We at Ponoka Jubilee Library are very proud to announce that, in partnership with Ponoka Parent Link, we are hosting ‘Coming Together: Legacy of Residential Schools’.
We ask parents and professionals to join us on Saturday March 12 at 2 p.m., at the Ponoka Elementary School learning common area, for an afternoon centred on building relationships and understanding between aboriginal and settler families. The afternoon will begin with aboriginal voices, as an elder from Maskwacis shares her story of her experiences at one of these residential schools. Andrea Dyck, our facilitator, will then present a program that she has put together which shows us a picture of that time in our history. We hope that engaging with these speakers will promote understanding, dialogue and discussion to aid in building relationships. We must, as a community, contribute positively to the necessary and important work of healing and reconciliation. Traditional refreshments of bannock and tea will be served, please register at either Ponoka Jubilee Library or Ponoka Parent Link Centre. We hope to see many people come together for this very important event.
We in Canada live a very lucky life, a life of freedoms: freedom to believe what we want, freedom to vote for our government officials and express our discontent with them without fear of reprisals, freedom to learn. At the library we believe that one of the most basic freedoms that everyone should have is the freedom to read what they want. The Canadian Library Association says that all persons have a fundamental right to have access to the full range of knowledge, imagination, ideas, and opinions available and that libraries have a core responsibility to support, defend and promote the universal principles of intellectual freedom and privacy. With all of this in mind, we want to let everyone know that February 21-27 is Freedom to Read week. A week in which we can celebrate that we can go into the library and pick up anything we want to read, and no one can say we’re not allowed to read it. A week to applaud the fact that if a person reads something they find offensive, they can choose to challenge that item, and have an open discussion regarding the pros and cons of it. We hope you use this week to think about and reaffirm your commitment to intellectual freedom, and come into the library to get a book to read, just because you can.
And don’t forget to sign up for our fourth annual Dinner at the Library on Feb. 25, from 6 to 8 p.m., when we can discuss some contentious books and why it’s so important to be able to read them, even if someone else doesn’t like them. It’s a potluck, so bring a dish to share!
Coming soon: ‘Missing Pieces’ in which a woman uncovers earth-shattering secrets about her husband’s family from bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf.