Category: Advocacy

The decision by Correctional Service Canada (CSC) to eliminate all librarian positions in federal penitentiaries across Canada — coupled with its intention to end funding for the CEGEP education program serving incarcerated people in Quebec’s federal institutions — represents a sweeping and regressive dismantling of rehabilitative infrastructure within our prison system.

Taken together, these actions signal a stark retreat from education, literacy, and meaningful rehabilitation. They undermine decades of progress and contradict both Canada’s domestic law and its international human rights commitments.

Sign the open letter here by Friday, February 27, 2026

This year’s provincial budget is defunding Nova Scotia books.

The Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage sent letters yesterday informing Nova Scotia publishers that it is eliminating a $700,000 fund that helps local publishers publish new books by local authors.

“It’s drastic and devastating,” says Nimbus manager Terrilee Bulger. “Books are an important pillar of our culture. This budget decision by Premier Tim Houston’s government will mean that fewer Nova Scotian creators will get their books published. Not only that, Nova Scotian publishers will be forced to lay off staff, and spend less on local freelancers.”
Nova Scotia publishers release more than 100 new books, most by local authors, every year.

“We need a government that will defend Nova Scotia books, not defund them,” adds Bulger. “New books are vital for local booksellers and their business. They bring people to public libraries too.”

Continue reading “Nova Scotia: Budget defunds Nova Scotia books, authors, publishers, booksellers” →

House Finance Committee amendment reinstates protection for Library Book Rate

During its clause-by-clause review of the Budget Implementation Act (Bill C-15), the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance adopted an amendment put forward by the government to reinstate protections for free literature for the blind and reduced postage rates for library materials in the Canada Post Corporations Act.

The committee’s report to the House of Commons includes:

In accordance with its Order of Reference of Wednesday, December 10, 2025, your committee has considered Bill C-15, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on November 4, 2025, and agreed on Monday, February 23, 2026, to report it with the following amendments:

Clause 196

That Bill C-15, in Clause 196, be amended by adding after line 30 on page 296 the following:

“(3.1) The Corporation must provide for

    1. ) the transmission by post, free of postage, of letters, books, tapes, records and other similar material for the use of the blind; and
    2. ) a reduced rate of postage for library materials lent by a library to a borrower, including by means of an interlibrary loan.”

News of the amendment was shared by the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) and the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) in an email to their stakeholders.

Bill C-15 must now be sent back to the House of Commons for Report Stage and 3rd Reading. Once passed, it will proceed to the Senate. We do not expect any major changes to this section and certainly none that should cause further harm to Canada Post rates for library materials or materials for the use of the blind.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported and helped in this important advocacy work. NNELS and CELA worked collaboratively with the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC), the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), and Public Library InterLINK on this issue. We also worked alongside CNIB, Braille Literacy Canada and other disability partners – all of our voices together have collectively made a difference.

Source: Librarianship.ca

The provincial government says it is aware of proposed changes to Bill C-15, the Canada Post Corporation Act and has been assured that the current reduced postage rate for library materials will be maintained.

Changes to the bill will allow the corporation to set it’s own rates without seeking the approval of the federal government.

That was a great concern for the province’s 94 public libraries that regularly send books and other materials through the mail.

Regional Librarian for St. John’s Public Libraries, Emma Craig says libraries make regular use of the postal service to share materials not just between libraries in the province, but with libraries in other provinces as well.

“If an item is not available with us here at NLPL, but another library in Canada has it, we will be able to work with them in order to get items that might be a little harder for patrons to get” says Craig.

“About a quarter of our library circulation just from last year were done through this system-wide hold system.”

The Department of Education says it has received confirmation from the federal government that Canada Post will maintain free materials through the Library Book Rate.

Source: VOCM

Amendments to the Canada Post Corporation Act in Bill C-15 (the Budget Implementation Bill)

This Friday, the Canadian Parliament will hear the second reading of Bill C-15, which includes a proposal to amend the Canada Post Corporations Act and repeal Canada Post’s Library Book Rate and the Free Materials for the Blind clause. This loss would have catastrophic impacts on library services in our region, and across Canada.

The Free Materials for the Blind service is currently protected, and allows eligible individuals to receive accessible materials by mail at no cost, while the Library Book Rate allows for reduced postage for library materials.

The proposed repeal of Section 19 (1)(g)(i) was included in Bill C-15 without the government mentioning their intent to do so in the budget delivered by the Federal Minister of Finance on November 4, 2025; nor was there consultation with libraries or organizations that provide library services for Canadians with print disabilities.

Without the Library Book Rate, library systems will not be able to share material between libraries, and patrons in rural areas will be limited to whatever materials are housed in libraries within driving distance. Many of our Atlantic Canadian Library systems use Canada Post to ship materials across their provinces, a service that greatly benefits rural and urban populations. In addition, organizations who support people with print disabilities across Canada, like CELA (Centre for Equitable Library Services) and NNELS (National Network for Equitable Library Service), will not be able to continue mailing accessible formats like braille and audiobooks to library patrons. This will have a negative impact on library systems across our region, and on literacy Canada-wide. We are encouraging people to write their MPs about this and let them know how important your local library service is to your community.

As Parliament continues its study of Bill C-15 at Second Reading, it is incumbent upon organizations impacted by this change to raise their objections to the Minister responsible for Canada Post, the Hon. Joël Lightbound, and to seek an opportunity to appear before the House and Senate Committees that will be charged with reviewing the legislation.

If opposition to the repeal is not voiced, Parliament will assume that there are no concerns with the proposed changes.
Time is of the essence, as the House of Commons is seeking to complete its Second Reading debate of Bill C-15 and refer the legislation to Committee before the House rises for the winter break on Friday, December 12, 2025.

The Senate has begun a pre-study of the legislation and the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications has been charged with reviewing sections of Bill C-15 impacting the Canada Post Corporations Act. To date, it is has not heard from any witnesses affected by the proposed repeal of Section 19 (1) (g)(i).

We would expect the government to seek to have Bill C-15 pass all stages of review in the House of Commons and the Senate by early February 2026.

This leaves little time for Parliament to consider amendments to the legislation, including the reversal of the proposed repeal of Section 19 (1) (g)(i) of the Canada Post Corporations Act from Bill C-15.

A coalition of organizations, including APLA, has prepared a letter to federal elected officials urging them to remove this clause from Bill C-15.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

PDF of this statement

The Atlantic Provinces Library Association (APLA) acknowledges there is a long history of racism against people of colour, Black people, and, particularly, Indigenous people in Canada. This history is present in all public institutions, including libraries, across the country. The effects of colonialism, slavery, the building of the reserve system for Indigenous people, the residential schools project, the Sixties Scoop: these atrocities, and many other actions, have manifested in the significant socioeconomic disparities present today.

APLA recognizes that library services have not been made available equitably and collections have not been as inclusive of the voices of Black people, people of colour, and Indigenous people, as they should have been, both historically and presently. We believe that representation matters. We recognize that public institutions such as libraries were built within a colonial lens, with only one set of voices at the table, therefore, only represent a portion of the populations libraries are meant to serve. Libraries are meant to be wholly democratic institutions, but for many, they are not, and despite the growing number of progressive library initiatives, as well as community outreach programs which reach populations who are exposed to vulnerability and oppression, we need to continue transforming library services, collections & acquisitions, as well as the bureaucratic structure of libraries.

APLA commits to listening carefully and respectfully to all people who experience oppression, and to learning how libraries can be truly open, diverse, democratic, and safe from racist and discriminatory behavior.

APLA also commits to working to ensure that neither racism nor discrimination taint libraries today or in the future. To do this, we start by fully acknowledging the historical wrongs libraries have reflected and acquiesced to with their inaction.

APLA’s mandate is to promote library and information service throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. In recognition of the historical inequity in serving people of colour, Black people, and Indigenous people, APLA is committing to change by:

  1. Ensuring APLA adopts an intercultural lens when creating its board and programmes
  2. Adding a special focus on intercultural equity, diversity and inclusion, and properly compensating experts from whom APLA learns
  3. Promoting and encouraging the reconceptualizing of the terms on which libraries have historically been framed, by exploring how different worldviews celebrate reading, learning, storytelling, and community building
  4. Creating a channel to hear from community members and libraries in the provinces we serve to hear how APLA can better support anti-racism efforts.
  5. Supporting libraries as they carry out their missions and review their practices in a multicultural context.

APLA thanks you for joining us on this journey.

Anti-Racism Resources

PDF of this Statement

The Atlantic Provinces Library Association adds its voice to the global outpouring of support for the people of Ukraine. As mentioned in the Canadian Federation of Library Associations’ (CFLA) statement, over 1.3 million Canadians have Ukrainian roots, and many within the Canadian library community have friends and family members still living in the region. The Atlantic Provinces are home to approximately 15,000 people with Ukrainian heritage.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has highlighted the unique contributions librarians offer societies. It has also underlined the dangers our professional colleagues are facing. These are illustrated in Ukrainian Library Association (ULA) President Oksana Brui’s letter to the world’s library community as well as the ULA’s appeal to the International Federation of Library Associations.

We join the CFLA and other associations, on a national and international level, in applauding our Ukrainian colleagues’ dedication to the vital roles that libraries, archives, and digital media play in ensuring information access, countering misinformation, providing social supports, and protecting intellectual freedom. We also join these associations in expressing our concern for the security and well-being of these same professional colleagues.

As a regional library association, we echo the CFLA’s position to assist in any way we can.