B.C. library banned book challenging residential school narrative without reading it

By Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, True North Wire

Executives at a British Columbia library decided to ban a book debunking the political narrative that hundreds of graves were supposedly discovered at former residential schools even before conducting a review of its contents.

According to internal emails obtained via an access to information request, Fraser Valley Regional Library’s management scrambled to respond to Canadians after they were flooded with requests to put “Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools)” in circulation.

“Grave Error” Was published by True North in collaboration with Dorchester Books, edited by C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan.

True North previously reported that at least two B.C. libraries, including Fraser Valley, had prohibited the bestselling book from its inventory.

One day after True North’s story, Fraser Valley Regional Library CEO Scott Hargrove emailed top library brass demanding strict media discipline, urging all communication requests on the controversy to be directed to him.

“If I’m unavailable, please wait until I am available – do not issue a statement until you talk to me,” said Hargrove.

“This is NOT a book ban,” Hargrove stressed. “Not choosing to purchase a book is not banning it, it is simply deciding it does not have a place in our collection at this time.”

In another email dated Mar. 4, the library’s manager of collections, Dean Kelly, indicated that he had yet to even read the book himself and that the decision to ban the book from the library’s inventory happened before a review took place.