Ontario needs a "Warman's Law"

Thank you to the several readers who sent me information about Richard Warman's legal threats against Toronto's public libraries.

As I mentioned earlier, Warman's threats of defamation lawsuits against B.C.'s public libraries (and then threats of defamation lawsuits against the librarians themselves who complained about his earlier threats of lawsuits) led to that province changing the law to protect libraries. Now, until a book is found by a judge to be defamatory, B.C. libraries are granted immunity from lawsuits like the ones Warman was threatening. No more "prior restraint" censorship is allowed.

Not so in Ontario. According to this document from the Toronto Public Library, a book Warman complained about has been taken off of their shelves. I'm advised that the book is still not available on the libraries' online catalogue, but it is available in Mississauga. (I hope this revelation doesn't cause Warman to fire off another legal threat!)

Ontario needs to follow B.C.'s lead, and enact their own version of "Warman's Law" to protect their libraries from his threats.