Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Rob Sawyer’s letter to Toronto’s mayor

by Rob - August 2nd, 2007.
Filed under: Uncategorized.

Apropos of this, here’s the letter I just sent — in hardcopy and electronically — to Toronto Mayor David Miller (pictured above):


Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Mayor David Miller
Toronto City Hall
100 Queen St. West 2nd Floor
Toronto ON M5H 2N2

Dear Mayor Miller,

I’m shocked and severely disappointed to read of the huge reductions in services that the Toronto Public Library has had to make in response to your government’s funding cuts.

I am cognizant of the fiscal difficulties facing Toronto, but if we lose sight of the big picture — of the things that make Toronto great — the consequences will be severe.

The value of libraries in education cannot be overstated, but that’s true in any city. What makes Toronto so special is its multiculturalism — and it is in our libraries that newcomers to Toronto learn about the city and its traditions of inclusiveness and peacefulness. When you force library branches to curtail their hours, cut back on acquisitions, and freeze hiring, you are doing severe damage to the fabric of what once was, and can again be, the greatest city in the world. I urge you and your council to find another solution — because the current one is untenable.

I speak not just as a library user, but also a past writer-in-residence for TPL, and the current recipient of the Toronto Public Library Celebrates Reading Award. I am a writer today because of Toronto’s libraries — and I’m a better citizen today because of them, too. Do not allow the great institution that is TPL to be whittled away by fiscal shortsightedness. Find the funds; don’t let literacy, multiculturalism, learning, and fun fall by the wayside in David Miller’s Toronto.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert J. Sawyer

CC: Josephine Bryant, TPL Chief Librarian
Kathy Gallagher Ross, Chair, TPL Board

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site

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