Claire is an Information Assistant at Vaughan Public Libraries. Avid cooker, concertgoer, coffee drinker, TV and movie watcher, washi tape enthusiast, and unabashed fan of romance in all its varieties (even Hallmark movies).
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Well, would you look at that? It’s Canada Reads time again. (Does anyone else experience the reoccurrence of particular times of year as complete and utter surprises every time? Daylight Savings Time is like that for me — whether forwards or back — the Oscars, and of course, Canada Reads. The homegrown book competition is always in the spring, but like the season itself, it seems to sneak up on me. We spend months wondering when warmer times will be upon us, and then all of a sudden they’re here. Let’s hope they stick with us. Anyway, the competition goes like this. Canadian notables choose a book penned by a Canadian writer and battle it out to declare the one ‘all Canadians should read.’ Lots of Canada for one sentence, and why not? I say. This year, VPL is marking the Canada Reads occasion with watch parties in ALL of our libraries. From April 13-16, catch four rounds of debate over four days at 10 a.m. ET on CBC YouTube channel (or Gem) and in a Vaughan library near you! If you’re not going to catch the program at the library, here’s a link to information on streaming/airing times. Each day is a knockout round where one book is eliminated until there’s only one left standing. The theme this year is “one book to build bridges.” In this time of extreme polarization, echo chambers, and ideological silos, it makes sense that’s the theme. So, let’s dive in and take a look at the books and their champions this year.
I’m back for part two of miscellaneous Black history in Canada. As we get ready for Black History Month at VPL, I’m returning to little-known and often overlooked figures in our nation’s past, as well as its present. If you stick around till the end of the blog post, I’ll be sharing upcoming library program details for the month of February as well. We have some exciting and intriguing sessions on offer this year. So, stay tuned. Of course, as us library folk are wont to do, we’ve prepared recommended reads lists in the spirit of the month too (did that rhyme?). They’ll be at the end of the post also. I hope, amongst our many offerings, you find a book, film, or resource that aids in critical learning or discovery of Black authors and stories. I truly believe that Black history is moving into the spotlight of historical discourse, but it has spent far too long out of that light. If we all continue to learn and to seek out knowledge and stories with which we’re unfamiliar — a vital part of being an anti-racist ally — we can change that. One historical figure I had not heard about before doing research for this post was civil rights activist Hugh Burnett. In a small town southwest of London, Ontario called Dresden, Burnett and other activists relentlessly targeted restaurant owners who were refusing to serve Black people in the area. As a leader in the National Unity Association (NUA), his efforts and those of others in the association directly influenced key pieces of provincial civil rights legislation. Appealing to the town’s council and — when that failed — the provincial government, they steadfastly lobbied for things to change. And they did. Starting with the Fair Employment Practices Act (1951), and then the Fair Accommodation Practices Act (1954). These were significant provincial laws that protected Ontario citizens from discrimination based on ‘race, creed, colour, nationality, ancestry or place of origin.’ I think there remains a misconception that civil rights were enshrined in law much earlier and much more peacefully here than they were in the US. Advances in equality were similarly hard won in Canada by brave leaders of the movement. Bromley Armstrong is another such brave leader. After the passage of the Fair Accommodation Practices Act (1954), restaurants were still denying service to Black people in Dresden. Along with Ruth Lor Malloy (Chinese Canadian student at U of T and influential activist in her own right), Armstrong caught the owner of the local Kay’s Café refusing to serve them. The two were recruited to the operation because they were out-of-towners — unfamiliar to eatery proprietors who would close up shop as soon as they spotted local activists. Not so coincidentally, Toronto press were in the cafe. The story blew up. Finally, the Ontario government prosecuted the cafe owner. As monumental as that moment was, the owner Morley McKay would appeal a guilty verdict and win. It would take another such case before the guilty decision would stick and McKay would have to pay the associated fine.
As a library worker, I’m worried about the state of information in the world right now. I know you’ve heard some version of this sentiment in the past, so feel free to skip to the Question of the Month details below. If you’re still with me, here’s what’s on my mind. Social media, the polarization of politics, and the sheer volume of content online have all contributed to a massive amount of misinformation and disinformation — readily available on the internet. What is the difference, you may ask. Well, here’s a nifty resource that will hopefully help explain, but in brief, the difference is largely about intent. Misinformation is just false, but there’s no indication that the person who wrote it, post it, or spread it had malintent. Disinformation, on the other hand, refers to misinformation that is broadcast, generated, or shared with the intent to deceive, manipulate, influence, cause alarm or any other negative effect on the recipient. You can see that there’s a big difference between those two concepts. There’s also another type of information that you might not have heard of (I hadn’t either). It’s malinformation. Again, intent is important here. The intent with malinformation is to be truthful. It stems from facts, but the truth has been stretched in some way — distorted in the process. That act of distortion is where the danger lies. So, these are the three types of information battling it out online right now for who can do the most damage. Who can influence, isolate, and turn people against one another and towards radicalization the most. Notice, I’m using abstract concepts, anthropomorphizing, describing them as if they’re people. There are real people who have contributed to all these types of inaccurate information being online or in print, but this post isn’t about that. Much has been written about the way social media algorithms operate, feeding users misinformation and disinformation if they’ve interacted with similar topics on the platform in the past. Profit is just one motive or factor driving this proliferation. Check out the Canadian Democracy @ Work modules for a more in-depth look at this critical topic, but that is not the focus of this post. This post is about wanting to positively impact our community and cultivate civic engagement. And so, with that aim in mind, we are introducing the Question of the Month at VPL. We can’t claim credit for the idea, however. It was Harrisburg Community Library in South Dakota that came up with Question of the Week. We’ve adapted it to suit our needs at VPL. Every month, starting in the new year, we will pose a new query to our customers, starting a dialogue between them. Folks who want to participate may add a Post-it with their response to the display at participating libraries. The goal is for people to see that the answers to a lot of the questions will be the same for many of them. Questions like, what do you value most about Vaughan? What is the most important thing a community should have? We’re also partnering with the City of Vaughan (as we are wont to do) to help increase awareness of the municipal election coming up in fall 2026. It’s so important to participate in all levels of democracy, not just federal. There’s a lack of detailed information about what happens in an election at the municipal level out there. We’re trying to change that, so be on the lookout for municipal election and civic engagement content this year in the lead-up to the vote. In the meantime, I scoured our catalogue for writers tackling civic life in unique ways. We’ve all had the lecture. There’s no point in repeating that, but some authors are coming at democratic participation and public discourse from helpful and innovative perspectives. I’m going to keep it short today, and just talk about one promising read, but I will be coming back to this topic in future blog posts.
