Metal detectors, social workers and naloxone: how Canadian libraries are responding to communities in crisis
Why It Matters
Libraries are increasingly having to deal with complex social issues such as homelessness, poverty and addiction as Canadaโs existing safety nets strain under the weight of pandemic fall-out and austerity. However, libraries arenโt prepared to become a catch-all solution for systemic problems.
WINNIPEG/TREATY 1 โ Two armed police officers, thumbs jammed under their bulletproof vests, watch people queue at an airport-style metal detector as private security guards poke through bags with yellow sticks; from somewhere above a man yells โfascistsโ at the scene below.
Welcome to Winnipegโs Millennium Library.
โI donโt like this at all. Iโm only here because my mom asked me to pick something up. I donโt want to come back,โ says Susan Plett before joining the line. โIt really seems like too much.โ
Another man, who doesnโt speak English, stops in front of signs detailing the libraryโs security procedures, then turns around and leaves. When similar security measures were imposed in 2019, annual visits fel
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