Why the Catholic schools of Canada burned the books of Tintin, Asterix and Disney | Among others of 4,700 titles

A group of 30 Catholic schools in Canada withdrew from their libraries and burned more than 4,700 books put an end to “racism, discrimination and stereotypes, in the hope of growing up in an inclusive country”. The decision was repudiated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Providence School Board – which brings together schools in the southwestern province of Ontario – led the initiative and explained that it was an effort to reconcile with the “first nations” because the texts “had outdated or inappropriate content” about the indigenous population.

Among the burnt books are The tomes of Tintin -Tintín in America and The temple of the sun-, Lucky Luke, Asterix -The big trip-, Pocahontas and encyclopedias on indigenous populations. The ashes texts were used as fertilizer to plant trees.

School board spokesperson Lyne Cossette justified the fire and said that “many Indigenous intellectuals and elders participated and were consulted at various stages, from conceptualization, to the evaluation of the books and to the idea of ​​planting trees with the ashes ”.

In a dialogue with the National Post newspaper, Cossette explained that the “Giving Back to the Earth” project aimed to represent “openness and reconciliation” and to replace books with outdated content with negative stereotypes with others with negative stereotypes. “Positive and inclusive messages”.

“We regret that we did not get a more appropriate plan which was offensive to some members of the community.. We sincerely regret the negative impact of this initiative, which is intended as a gesture of reconciliation, ”said the spokesperson.

The initiative began in 2019, but has now transcended and drawn criticism from Canadian political leaders, including Justin Trudeau.

“On a personal level, I would never agree to a book burning,” the Prime Minister said. and noted that “it is not for non-natives to tell natives how they should feel.”

Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Social Democratic Party of the Bloc Québécois, aligned himself with Trudeau: “We expose ourselves to history, we explain it, we show how society has evolved or should evolve.

The book burning takes place a few months after the discovery of a mass grave with the remains of 215 indigenous children in a former Catholic school which was intended to “integrate” the original peoples of the country.

Trudeau demanded that the Catholic Church and Pope Francis publicly apologize for the abuse suffered by Indigenous children in Canada.