A public school in Ontario has culled nearly half its books, one student estimates, following “a new equity-based book weeding process,” leaving students and community members deeply concerned as the new school year starts.
Among the classics removed from Erindale Secondary School in Peel District School Board include the Harry Potter series, The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank, A Hungry Caterpillar, and The Hunger Games in a bid to make the library more inclusive.
Reina Takata, a Grade 10 student at Erindale, reflected upon returning to school: “This year, I came into my school library and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books.” She was reportedly prepared for the barren library beforehand. Near the end of the previous school year, administrators forewarned her, “If the shelves look emptier right now it’s because we have to remove all books [published] prior to 2008.”
Takata, a Canadian of Japanese descent, fears that such culling of books will lead to the removal of important historical stories, such as those about the Japanese internment during World War II. “I think that authors who wrote about Japanese internment camps are going to be erased and the entire events that went on historically for Japanese Canadians are going to be removed,” the student told CBC.
“That worries me a lot.”
Documents obtained by a local group, Libraries not Landfills, reveal that the mass removal of books was partly influenced by the “equitable curation cycle” created by the Ministry of Education following an earlier review of the district showing a widespread pattern of racial discrimination.
“The Board shall 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,” one directive created following the district investigation commanded the school board.
Other files shared with the CBC reveal that the “equitable curation cycle” is composed of “a three-step process that holds Peel staff accountable for being critically conscious of how systems operate, so that we can dismantle inequities and foster practices that are culturally responsive and relevant.” One part of this process includes auditing existing books to ensure they “promote anti-racism, cultural responsiveness, and inclusivity.”
Some local officials insist that the majority of books excised, including Anne Frank’s memoir, were removed simply for being old prints. “When you talk to the librarian in the library, the books are being weeded by the date, no other criteria,” a school board trustee said during a committee meeting in May.
The school board defended its decision in an official statement to National Review on Wednesday. “The Peel District School Board follows the library weeding guidelines set by the Canadian School Libraries Association. These guidelines direct the teacher librarians at our 259 schools to keep books with any publishing date that are accurate, relevant to the student population, inclusive, not harmful, and support the current curriculum from the Ministry of Education.”
“To be clear, books such as The Diary of a Young Girl by Ann Frank and the Harry Potter series remain in our collections, and where needed, newer versions may be purchased if the book is in poor condition,” the statement clarified. “Regardless of publication date, older or damaged books that are accurate, relevant to the student population, inclusive, not harmful, and support the current curriculum may stay within the school or schools have the opportunity to repurchase newer copies of the same title to replace the damaged ones.”
The news drew the condemnation of Canadian public intellectual Jordan Peterson. “The present is fixed. The past,” he wrote on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter, “Well, we can change that.”