Land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reccia Mandelcorn is the Manager, Community Collaboration at Aurora Public Library. The opinions expressed in this column reflect her personal thoughts about the engagement of community with their public library.<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reccia Mandelcorn Anyone who has read or listened to media these past months has come to know that there is trouble in Library Land. The Toronto Public Library, the largest public library system in North America, allowed Meghan Murphy, a highly controversial, radical feminist whose ideology does not acknowledge trans women as \u201creal women\u201d, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6zC","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 00:33:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}