Executives at a British Columbia library decided to ban a book debunking the political narrative that hundreds of graves were supposedly discovered at former residential schools even before conducting a review of its contents.
According to internal emails obtained via an access to information request, Fraser Valley Regional Library’s management scrambled to respond to Canadians after they were flooded with requests to put “Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools)” in circulation.
“Grave Error” Was published by True North in collaboration with Dorchester Books, edited by C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan.
True North previously reported that at least two B.C. libraries, including Fraser Valley, had prohibited the bestselling book from its inventory.
One day after True North’s story, Fraser Valley Regional Library CEO Scott Hargrove emailed top library brass demanding strict media discipline, urging all communication requests on the controversy to be directed to him.
“If I’m unavailable, please wait until I am available – do not issue a statement until you talk to me,” said Hargrove.
“This is NOT a book ban,” Hargrove stressed. “Not choosing to purchase a book is not banning it, it is simply deciding it does not have a place in our collection at this time.”
In another email dated Mar. 4, the library’s manager of collections, Dean Kelly, indicated that he had yet to even read the book himself and that the decision to ban the book from the library’s inventory happened before a review took place.
“There’s been some customer complaint that we declined to purchase an independently published book that discusses recent findings of evidence of graves around former residential schools,” said Kelly.
“It’s a bit of a sensitive subject and I’m foreseeing increasing customer demand for this title – and pushback from staff. I’ve ordered a copy for myself to review. It looks like it will arrive on Wednesday. When it does, please send my way – at this point not for the collection.”
Citing a past response to requests for the book, Hargrove argued that the book was rejected because the title was “self-published or independently published.”
Among the reasons cited by the library for the decision to ban the book from the catalogue was that independent titles had binding that “does not stand up to library circulation,” were “more difficult” to obtain, and tend to be “more expensive” than books published traditionally.
“This same logic has been applied to several hundred other similar requests, so we are consistent with our past practice, Board policy and procedures,” wrote Hargrove.
A cursory glance at the Fraser Valley library catalogue suggests otherwise. Libraries across the region have an abundant number of independently published titles in their inventories, including physical copies.
One example is the novel “Skin” by Donna Jo Napoli, available at the Clearbrook branch in Abbotsford, B.C. According to the library catalogue, the novel’s publisher is listed as Amazon Publishing.
On the book’s Amazon page, the publisher listed is Skyscape, an independent publisher established on Amazon’s self-publishing platform.
True North asked the library to ask why the same standards were not applied to other independently published titles as they were to “Grave Error,” but the library did not respond to requests for comment.
As for the argument that the book was too expensive, social media comments show that members of the community had offered to generously donate their own copies of “Grave Error” to the library at no charge.
“I would be happy to purchase several copies and donate to your library, so you need not struggle to locate. Please respond if you wish me to order and ship to you directly,” one user wrote on Instagram.
The library similarly did not respond to requests about why it did not accept these donations of “Grave Error” if cost was the concern.
Throughout March and April, Canadians continued to request “Grave Error” to no avail.
“Wow well worth a read. This book is not about the horrors of residential schools but about the media misinterpretation of the ‘mass graves’ of dead children. How language has changed from died to killed (or murdered). How ground penetrating radar just picks up anomalies rather than dead children,” one request reads.
“And why no children’s graves have been found because it is in the best interests of some to never confirm that these anomalies are actually roots, drainage tiles, or changes in soil density, or possibly graves. The money that the Federal Gov has given to explore these graves is shocking and Trudeau broadcasting these “findings” without proof. Maddening but worth the read.”
Discussion around the book’s ban comes at a time when even the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation where the former Kamloops residential school site claims originate are scaling back their language around the discovery to “anomalies” rather than graves.
