Business owners push to defund southern Manitoba libraries over book content accused of being 'pornographic'

Some southern Manitoba business owners are petitioning their municipal governments to defund the area's libraries over claims they have "pornographic" books on their shelves — the latest in a months-long saga that has included calls for the removal of sex education books.

Mike Urichuk, a father and teacher in the city of Winkler, Man., said while it's healthy for people to have different opinions, the latest efforts to cut funding to the area's South Central Regional Library system are fuelling a sense of distrust and division in the community that started during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When we let ignorance win out, when we have these half truths win out, we get these divisions that are irreconcilable," Urichuk said.

"It's healthy to challenge your own beliefs — but what used to be a divide has become a bit of a chasm."

A recent petition that circulated in several southern Manitoba communities urged business owners to "say no to your tax dollars funding pornographic and sexually explicit books being made available to children and youth."

It also professed that the library system, which is a network of five branches in southern Manitoba communities, has committed "continued criminal acts" by "distributing materials that contain pornography … and instruct on the sexual touching of minors."

The petition comes amid growing battles over book content, including at libraries in the southwestern Manitoba city of Brandon, across Canada and south of the border. 

The document's pages show just over 250 signatures from between January and April — though some people appear to have signed it more than once. 

It was made public this month after being submitted to several municipal councils in the area, including Winkler. 

Crystal Funk, who lives in the nearby community of Gretna, Man., said she was among those who gathered signatures for the petition, and delivered it to councils herself.

Funk said she wants to see the titles she takes issue with removed from the library's collection — a request she said she wouldn't characterize as banning or censoring books.

"I'm just an individual who is concerned, along with many other individuals who are concerned, about what is being made available to our children," she said.

Funk said one of the books she wants pulled from the shelves is Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan.

The graphic novel includes sketches that include depictions of genitals, intercourse and masturbation.