Ontario libraries were advised to prepare policies, train staff and speak with politicians about “challenges to intellectual freedom.” The presentation targeted parents who said speaking up about age-inappropriate material has come at great personal cost.
The presentation, “Trends in Challenges to Intellectual Freedom & Inclusiveness,” was delivered by Toronto Metropolitan University academic James L. Turk on September 23. The slides say that libraries have become targets in “political and culture wars,” specifically listing several citizen and parent groups.
You can read the presentation here:
Turk, who runs the Centre for Free Expression, recommended that Ontario libraries review their policies, train staff, and lobby municipal and provincial politicians about the concerns raised by parents and citizens.
Whether James Turk makes a distinction between public and school libraries is not evident from the slides, either
Juno News spoke with many of the named organizations, all of which said that no one had ever contacted them about their positions.
It's unclear from the slides alone why each group was included on a list of censorious actors
Juno News tried to get clarification from the Ontario Federation of Public Libraries and James Turk, but neither responded.
For Shannon Boschy, co-founder of the Parents Rights Coalition of Canada, speaking publicly about school policies had already come at a cost.
Boschy said he’s experienced doxxing and threats by activist who misrepresented his views. The intimidation he faced was a big reason he helped establish the coalition.
“Our focus as an organization was entirely on schools,” Boschy told Juno News. “We took no position on public libraries,” he said. While the coalition advocated for age-appropriate materials in schools, they never made any attempts to ban books.
Neither Turk nor the federation contacted the coalition either.
DDSB Concerned Parents, a handful of parents who post on a local Facebook group, said they began speaking out after hearing concerns about inappropriate books, materials, and assignments in their local schools.
“We had parents provide us with proof—emails sent to principals—that they had followed protocols for book complaints,” but said those complaints never reached the board.
“We pushed for age appropriateness and board protocols to be followed…We are not asking public libraries to remove books for everyone,” they told Juno News. “We are asking for parents to have meaningful involvement in publicly funded schools.”
The group expressed dismay that they were being branded as the censorious ones. “We have had union representatives and progressive churches make false claims to our police community liaison officers.
“We even had the Canada Post pension plan—which owns parking lots in our area—change their parking lot rules to stop our rallies.
“Parents asking questions about what is available or being assigned to their children is not the same thing as opposing intellectual freedom,” they said.
Campaign Life Coalition’s director of political operations, Jack Fonseca, said his group has encouraged peaceful protests and urged supporters to seek representation on local library boards, all of which represent normal and legitimate democratic advocacy.
According to communications director Celine Traynor of Parents As First Educators, they advocate for transparency and accountability.
“When it comes to public libraries, our concern is that children are often being exposed to harmful and age-inappropriate themes through media — books, films, book displays, signage — and events that are marketed towards them.” They cited drag queen story hour and media featuring gender transition in children as examples.
“PAFE carries out this work at a great personal cost,” Traynor said.
“Parents are upset by this, and we want to be their voice.”
Tanya Gaw of Action4Canada said they advocated to remove certain books from libraries in Alberta in 2025, but never elsewhere.
“We haven’t had any campaigns against the Ontario libraries, which is why I am especially perplexed by any grievance against us,” Gaw said.
The presentation included a screenshot of Action4Canada’s “Notice of Liability” sitting atop an image showing people invading the library.
Gaw categorically rejected any suggestion that her organization condones vandalism or invading libraries.
Our Duty Canada, a support network for parents, said they never campaigned against book or public library policies.
Their job is supporting parents, not activism. They told Juno News that the closest thing to what they’re being characterized as doing that they’ve engaged in was educating parents and publishing a list of age-inappropriate books available to young children in schools.
“Parents who attempt to preview or who approve or disapprove of content available to their children are not a threat to public libraries, nor to intellectual freedom,” they said.
“In fact, vilifying Our Duty Canada to the public under assumptive pretences could be considered the threat in this situation.
“We would be pleased to speak with the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries directly.”
Faytene Grasseschi, executive director of 4 My Canada, said her organization has never organized a campaign about Ontario public libraries or removing books from them. She said its campaign in this general area concerned parental notification in New Brunswick schools.
“We would have welcomed the opportunity to clarify our actual work had anyone contacted us,” Grasseschi said.
Juno News reached out to Turk and the federation to obtain clarification on their presentation, but they did not respond.
Institutional capture is real and represents an affront to free expression.