Category: Advocacy

This past December, representatives from the MLA Board spoke with representatives from the CFLA Board to address concerns about the lack of consultation regarding the CFLA Intellectual Freedom Statements. After stating concerns, a verbal agreement in principle was made by the meeting attendees that greater consultation should be undertaken. A tentative and high-level plan was discussed whereby CFLA and MLA would jointly consult with MLA members. Meeting attendees agreed to bring this high-level plan back to their respective Boards to obtain commitment on next steps.

Following our organizations’ Board meetings in December and January, CFLA has provided the following response:

“The CFLA board understands that there are divergent opinions on the topic of intellectual freedom in libraries, especially as it relates to the goal of supporting social justice and inclusion. We thank MLA for their commitment to engaging in a consultation process with their members to inform future directions, but feel that at this point CFLA does not have the capacity to develop a consultation process with the robustness and attention it deserves, so this issue is being deferred until after a new Board takes office in February. We are also committed to facilitating a National Forum on this topic, as was planned for the canceled MLA conference in 2020, but this event continues to be deferred due to the pandemic.”
– Todd Kyle, Chair, CFLA

The MLA Board will continue to engage CFLA on this matter, and will keep our membership informed of new developments as they arise.

MLA has sent this letter in support of the Librarians, Archivists, Professors, and Instructors represented by the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA), dated November 17, 2021.

MLA wrote this letter to CFLA outlining concerns over CFLA’s lack of consultation with members regarding their support/lack of support for CFLA’s position, dated November 21, 2021.

MLA sent this letter to Premier Pallister regarding the continued closure of libraries, museums, and galleries.

To see other letters sent and received by MLA, please go to our Letters and Statements page.

On July 8, 2020, Red River College (RRC) announced that it was suspending 6 on-campus programs offered to students, including the popular Library and Information Technology (LIT) program. Please read MLA’s letter sent to Dr. Christine Watson regarding this announcement.

Please see this letter received from Trevor Surgenor, Director, Public Library Services Branch, in reply to a letter sent to Ministers Cox and Cullen regarding the provincial budget and library funding in Manitoba.

Please see MLA’s letter to The Honourable Cathy Cox and The Honourable Cliff Cullen regarding the provincial budget and library funding.

The board of the Manitoba Library Association thanks and recognizes all members and non-members for their concerns expressed recently over controversial issues facing the national 2SLGBTQ+ and library communities. MLA takes all opinions and concerns seriously and works to represent its membership with the utmost respect and in the best light possible.

The concepts of protection from discriminatory or hateful speech and the right of freedom of expression are not isolated; they affect all public libraries. Recognizing the importance of recent events and their impact on 2SLGBTQ+ patrons, allies and library staff, the board discussed commentary and opinions about Toronto Public Library’s decision to rent public space to a controversial speaker at length at our November 12 Executive Board meeting. The board invited three guests from the library community to provide context to the issues, each representing different perspectives. Their insights have helped to inform MLA’s response.

Alberta public library funding will be maintained. Please see the reply from The Honourable Kaycee Madu.