Bänoo Zan, an Iranian-born poet in Toronto, has won the Freedom to Read Award of the Writers’ Union of Canada.PRESS RELEASEThe Writers’ Union of Canada announces the award:Poet and Presenter Bänoo Zan Wins Freedom to Read Award | The Writers' Union of CanadaREPORTAGEIn Quill & Quire, Cassandra Drudi reports:
In Ontario, the London District Catholic School Board prohibits teachers from teaching certain novels, such as Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes, to students because the books contain the N-word.
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.
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.
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, a member of the Bloc Québécois, recently introduced a bill in the House of Commons.
Bill C-373 proposes to eliminate religious arguments expressed in good faith as a defence in court against charges of wilfully promoting hatred or anti-Semitism.
