Culling the Shelves of School Libraries in Ontario

"[The cull began last January when Thames Valley District school board staff trashed thousands of books posing] harm [to students]."

"Many of them were irreplaceable and priceless -- we had an incredible history section, which was ravaged."

"[This was a] book purge [in an inclusive frenzy] but by definition if you choose to be inclusive, you're excluding. That means denying people access to information."

"[The board's move] has the net outcome of censorship."

Larry Farquharson, 58, teacher-librarian, H.B. Beal Secondary school, London, Thames Valley District 

 

"[The] revitalization project aims to revitalize the collections of [Thames Valley] schools to ensure they are culturally responsive, reflect our diverse student population and contain accurate and up-to-date information."

"The project will focus on deselecting texts with harmful images, messaging, slurs, and racial epithets to facilitate the safety and well-being of all students."

Thames Valley School Board document

Former H.B. Beal Secondary School teacher Larry Farquharson took a photo of some of the thousands of school library books tossed into the recycling last year. The Thames Valley District School Board says the book review was part of an inclusive libraries project. (Submitted by Larry Farquharson)

"[The loss especially of books on Canada's military history can be] notoriously hard to find [for those doing research or reading for pleasure]."

"[It's] a tragedy [if books are thrown out rather than given away]."

"Every year there is a very popular book sale held in Centennial Hall, where book lovers can find books that interest them and these books are not recycled into the trash."

Joe Murray, Canadian military historian 

 

"As a book-lover myself, I was definitely saddened. I can see why it wasn't brought to the trustees' attention if it was regular purging to make room for new books."

"But this amount should have at least been mentioned. I saw the [empty] shelves. It was wild."

Trustee Christian Sachs 

One of 13 elected Thames Valley trustees, Sachs explained that staff informed her they were not given permission to sell or give the discarded books away. They were only to be disposed of in the garbage. The 113-year-old downtown London high school once had an inventory of 18,000 books representing the largest collection in the Thames Valley board, according to teacher-librarian Larry Farquharson who resigned following 25 years of teaching, over the high school's 'book purge'. 

 

The library cull included 128 war history titles, and another 15 from the reference section of the library that were also purged. Books about Shakespeare, other writers and artists, residential schools, teen suicide, addiction, religion, bullying, family violence and child abuse as well as books on sexuality were all purged. Harry Potter novels, Anne of Green Gables, Lord of the Flies, Wuthering Heights, The Kite Runner, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple were among the many books of fiction that were trashed. 

 

Larry Farquharson, a former teacher-librarian at Beal secondary school in London, says books are being ripped out of libraries to conform and not allow challenges to modern thinking. He is holding a copy of The Canadian Encyclopedia that he says is an example of the type of books being targeted. Photograph taken on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)

  

The books at the H.B. Beal school were listed in a spreadsheet that gave their total value at $193,000, but many were irreplaceable. Topics such as the War of 1812, the First and Second World Wars, seven books documenting Canada's contributions during the wars, trench warfare and the Holocaust, and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank were all disposed of. The Gallant Hussars, a history of London's 1st Hussars Regiment from 1856 to 2004, also  trashed. Books by John Steinbeck, Lucy Maud Montgomery and Kurt Vonnegut, all pulled from the shelves. 

 

Schools in Ontario appear to have been infected with a virus of Critical Race Theory/DEI/Woke disease. Peel District school board based in Mississauga (Toronto) was  highlighted in 2023 through an article by author and retired teacher Marjorie Gann, of spurning books that "didn't conform to today's DEI (diversity equity and inclusion) standards".

 

Tom Ellard, Mississauga parent and spokesperson for a group called Libraries Not Landfills stated he can understand the rationale behind "removing old and outdated texts", but he is concerned that such a process can turn into "an ideological purity test". School boards should "trust the librarians and the professionals to manage their libraries".

 

Larry Farquharson had little option left to him but to reluctantly resign from his profession after having been placed on home assignment by the school board for his public resistance against the assault on world literature, depriving a younger generation of the opportunity to inform themselves about the world as it was and as it is. He had been punished with suspension for seven days for insubordination and "disparaging remarks" about the school board. 

 

More than 10,000 books were weeded at H.B. Beal Secondary School's library between January and March 2025. (Submitted by Larry Farquharson)

"[Trustees were not informed that 10,000 books were tossed from the library shelves at London's H.B. Beal secondary school because the move was deemed] operational. [Trustees are] governance, not operational."

"Looking at our libraries and making sure we have  up-to-date books is always good, making sure we have books kids want to read."

"I don't know enough about why they culled these books, but I was looking at [the titles] -- Harry Potter, Lord of the Flies. I wonder why those were removed."

Lori-Ann Pizzolato, former chair, Thomas Valley District school board