Restricted Entry: Censorship on Trial

Sara Stratton teaches history at York University.

Little Sister’s is a bookstore that has been a focal point in the
Vancouver gay and lesbian community since 1983. The store and its owners
know homophobia well—they have survived several bombings. They also
know censorship. Since 1986, Canada Customs has been regularly seizing
shipments of books imported by Little Sister’s on the grounds that
they were obscene. The material seized ranged from innocent collections
of fiction to gay sex guides to lesbian pornography. In January 1996,
the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that although Customs was
within its rights to seize obscene materials, it was subverting the
constitutional rights of Little Sister’s by consistently targeting its
shipments for seizure.

Janine Fuller, the manager of Little Sister’s, and Stuart Blackley, a
journalist who had covered the bookstore’s case before the Supreme
Court, wrote this book before the decision was handed down. It consists
of a narrative history of Little Sister’s, Fuller’s reactions to the
seizures and the trial, and transcripts of the trial itself. It is thus
a remarkable primary document in Canadian gay and lesbian history, and
in the history of the ongoing struggle for artistic and intellectual
freedom in this country. It is also very well-written; Blackley’s
skills as a journalist shine through, and the reader is pulled along in
this tale of a community’s oppression and its spirited resistance.

The Little Sister’s decision was hard-won, and it was not an
unambiguous victory. Customs officials have been warned not to harass
gay and lesbian bookstores, and that is a significant gain for the
community. Restricted Entry is highly recommended for all those who are
interested in the future of free expression and the reach of censorship
in Canada.