Banned Books discussion

"According to Blacklock’s Reporter, chief archivist Leslie Weir told employees at Library and Archives Canada to purge thousands of pages, including a biography of Canada’s first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald. "

https://tnc.news/2022/03/07/trudeau-a...

Goodreads Censors Books wrote: ""According to Blacklock’s Reporter, chief archivist Leslie Weir told employees at Library and Archives Canada to purge thousands of pages, including a biography of Canada’s first prime minister Sir..."

I hope that is not true! And if it is, I hope the employess refuse. I know John A. MacDonald’s legacy is now rather tainted due to the residential school issues, but he was still Canada’s first PM (and his attitudes towards First Nations were in no way uncommon for the time).

It sounds from the article like the items are just being labeled or removed from the website. The historical documents themselves aren't being purged or destroyed. While I don't agree with removing access to historical documents and information from the public (which the article says nothing about), they probably have a limited amount of space on their website and are choosing to feature inclusive material when required to curate.

Canada has been trying to erase their history for a while now, reminds me of this story

"Top Canadian museum to be imminently gutted in the name of 'decolonization'
With little notice and even less transparency, the Royal B.C. Museum is demolishing some of Canada's most iconic exhibits with no idea of what's going to replace them"

"Geoff Russ wrote in the Times Colonist that the removal of the galleries is “part of this strange new idea in Canada that physical objects representing anything or anyone before 1980 are literally harmful to Indigenous people. Despite whatever abstract nonsense our alleged thought leaders are cooking up these days, I’m not ‘harmed’ by the presence of the Discovery and Old Town,” Russ wrote."

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/top-...

Geez, don’t erase history, explain it or we’re doomed to repeat it as they say.

This is not right AT ALL. That's not what archivists do. We're focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion measures, adding warning labels, rethinking what language we use to describe people and trying to provide access and inclusion to people who haven't felt welcome before.

I'm also a historian and I think these warning labels are a bit silly. Obviously if you're researching a topic or person from the past, you're going to come across harmful language and ideas and attitudes different from what they are today.

The U.S. National Archives statement on potentially harmful content. It covers all the basics.
https://www.archives.gov/research/rep...

and one from Canada (The Royal BC Museum)
https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/archives/...

In some states, archivists are being asked to remove any DEI content from their websites and not allowed to use them in hiring either.