Protest over VPL policy preventing staff from wearing Palestinian symbols

A rally was held outside the Vancouver Public Library Wednesday after the implementation of a policy that stops its staff from wearing pro-Palestinian symbols at work.

According to an email from the library management, the policy applies to all personal political symbols, but Tamer Aburamadan, who helped organize the rally, said he doesn’t buy it.

“It is couched in very neutral terms, which is, ‘We don’t allow any expression of solidarity,’ but the fact that this only came about because their staff are wearing Palestinian keffiyeh, watermelons, and other symbols indicates that it is targeted,” he told CityNews.

The VPL says the policy isn’t designed to single out Palestinian support specifically. Instead, “VPL expects staff, as public servants, to maintain impartiality on political issues while carrying out their duties unless otherwise endorsed by the VPL Board,” a statement reads

Now that means that, if the board has taken a position, employees can show their support. If the board remains silent, so must its employees.

The board has publicly endorsed both Orange Shirt Day and Pride Month, to name a few.

The BC Civil Liberties Association says the restriction that applies to pro-Palestinian symbols is an overstep.

“It also potentially runs counter to the BC Human Rights Code, which protects political belief in the employment context,” Veronica Martisius, staff counsel at the BCCLA, told CityNews.

The City of Vancouver released 200 pages of internal library documents after a freedom of information request, which revealed a complaint about a piece of pro-Palestinian art. Another complaint singled out staff wearing the watermelon symbol.

VPL said libraries must be able to serve their communities, and anything that makes users uncomfortable fails to do that.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated that staff were protesting outside the library on Wednesday. In fact, the protest was held regarding the new staff policy.