Canadian Librarians 'Owe Duty Of Loyalty To The Government,' Must Self-Censor Opinions Even In Private
from the maintaining-awareness dept
Librarians can play an important role in any society that depends increasingly on access to information to function. One of their jobs is to help people find what they are looking for, in a neutral, objective way, without imposing their own ideas or values in the process. Sadly, it looks like that won't be possible in Canada any more, now that librarians are expected to sign up to a new Code of Conduct imposed on them by the Canadian government.
Here's one problematic section:
Employment in the public service involves certain restrictions. Public servants owe a duty of loyalty to their employer, the Government of Canada. This duty derives from the essential mission of the public service to help the duly elected government, under law, to serve the public interest and implement government policies and ministerial decisions. The duty of loyalty reflects the importance and necessity of having an impartial and effective public service in order to achieve this mission.
"A duty of loyalty to their employer, the Government of Canada": I think Stalin would have approved of that. Although there is a token invocation of "the importance and necessity of having an impartial and effective public service", it's clear that obedience to the ruling powers overrides any misguided desire to be impartial. That imposition of an overtly political line to everything librarians do in their jobs is bad enough, but it gets worse:
As public servants, our duty of loyalty to the Government of Canada and its elected officials extends beyond our workplace to our personal activities. Public servants must therefore use caution when making public comments, expressing personal opinions or taking actions that could potentially damage LAC [Library and Archives Canada]'s reputation and/or public confidence in the public service and the Government of Canada. They must maintain awareness of their surroundings, their audience and how their words or actions could be interpreted (or misinterpreted).
"Maintain awareness of their surroundings" is a particularly fine Orwellian phrase that basically means: watch what you say, or else there will be trouble. Of course, one famously dangerous environment is the online world:
With the current proliferation of social media, public servants need to pay particular attention to their participation in these forums. For example, in a blog with access limited to certain friends, personal opinions about a new departmental or Government of Canada program intended to be expressed to a limited audience can, through no fault of the public servant, become public and the author identified. The public servant could be subject to disciplinary measures, as the simple act of limiting access to the blog does not negate a public servant's duty of loyalty to the elected government. Only authorized spokespersons can issue statements or make comments about LAC's position on a given subject. If you are asked for LAC's position, you must refer the inquiries, through your manager, to the authorized LACspokesperson.
Yes, you see, even that private little blog where you make a witty remark about the stupidity of some of Canada's glorious leaders could cause you to be subject to "disciplinary measures" (and please, do remember that parts of Canada are just as cold as Siberia....)
The attempt to dress up this pompous control-freakery as moderate and reasonable -- "through no fault of the public servant" etc. etc. -- would be rather amusing were it not part of a much larger move by Canada's rulers to stifle dissent. Canadian scientists, for example, have been subject to these kind of humiliating restrictions for some time, as the BBC reported last year:
The allegation of "muzzling" came up at a session of the AAAS [American Association for the Advancement of Science] meeting to discuss the impact of a media protocol introduced by the Conservative government shortly after it was elected in 2008.
Adapting some words penned in a much more serious situation, we might say:
The protocol requires that all interview requests for scientists employed by the government must first be cleared by officials. A decision as to whether to allow the interview can take several days, which can prevent government scientists commenting on breaking news stories.
Sources say that requests are often refused and when interviews are granted, government media relations officials can and do ask for written questions to be submitted in advance and elect to sit in on the interview.First they censored the scientists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a scientist.
Now might be a good time for Canadians to say "enough is enough"....
Then they censored the librarians, and I did not speak out, because I was not a librarian.
Then they censored me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: canada, censorship, free speech, librarians, loyalty to the government, opinions
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Re: Loyalty to Whom?
I forgot to change the text of that quoted line. It should read:Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
That. But only Canada? I'd say it's a worldwide need.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
as i've repeated too many times on the inertnet:
if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!
we are not in a sustainable mode on SO many levels, and the chickens, they are a comin' home to roost sooner than i thought...
frankly, i figured i would be done and dust before the merde hit the fan; but it looks like the process is accelerating and is inevitable... we have ignored the warning signs, failed to make corrections to the system, it is becoming too late to affect the outcome, and we are soon to pay the price...
(and, yes, i mean both socially and environmentally; each catalyzing the other...)
dog help us all...
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
It's damn hard to find anyone who can see this. Kudos dear ma'am. *hats off*
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Who knew?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Next step..
And then employees of private sector companies are subject to the same "duty", and thus corporations will vote in their stead.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/05/28/archivists-protest.html
The government has made clear that while slashing the institutions that preserve the country's history is okay, they're willing to invest plenty of cash in mythologizing our epic win against the Americans in 1812 (not that it did them any good - most Canadians could really care less about the war even after all the publicity)
http://o.canada.com/2012/11/20/canadian-history-heritage-at-risk-from-cuts-to-libraries- and-archives-canada-says-academics/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
No way, Eh, you mangled Monty Python... Expect a visit from the Canadian inquisition....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Actually I've no idea what his policy position is on this or any other matter. He will likely win the next election but every article I see on him is complete fluff.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
The people have made their choice and all of us get to live with the consequences.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Duty of loyalty to employers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You leap off tall buildings thinking it's not gonna hurt.
-It looks like the CENSORED has hit the fan-
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
News to Americans: Canadians are SERFS, just like rest of UK.
But of course the serfs will still say "not in practice", though I've already covered the point. They're hopeless.
You can't let The Rich inherit feudal privileges even as "figure-heads": they just continue to literally own you. -- So I've written off the UK: good enough for you, serfs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: News to Americans: Canadians are SERFS, just like rest of UK.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- I think *any* employer would, even (especially) yours.
"it's clear that obedience to the ruling powers overrides any misguided desire to be impartial"
- Not at all, and you give nothing to back up that claim.
""Maintain awareness of their surroundings" is a particularly fine Orwellian phrase that basically means: watch what you say, or else there will be trouble."
- Really? You're playing THAT card? Lol!
"Yes, you see, even that private little blog where you make a witty remark about the stupidity of some of Canada's glorious leaders could cause you to be subject to "disciplinary measures" (and please, do remember that parts of Canada are just as cold as Siberia....)"
- So you ran out of arguments and needed to make a post? Is that it? Or you just wanted to bitch at something you couldn't understand? Re-read the text you quoted and try to understand it this time.
I can't keep going on. What a mockery this article is. No evidence or facts. Just derogatory terms all over because you don't agree with them? What class and professionalism!
Now let's play your game:
First they didn't censor scientists, they put requirements. But I couldn't understand that so I became a librarian. Then my employer told me I couldn't post things about my job on a provide blog, so I started talking to myself and writing up posts on TD, hoping someone could fill me in on what's really going on. Hopefully TD won't censor me!
Fail.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
BTW, I seem to recall a CTV story about Harper sending out trolls to correct "misinformation" (aka spread propoganda). Oh, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpVUYGcgtjw.
Never had the phrase "obvious troll is obvious been so apropos.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
So you're failure at trolling. I work for the gov, I'm also the pope and the president of "exposing trolls online" which you are a prominent target of.
But of course any one that doesn't agree with the BS spurted out in this article has to be an insider, there's no possible way anyone with a brain capable of critical thinking could ever disagree with you. Nutcase.
I love the TD trolling community. You guys are so awesome. Keep up the trolling, dear US gov insiders.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
*die on floor laughing"
Oh, and I guess UK gov. trolls cause you know, Glyn is actually from London.
So not only do you fail at trolling, you are retarded as well.
Please go back to Harper and tell of your failure. Of course, knowing him, he'll probably appoint you as a senator.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
When your employer is a private company, the worst they can do is fire you. Maybe even sue you.
When your employer is the State, the worst they can do is have you arrested and jailed. Maybe even executed for treason.
You do realize there is a difference, right?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Shakespear had it rightabout laywers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I didn't understand apples, so I talked about how yellow and oddly shaped oranges are.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
I felt like trolling so I went to TD and trolled nonsense.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hitler never died
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Loyalty to Whom?
There's a reason they're called public servants, not government servants..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Loyalty to Whom?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Loyalty to Whom?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Let's see - government librarian orders books saying that homosexuality is a disease and the Muslims should be put to death, and tells local libraries to stock them.
Librarian writes global-warming denial blog and trashes government environmental policies on line.
Librarian takes money from entertainment industry to produce blog demanding more draconian copyright measures ...
Techdirt wieghs in to support freedom of expression.
Happy now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A few corrections.
Second, the Code gets a key fact wrong. Public servants are employed by the Government of Canada but by the Crown of Canada. In a constitutional monarchy, the Crown and Goverment are two separate entities. On Canada, there are tree branches of power: the Crown, legislature (which includes the government if the day) and the judiciary. Public servants work for the Crown
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bill Has it Right
The majority of librarians work for municipal governments and face a different set of challenges.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why divide up the country with loyalty contracts and what is the difference between citizens (who are by default already loyal) and government? The schism being created might grow.
The anon comment of treason rang a bell. Remember what loyalty is and its relation to fealty. (to the Crown?)
First you throw and set the hooks. Then you heave ho the barge to the dockside. Then you load the garbage. From the outside it looks like the hook stage.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]