Intellectual freedom is a fundamental value for libraries. As the voice of the Canadian library community, CLFA-FCAB affirms that libraries have a responsibility to support, defend, and promote intellectual freedom. On February 1, 2017, the members of CFLA-FCAB endorsed the Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries. It reads in part:

Libraries have a core responsibility to safeguard and facilitate access to constitutionally protected expressions of knowledge, imagination, ideas, and opinion, including those which some individuals and groups consider unconventional, unpopular or unacceptable…

Libraries provide, defend and promote equitable access to the widest possible variety of expressive content and resist calls for censorship and the adoption of systems that deny or restrict access to resources.

As part of our commitment to intellectual freedom, CFLA-FCAB supports the Intellectual Freedom Challenges Survey (formerly known as the Annual Challenges Survey) of Canadian libraries. The survey creates a national snapshot of the nature and outcome of challenges to intellectual freedom in publicly-funded Canadian libraries. By documenting and reporting these incidents, Canadian libraries demonstrate their commitment to public accountability and institutional transparency.

You can complete the survey and view the past survey results below.

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View past results