Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

1. Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms

The Canadian Charter Of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

2. Fundamental Freedoms

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

1. Freedom of conscience and religion
2. Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication
3. Freedom of peaceful assembly
4. Freedom of association

Statement of Intellectual Freedom

               All person in Canada have the fundamental right, as embodied in the nation’s Bill of Rights, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to have access to all expression of knowledge, creativity and intellectual activate and to express their thought publicly.  Their right to intellectual freedom, under the law, is essential to the health and development of Canadian society.

               Libraries have a basic responsibility for development and maintenance of intellectual freedom.

It is the responsibility of libraries to guarantee and facilitate access to all expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity, including those which some elements of society may consider to be unconventional, unpopular, or unacceptable.  To this end libraries shall acquire and make available the widest variety of materials.

It is the responsibility of libraries to guarantee the right of free expression by making all the library’s public facilities and services to all individuals and groups who need them.

               Libraries should resist all efforts to limit the exercise of these responsibilities while recognizing the right of criticism by individuals and groups.

               Both employees and employers in libraries have a duty, in addition to these institutional responsibilities to uphold these principles.

Adopted by the Canadian Library Association

Winnipeg, 1974.

Amended Nov. 17, 1983; Nov. 18, 1985

Code Of Ethics

Adopted by the Canadian Library Association June 13, 1976

Members of the Canadian Library Association have the individual and collective responsibility to:

1. support and implement the principles and practices embodied in the current Canadian Library Association Statement on Intellectual Freedom;
2. make every effort to promote and maintain the highest possible range and standards of library service to all segments of Canadian society;
3. facilitate access to any or all sources of information which may be of assistance to library users;
4. protect the privacy and dignity of library users and staff.

The Freedom of Expression and the Freedom to Read

(Excerpt)

Statement of the basic tenets of the Committee for the Freedom of Expression of the Book and Periodical Development Council

Free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture.  Current pressure to impose uniformity limits the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our nation and culture depend.  Every Canadian community must jealously safeguard the freedom to publish, to circulate, and to sell in order to protect freedom itself.  We believe that writers, publishers, distributors and librarians have a profound responsibility to maintain the freedom by making it possible for readers to choose freely. 

Freedom to read is a precious heritage.  It is part of a much larger heritage common to the human spirit which we call freedom of expression.  As professional organizations and associations already congregated under the auspices of the Book and Periodical Development Council, we seek through this statement to express our absolute commitment to combating, in whatever form it take, the suppression of books and periodicals because we believe that the written word is the ultimate mode of free expression.