Category: Beyond the Library

Why IWD?

International Women’s Day is March 8. Join us as we celebrate all month long, learning more about the ongoing struggle for women’s rights around the world.

IWD has been celebrated in various forms for well over a century. According to internationalwomensday.com, IWD “is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for advancing gender equality.” While many gains have been made in some parts of the world since the early 20th Century, the struggle is far from over.

source: canada.ca; United Nations

Canadian law protects women’s rights better than in most parts of the world, yet even here the work is not done. The Government of Canada says that IWD is “a time to celebrate the progress made in advancing women’s rights and highlight the ongoing efforts needed to ensure their full participation in all aspects of society.”

source: unwomen.org

The United Nations IWD “calls for action to dismantle all barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls.

source: unwomen.org

Celebrate International Women’s Day on March, learn more all month long in your School Library, and remember that the struggle for equality will continue every day of the year.

International Women’s Day

IWD is coming up this weekend, Sunday, March 8. Join with us at your School Library as we celebrate all month long by learning more about the complex issues related to the status of women in Canada and around the world. Women’s rights are human rights.

Through most of history, and around most of today’s world, women have not and do not share the same rights as men. Even in Canada, where the equality of women is better than in most parts of the world, there is work still to be done. In fact, there are forces that seek to rollback the gains made over the last century. The struggle for equal human rights for all people, regardless of gender, continues.

Read about feminism and the never-ending struggle for women’s equality. Learn about the ways in which women’s roles in society were severely constrained, and how women’s contributions to history were downplayed or suppressed. Learn more about prominent women at work in the world today. Sample books written by Canadian women and women around the globe. Be a part of the conversation, and take steps toward action.

Irish Heritage Month

March is Irish Heritage Month at your School Library. Millions of Canadians can trace their roots to Ireland, and many millions more around the world are a part of the “Irish Diaspora.” Come down to your School Library in person, and check us out online, to celebrate with us as we learn more about all things Irish.

Read

The best way to celebrate Freedom to Read Week is to read.

Read freely.

Read regularly.

Read critically.

Read deeply.

Read thoughtfully.

Read widely.

There are people who want to take away your right to read what you choose to read. These people aren’t just in totalitarian states around the world. These people are in Canada, in your province and your city and your neighbourhood. They think that they know best about what you should read and what you shouldn’t read. The fight to protect your rights and freedoms is real.

However, all the fuss about rights, challenges, freedoms, censorship, book bans, literacy, etc — it means nothing if you don’t read. Freedom to Read Week is a waste of time if you don’t read. The forces working hard to take away your freedoms don’t need to bother if you don’t exercise your freedoms.

So read.

Read for fun.

Read to learn.

Read to escape.

Read to know things.

Read to be free.

Read what you choose to read.

Read.

Learn More: Freedom to Read

Freedom to Read Week reminds us that our rights and freedoms are both precious and fragile. We must understand them, defend them, and exercise them. To understand the freedom to read, we must explore many overlapping issues including literacy, intellectual freedom, democracy, libraries, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, citizenship, freedom of expression, access to information, public education, academic freedom, and more.

It is also sadly necessary for us to recognize understand, and defend ourselves from the attacks on our rights and freedoms. These take many forms, including censorship, book bans, fake news, disinformation and misinformation, science denial,anti-intellectualism, the defunding and degrading of public education, and more. All of these contribute the rise of authoriatarianism, fascism and other anti-democratic movements.

We must also exercise our freedom to read. Democratic citizenship is built upon such fundamentals as an educated and informed electorate. Democracy requires knowledgeable citizens who think critically about the issues and act accordingly. Free people are free to explore wherever their curiosity takes them. However, what good is the freedom to do something if we don’t do it?

Here are some books to help you learn more about some of these issues.

Freedom to Read Week in Canada is February 22 to 28, 2026

They Were Caught Reading Banned Books

These teachers were caught reading books that are on lists of titles that have been challenged by those who want to take books out of libraries, schools, and even bookstores. There are forces at work in Canada today who want to decide for you what you can read. These teachers are standing up for your right to decide for yourself.

Freedom to Read Week in Canada in 2026 is February 22-28. Come down to your School Library to find out more.

Freedom to Read Week

Be sure to visit your School Library as we focus on our “Freedom to Read.” One of the most important weeks of the year, Freedom to Read Week, takes place Feb 22-28.

Join with us as we use this week to

  • Learn more about our Rights and Freedoms, including our rights to information, inquiry, and expression.
  • Learn about the forces at work to erode and deny our rights and freedoms, including censorship and attempts to restrict or ban books and other media.
  • Celebrate the week by exercising our freedom to read the materials that we choose freely.

From freedomtoread.ca:

Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom.

Freedom to Read Week provides an opportunity for Canadians to focus on issues of intellectual freedom as they affect your community, your province or territory, our country, and countries around the world.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Join with us as we take this day to remember the many millions who died during the Holocaust, to learn more about what happened, and resolve to fight against anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of hate and violent oppression.

The term “Holocaust” refers to the period in history in which the Nazi regime of Germany murdered over 6 million Jews, as well as millions of other victims, including Roma, homosexuals, people with physical and mental disabilities, and more. The Nazi persecution of the Jews began in the early 1930’s and reached its most horrific and brutal peak during the period of 1941-1945, as the Nazis adopted as official policy the “Final Solution,” the attempt at completely annihilating the entire Jewish population.

Holocaust RemembranceSource: CC / Sienda
Source: CC / Sienda

The Holocaust is not the only example of genocide in human history. What makes the Holocaust stand out amongst the long and plentiful list of human atrocities and evil?  Germany was amongst the most powerful nations of the world and a leader in science, technology, medicine and engineering.  The German contributions to art, music, literature and philosophy put German culture at the heart of what we would call Western Civilization. And yet this supposedly civilized people turned their great achievements and progress towards planning and carrying out ruthless genocidal murder with scientific and economic efficiency.

Children selected for extermination
source: wikimedia commons / public domain

The date of January 27 was chosen for this solemn observance as the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated on January 27, 1945.

Auschwitz Death Camp
source: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 3.0

For more on the Holocaust:

Yad Veshem

US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Jewish Virtual Library

Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

United Nations / UNESCO

MLK Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the 3rd Monday of January as a Federal Holiday in the United States. The day is observed in celebration of Dr. King’s birthday, January 15, 1929. In 2026 MLK Day is observed on Monday, January 21.

As we witness the alarming and horrifying events currently unfolding in the United States, and throughout the world, we are reminded to take inspiration from Dr. King and to cling to hope in his message of transformative non-violent resistance. Those who believe in a world of justice, equality, freedom, and peace, must stand up and demand it.

Source

Martin Luther King Jr. was the leading figure of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s in the USA. In life Dr. King was at the forefront of the fight against segregation, discrimination and other forms of racism, especially as entrenched in state and federal law. Tragically assassinated in 1967, the legacy of King has continued to inspire those who fight against racism and other forms of social injustice.

Martin Luther King Jr. was committed to the principles of non-violence. King was convinced that the only way to fight against the hate and violence and injustice of racsim was to counter it with peaceful resistance and non-violent protest. Perhaps more than anything else, this is why Dr. King is a hero to millions of people in the US, in Canada, and around the world.

Find out more:

The King Center

12 Historic Facts About Martin Luther King Jr.

Nobel Peace Prize: MLK

NAACP: Dr. King

Stanford University: King Institute

Image Source: editor Eugenio Hansen, OFS, CC BY-SA 4.0 OTFW, editor Eugenio Hansen, OFS, CC BY-SA 4.0, via wikimedia

Raoul Wallenberg Day

Since 2001, January 15 is Raoul Wallenberg Day in Canada. Mr. Wallenberg was a hero who courageously used his position to save thousands of Jews in Hungary during the Nazi Holocaust. Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat working in Budapest during the Second World War. Wallenberg, with the help of some colleagues, using Swedish passports, letters of protection, and other diplomatic tools, was able to help thousands of Jews to escape from Hungary and to survive through to the end of the war.

Wallenberg 1944
(Source: ushmm.org)

Tragically, Raoul Wallenberg disappeared after the Soviet conquest of Hungary from the Germans in 1945. Some reports suggest he died in a Soviet prison in 1947, but his fate is officially uncertain.

Raoul Wallenberg as a young man.
(Source: https://www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org)

Raoul Wallenberg is considered one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in Israel, and was made an Honorary Citizen of Canada in 1985.

Find out more:

In January we recognize Raoul Wallenberg Day in Canada, as well as International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Come down to the School Library this month, in person, and continue to visit us online, for more information on the horrific and tragic history of the Holocaust.

The Power of Objects: An Introduction to the Holocaust

The LTSS Social Studies Department and the School Library are very pleased to welcome the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre for a guest presentation for Grade 10 and 11 Socials classes, all day today in the School Library.

Today’s presentation is entitled “The Power of Objects: An Introduction to the Holocaust.” Students will be introduced to the study of the Holocaust, with an emphasis on learning about primary sources and their vital role in the study of history. From the VHEC:

This workshop offers students a powerful introduction to the Holocaust through an ordinary object from the VHEC’s collection: a small shoe. As they are guided through a close examination of this simple artefact, students make observations about the evidence, draw inferences, and test their ideas against other primary sources — photographs, documents, and survivor testimony. This inquiry-based approach sparks curiosity, develops historical thinking skills, and deepens understanding of the Holocaust. Along the way, students are encouraged to ask their own questions, grapple with the complexity of the past and reflect on the ethical dimensions of the Holocaust.

Find out more at vhec.org

International Day of Peace

Peace Day is observed every September 21. The International Day of Peace is a celebration of those who have worked for peace in our, and who continue to seek a peaceful future. However, the day is also a stark reminder of how far we have fallen short of the quest for lasting peace for humanity. Our world continues to be ravaged by war, including, in our current day, some of the most horrific acts of inhumanity imaginable. Learn more about the International Day of Peace and join in the movement.

Learn more:

UN.org/Peaceday

Actions for a Peaceful World

Hear Us

Act Now for a Peaceful World

InternationalDayofPeace.org