Intellectual freedom is the right of all people to hold and express opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Intellectual freedom is recognized by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19, as a basic human right.
The CFE-CFLA/FCAB Canadian Library Challenges Database provides access to challenges libraries have faced to items in their collection, and to displays, programs, room usage, and computer access.
In Quesnel, B.C., after Pat Morton, the wife of Mayor Ron Paull, circulated a controversial book about Indian residential schools, members of the Indigenous population said that the book offended, disrespected, and traumatized them.
Toni Samek, Professor and former Chair at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta, will be the Centre for Free Expression’s Scholar-in-Residence for 2024-25. “Prof. Samek is one of Canada’s leading authorities on intellectual freedom, as well as one of its most effective advocates,” said James L. Turk, Director of the Centre for Free Expression (CFE).
Noteworthy authors named in the following articles include Timothy Findley, Amanda Gorman, Margaret Laurence, Harper Lee, Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, John Steinbeck and many other older, classic authors.
Wendy Wright, Director of the Smithers Public Library in northwestern British Columbia, has been appointed a senior fellow by the Centre for Free Expression (CFE).
