Teacher Alleges Toronto Catholic School Asked Grade 6 Students to Destroy Books

New children's books just added to the library collection are displayed in a public library in a file photo. Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times

An anonymous individual claiming to be a Canadian teacher alleges that an elementary school in Toronto asked students to dispose of popular children’s books.

In the June 30 edition of the Woke Watch Canada newsletter, “N. Invictus,” self-identified as “an anonymous Canadian teacher,” wrote an essay stating that the incident took place at a kindergarten-to-grade-six French Catholic school in Toronto, where library staff asked a few grade six students to help them in the school library.

“Naturally, the book lovers—those passionate about reading—jumped on this opportunity and volunteered to help. However, they were assigned the deplorable task of disposing of books instead!” wrote the writer, who said many of the selected books were “my own children’s favourites.”

The children were allegedly presented with a pile of books set to be thrown out. Some of them were children’s favourite stories and even classics such as Caillou, Franklin the Turtle, Scooby-Doo, Geronimo Stilton, Magic Schoolbus, Magic Treehouse, and Clifford the Red Dog.

“The idea of taking them home or sharing them with family and friends was appealing, so they asked if they could keep the books instead of throwing them out. They wanted to save the books, preserve them, and thereby protect their newly founded heritage,” the essay said.

However, “The answer they received was a resounding ‘NO.’”

According to the anonymous teacher, the children were told the books contained “inappropriate content and false information.”

Tearing off Book Covers

The children were allegedly told to tear the covers off the books.

“The students, who were avid readers, who loved libraries, and who grew up with books while being raised to respect them, who cherished each and every one of their favourite childhood classics sat there and took a book out of the pile, one at a time, reluctantly tearing off the covers feeling as if their hearts were being ripped out in the process,” wrote the teacher.

When one of the children picked up a book that appeared to be the Bible, the child refused to tear off the cover. According to the teacher, the next child also refused.

“The book was then passed on to another child, and each of them cringed at the sight of the book they considered to be Holy and refused to tear off its cover. They had had enough,” said the teacher.

One child apparently went home and informed his or her parents, who, according to the teacher, “became livid at the thought of a Catholic school instructing its students to tear off the cover of the Bible.”

The parent went to the school and confronted the school’s administrator in person.

The administrator allegedly showed the parent the book and said it was not the Bible, but rather a commentary on the Bible, and said the school was following an order from the school board and the Ontario Education Ministry to “dispose of certain books from a ‘list’ with no specific publication year and books published prior to 1985.”

The Epoch Times contacted the Toronto Catholic District School Board for comment but did not hear back by press time.

The Ontario Ministry of Education was also contacted to inquire about any “list” or instructions regarding the disposal of books, but it also did not reply by press time.

Not ‘Isolated Incident’

According to the anonymous teacher, the school administrator apologized to the parent and admitted that asking the children to destroy books was a mistake. The administrator also allegedly then said there was not a “list” but rather a set of “criteria” used by a “board librarian” to determine which books should be donated and which should be “recycled.”

The teacher went on to say that this is not an isolated incident.

“The banning and later rewording of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’ challenging the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ book, the accusation that ‘Dr. Seuss’s’ books are hurtful, and the attack on ’Tintin' books are just a few examples,” the teacher wrote.

The teacher claims that in January 2021, at “our staff meeting, an administrator told the teachers that we need to control which books and materials students should or should not read.”

“To be clear, this administrator was not concerned about the age appropriateness of the books for high school students, rather the emphasis was implicitly on top-down political and ideological topics,” wrote the teacher.

“We have fallen so low that even our Catholic schools deem a commentary book on the Bible inappropriate! Regardless, no rationale can justify getting the children to do the dirty work of ripping books and censorship at our schools and in our libraries,” the teacher added.

‘War on Our Values’

The teacher called on parents to form coalitions, write to the Ministry of Education, “bombard” the minister’s office with letters, write tweets, and attend school board meetings to voice their concerns.

“The war on our values and freedom is on and out in the open. The opponent has no mercy; they are targeting children and that alone should tell you something!” the anonymous teacher wrote.

“Loading the libraries with sexually explicit books akin to pornography, promoting self-hate and supporting all sorts of so-called family-friendly storytimes while propagating historical self-hate, mediocrity, and inculcating learned helplessness, thus draining the essence from childhood.”