By: Heidi Kwok, Staff Writer
Each year, libraries across Canada celebrate Freedom to Read Week, a national education campaign urging Canadians to combat the growing risk of censorship against intellectual freedom in schools and public libraries. February 22–28, 2026, marked the 42nd iteration since the campaign was first launched in 1984.
In Metro Vancouver, Freedom to Read Week closed at the Rio Theatre with a screening of The Librarians, a 2025 documentary directed by Kim A. Snyder that explores the erosion of freedom of expression via coordinated book banning efforts in the US. The film follows conservative groups’ attempts to squash stories featuring racial and 2SLGBTQIA+ subject matters under the guise of protecting children from “obscene” topics. At the centre of the conflict were the defiant librarians pushing back against this censorship, despite the repercussions of being fired, unrelenting harassment, and threats of violence.
Snyder did an incredible job peeling back the layers behind the unprecedented surge in book challenges led by states such as Texas, Florida, and Iowa. In 2022, there were “1,269 demands to censor library books and resources.” Concerns voiced by parental groups towards illicit library materials featuring sex, nudity, and violence quickly became prominent. When books about racialized and queer communities became the prime target of removal, it was clear that this was a systemic attack. Digging deeper into the notorious Texas Rep. Matt Krause’s list of 850 targeted books shows that none of these books actually contained any “indoctrinating” nor sexually explicit materials as initially claimed by far-right groups. This sinister web of fabrications is spearheaded by white Christian nationalists like Moms for Liberty in their bid for power and profit.
In 2024, some of the most challenged books in Canadian and American libraries were Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970), George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue (2020), and Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (2019). Other books featured in the documentary included The Handmaid’s Tale and Maus. It’s unsurprising that these books were scrutinized given that the far-right groups waging this war on information are opposed to any open discussions surrounding gender identity, sexuality, racism, feminism, and totalitarianism.
On the suppression of freedom of expression, George Orwell’s dystopian work, 1984, once succinctly commented, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” In short, staunching ready access to information is a tyrannical action that allows historical narratives to be completely rewritten and opposing viewpoints silenced. Orwell’s prediction is extremely pertinent in this age of fascism, which has contributed to a rise in hateful rhetoric across North America, Europe, and elsewhere.
Bigotry and oppression have no place in libraries, which must remain diverse and welcoming spaces of learning rather than battlegrounds for politicians to exert their extremist politics.
Young people must have the opportunity to access books that are relevant to their individual experiences over arbitrary criteria that aim to silence the voices of minorities. The right to read is a freedom that belongs to everyone, and The Librarians hit home this message on the big screen.
