Henein memoir now OK for kids
Two weeks after the Toronto District School Board said students were not to attend a book club event featuring lawyer Marie Henein, they will now be allowed to read her book.
“The Marie Henein book has now been approved and we will be working with the book club to share the books with students,” said an email from Ryan Bird, spokesman for the school board.
But it comes too late for those who would like to have seen Henein speak; Henein addressed students from London and Owen Sound last week.
But the students in Toronto will now get to read Henein’s book, Nothing But the Truth: A Memoir.
“I’m really happy that the students will be able to participate,” said organizer Tanya Lee Thursday.
“The book club has always been about students and I know all the students will love it.”
Lee said she’s hoping to do a second Henein event in January where students can join from across the country and learn about the law from Canadian women attorneys.
“It’s gonna be a phenomenal event,” said Lee.
Lee has been running the A Room of Your Own book club for roughly four years, a club that offers books to teenage girls, often from lower-income families, and then hosts events about the books, usually with a teacher running the local club.
“They just talk about the book and they have a great old time talking about it,” said Lee.
“I usually choose books that have wonderful female protagonists of various abilities and from all different backgrounds.”
The issue of Henein’s book caused controversy two weeks ago, when Lee was told students couldn’t read the book, because Henein had defended CBC star Jian Ghomeshi against sexual assault charges in 2016.
“They told me straight out ‘no’ because (Henein) defended Jian Ghomeshi and how do you explain that to little girls,” Lee told The Globe and Mail.
The board, however, said the reason students could not attend the book club was that staff had not been given an opportunity to read the book prior to the event.
Lee said such a prior review hasn’t happened before, to her knowledge.