A southern Manitoba principal is suing a parent who tried to remove books from school libraries, saying the woman wrote defamatory social media posts suggesting the principal promoted the spread of child pornography.
Carman Collegiate Principal Mary Reimer says Raelyn Fox has continued to target the Prairie Rose School Division and her high school years after the woman, who had a child enrolled at the school in 2023, first raised allegations that her library made sexually explicit materials available to children, according to an affidavit filed in Court of King’s Bench.
Reimer is seeking damages as well as an injunction prohibiting Fox from publishing statements suggesting that it encouraged the availability of pornographic materials to students, or that it groomed children and promoted sexual exploitation or child pornography.
“The implications of … comments made by Ms. Fox and by other users on her Facebook page, that I have been encouraging, condoning or otherwise participating in the sexual abuse of children, are irreparably harmful,” Reimer said in a sworn statement.
Fox was behind a 2023 petition asking the Prairie Rose School Division to block the availability of sexually explicit books to minors in school libraries, according to an affidavit parents filed in late July.
The woman said that in a series of presentations to the division’s board of directors, she expressed concerns about books like Margaret Atwood’s. Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid’s Tale and Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five.
Reimer alleges that some of the books Fox featured were available for free to students at the Carman Collegiate library, including Rupi Kaur’s. milk and honey, Alice Sebold Lucky and Juno Dawson This book is gay – were not in circulation or were in a section restricted to mature students, and that Fox had been told that was the case.
Director says posts could fuel violence
He said Fox continues to imply on its social media pages that those books are widely available at the library.
“I believe that Ms. Fox’s social media posts are causing other Facebook users to escalate their posts and/or increase the potential for violence,” Reimer said in a document filed in August.
“I fear that Ms. Fox has ignited such hostility among community members that I or other Prairie Rose School Division staff may be in danger.”
Reimer is also seeking an order for Fox to remove statements on social media that she says are defamatory, including a post that says the director believed “pornography should be available to his son whether he finds it offensive or not.”
Fox denied in its affidavit that its posts were defamatory. He said that while some of the books were not on shelves, they still appeared in catalog records and that he saw similar content during a visit to the Collegiate library.
Fox also denied referencing LGBTQ issues when raising concerns with division administrators, even though another delegation did raise that issue.
The Canadian Library Challenge Database, an initiative of the Center for Free Expression at Metropolitan University of Toronto and the Federation of Canadian Library Associations, says calls for book removals at Prairie Rose at the time revolved around 20 titles, including books and sex education materials with 2SLGBTQ+ content.
Activists increasingly target schools: Center
The centre’s director, James Turk, said Canadian libraries have been facing an increase in requests to remove books or cancel programs, and that schools are increasingly being targeted by groups that describe themselves as advocates for parents’ rights.
That includes Concerned Citizens Canada of Manitoba, which the center said also lobbied for the Prairie Rose books to be removed, and Action4Canada, which was behind several recent challenges in the Pembina Trails School Division.
Turk says groups often argue that schools are violating child pornography laws by making books available even though there are legal protections for materials for educational or artistic purposes.
“They have every right to express that concern, and the public library or school board has an obligation to take that concern seriously,” he said. “I think the vast majority of the time, because they’re careful about what goes into their collection, the answer is… ‘We’ll keep it.'”
Fox has focused on other Manitoba school divisions in a series of videos on social media.
She has declined to comment on the lawsuit. In a recent video, she thanked people who donated to cover her legal costs and said they helped her “stay steadfast in this fight to protect our children.”
But Turk added that he fears that the lack of oversight due to cuts could lead some schools to adopt the quick fix and could “just make the book disappear.”
“The father leaves happy. There’s no bad news about it. It never comes to public attention. And that’s a terrible way to handle the situation,” he said.
Reimer and the Prairie Rose School Division declined to comment.
