News Bytes

In Quebec, public libraries in Montreal and Gatineau have withdrawn the works of Gabriel Matzneff from their collections. In France, the police are investigating Matzneff, once a celebrated author, for having sex with youngsters.   REPORTAGE Sandra Abma of CBC News reports: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/library-censorship-gabriel-matzneff-gatineau-opl-1.5426244   In La Presse, Raphael Pirro reports: https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/litterature/202001/08/01-5256130-matzneff-retire-godbout-reste-a-la-grande-bibliotheque.php   Basem Boshra of …

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In Ottawa, the Library of Parliament recently removed two poems from the website of the parliamentary poet laureate. The poems — “Plaza Domingo” and “Alejandra” — were written by Stephen Brown. In 1995, Brown — then named Steven Kummerfield — and a male friend killed Pamela George, a First Nations woman. Both men were convicted …

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An editor of the Humber Literary Review has lost his job because of the messages that he had posted on Twitter about Meghan Murphy’s recent speech at the Toronto Public Library. In The Post Millennial, Anna Slatz writes: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/canadian-literary-editor-fired-after-supporting-free-speech/

In Quebec, the Court of Appeal has ruled on a dispute that pits a comedian’s freedom of expression against a singer’s freedom from discrimination. On November 28, 2019, the court upheld a verdict that requires Mike Ward, a stand-up comedian, to pay singer Jérémy Gabriel $35,000. In his act, Mr. Ward had repeatedly made Mr. …

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In early October 2019, school officials in Illinois cancelled the scheduled visit of a Canadian author because stories about “gender identity” in her non-fiction children’s book “caused concern.” Officials in Community Unit School District 200, which serves the towns of Wheaton and Warrenville near Chicago, cancelled Robin Stevenson’s visit to Longfellow Elementary School. Her book …

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In Toronto, city councillors have voted 20 to 1 to review the policies that govern the use of the city’s community spaces, including public libraries. The vote occurred after hundreds of demonstrators protested the appearance of Meghan Murphy, a feminist writer and speaker, at a branch of the Toronto Public Library on October 29, 2019. …

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In southern Ontario, an unknown person drove a stolen truck into the office of a First Nation’s newspaper and started a blaze in the early hours of October 28, 2019. The office of Turtle Island News, which is located in the Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, suffered approximately $150,000 worth of damage. …

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Nova Scotia Business Inc. — an agency of Nova Scotia’s government — wants to establish a website in the People’s Republic of China. The website, which NSBI hopes to launch on November 1, 2019, would try to attract Chinese investment, help Nova Scotian exporters sell in China and build the province’s brand equity. The website …

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Justin Brake — the journalist who was charged with civil and criminal offences after he reported an Innu and Inuit protest at the construction site of a hydroelectric dam in Labrador in October 2016 — has filed a Charter challenge in court. Mr. Brake is seeking a stay of proceedings. Although Justice Derek Green of …

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