NEWS RELEASE
BRADFORD WEST GWILLIMBURY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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After listening deeply to concerns from the community about our library’s decision in March to cancel the screening of the film 200 Meters, and after receiving a professional opinion from the Centre for Free Expression, the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library (BWG library) has decided to move forward with free public screenings of the film on Sunday, June 2, in collaboration with the resident organizer.
The decision we made on March 11, 2024, to cancel the planned screening of 200 Meters was difficult. The award-winning film explores the fictional life of a Palestinian father trying to get to his son, who has been hospitalized. The event had been organized in partnership with a local resident and was seeking to combat rising Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.
In announcing the cancellation, the BWG library stated we would work to find a solution that both honours the resident’s original programming intention, while ensuring all feel safe and welcome at this event.
200 Meters, which debuted in 2020 and has gone on to play at international festivals around the world, has won many awards, notably the Human Rights Jury Prize at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. It takes a nuanced and compassionate approach towards both Palestinian and Israeli individuals living in the present Israel-West Bank geopolitical dynamic.
After careful consideration, we have decided that the screening of the film is an ethical responsibility we have to the resident organizer with whom we worked to program the film, and to the community members who have expressed interest in attending the screening. This is our obligation as a public library that upholds the values of free expression and prioritizes a community-led approach to our programming and vision.
The Ontario Library Association’s statement of intellectual freedom asserts that: “Intellectual freedom requires freedom to critically examine and create other ideas, opinions, views, and philosophy of life, other than those currently approved by the local community or by society in general and including those ideas and interpretations which may be unconventional, uncommon, or unpopular.”
The two free public screenings of 200 Meters will be at the BWG library’s Zima Room on Sunday, June 2 at 1:15 p.m. and at 3:15 p.m. This event will be in partnership with the resident organizer, and will be co-sponsored by the Centre for Free Expression, a non-partisan organization that works in collaboration with academic and civil society organizations across Canada and internationally.
We are sensitive to how this programming decision may affect residents with varying relationships to the ongoing and heightened conflict in Israel, Gaza, and beyond. When we announced the screening of the film, community members reached out fearing the event could potentially incite antisemitism and compromise feelings of safety on library premises.
We take these concerns seriously. The BWG library has offered opportunities for partnership to Jewish residents and organizations over the last few months. Upon the releasing of this statement, we have reached out to these residents and organizations again as we hope to create space for the sharing of a variety of opinions, cultural expressions, and perspectives grounded in the lived reality of residents.
As a library that takes a community-led approach to our programming, we urge community members who would like to co-organize free public events that promote cross-cultural understanding to connect with us. We are a public institution that provides a gateway for all persons within our community to advance themselves through literacy, lifelong learning, social engagement, and cultural enrichment. We look forward to continuing to partner with a diversity of artistic, cultural, and religious groups and residents to ensure our space is one that promotes understanding through providing free access to ideas, opinions, resources, and experiences.
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