A Catholic book purge in Canada
Thousands of books have been removed from school libraries in Ontario in the name of "reconciliation"
There was supposed to be a book burning. But it was halted after public outcry.
Nonetheless, we still wonder what was going through the minds of the Providence Catholic School Board in southern Ontario.
Radio-Canada revealed this week that over the past two years the seven French-language schools that are overseen by the organization removed nearly 5,000 books from their shelves because they allegedly perpetuated racist stereotypes.
About 30 of them were even burned in a so-called "purification" ceremony.
Popular French publications such as Tintin, Asterix and Lucky Luke were among the subversive books discarded because they contained illustrations or language deemed offensive to minorities.
According to a school board spokesperson, the initiative was intended to "make a gesture of openness and reconciliation". To say that it failed is an understatement.
With Canada’s federal election just ten days away, the issue has soured the campaign, exacerbating positions on the highly sensitive issue of identity. At such a level of naïve optimism, the most just of causes does not need an adversary.
The trauma caused by the residential school scandal will haunt Canadian society for a long time. Overcoming it requires the patient work of memory and dialogue.
That is the exact opposite of what’s being promoted by supporters of "cancel culture", a culture of erasure and forgetting.
Such matters are too serious to be settled with a tweet or the strike of a match.
The lesson applies to us as well.
All societies are grappling with their present or past demons.
When we claim to reconcile cultures, the last thing we should do is to give in to emotion or naivety.
Jérôme Chapuis is the editor-in-chief of La Croix.