EDMONTON, AB – May 15, 2026 – Correctional Service Canada (CSC) recently announced a plan to phase out librarians and library workers in federal prisons as a response to federal budget cuts. This plan has been met with serious concern from library professionals, advocates, and community members.
GELA stands in support of the positions put forward by the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) and the Prison Libraries Network, which assert that prisoners have a right to access information to advance themselves through literacy, lifelong learning, and cultural enrichment. Neither these organizations, nor library professionals working in correctional settings, were meaningfully consulted on this decision.
Prison libraries serve a population with complex and urgent needs who include people with low literacy, mental illness, cognitive deficits, and the lasting effects of intergenerational trauma. Library workers provide not just books, but programming, legal information access, Indigenous cultural resources, and literacy support. CSC’s own Commissioner’s Directive 720 (2025) requires library services that are comparable to those in the community while meeting the unique needs of a correctional environment. Removing trained library professionals makes that obligation impossible to fulfill.
This decision also conflicts with Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action #30, #36, and #38, the Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations, and internationally recognized standards including the UN’s Nelson Mandela Rules. Replacing librarians with program officers, correctional officers, or volunteers is not an adequate substitute. GELA Prison Libraries Project (PLP) volunteers with decades of experience supporting prison libraries and providing library-related programming can attest to this directly.
We urge CSC to abandon this plan, consult with library professionals, and uphold its legal and ethical obligation to meet the information needs of our incarcerated community members.
Additional statements and press:
Joint Statement Regarding Plan to Phase Out CSC Librarians and Library Workers
The Globe and Mail: By threatening to get rid of prison librarians, Canada is not going by the book
CBC News: Federal prisons to lose library technicians, employment co-ordinators in budget cuts
APLA: Advocacy: Urgent – CSC Elimination of Librarians & CEGEP Education
Statement from the Prison Libraries Project and the GELA Executive Committee
gela.ca 