Canadian DU'ers - has book censorship affected you?

[Book Lover]

http://www.freedomtoread.ca/censorship_in_canada/index.asp

Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned at the border. Books are removed from the shelves in Canadian libraries, schools and bookstores every day. Free speech on the Internet is under attack. Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read.

I know that a decade or so ago, a book by Andrea Dworkin was stopped at the border (the paper I worked for at the time ran a piece on it). But other than that, I just don't hear about this. Is this something that really happens, or it is enforced like the speeding laws, you know, when convenient?

[Maple]

1. I had to check this out

Snuff films are banned, child porn is, although there has been controversy over defining it.

I remember some uproar a few years ago about a gay book store in BC having trouble getting shipments, but I believe that was resolved long time ago.

I just scanned the pdf here, and as far as I can tell most of the objections to certain books involve what's suitable for children.

http://www.freedomtoread.ca/docs/challenged_books.pdf

[Ekova]

2. Only once in my experience.

A friend of mine read a book called Corruption in Canada - written in the mid 80's (can't recall the author). I've never been able to find it, actually stopped looking a few years ago.

Among it's topics, that Paul Martin would become the Prime Minister of Canada and that it had been in the works for years previous.

Other than that, I've never been restricted from owning a book that I'd like to have. (Degree of difficulty in acquisition not withstanding...)

[nine23]

3. I don't think it's nearly as bad...

as that paragraph in your post makes it out to be. (And I'll peruse the site link in a moment for some detail.)

The most famous case of the last decade involved Little Sister's Books in Vancouver. It was a Supreme Court "test" case involving gay and lesbian literature deemed "obscene" by Customs being held at the border, and turned into a harassment issue.

Here's a link to Little Sister's: http://www.littlesistersbookstore.com/ , scroll down to "Supreme Court".

Other than that, your link to the "Freedom To Read" organization is news to me. (There may be issues with individual school boards, but they're far and few between...)

[Book Lover]

4. Which is why I am asking

With the one exception I noted in my post, and a vague recollection of some Playboys being turned back at the border (again, years ago), I just don't hear about this. But I wanted to hear it from Canadians themselves :-)

[Kellanved]

5. I don't think "censorship" is the appropriate term

The page linked seems to be about school-libraries and school reading lists. Censoring a book is a different thing altogether from deciding not to spend public funds on it.