Vancouver Public Library policies that prevent staff from wearing Palestinian symbols have put the library in the spotlight.
The library’s policies say it can’t become involved in partisan issues and bar employees from wearing political symbols at work.
After a handful of complaints about pro-Palestinian symbols at library branches this summer, leadership enforced the policies and asked staff who were not Palestinian to stop wearing symbols including kaffiyehs and watermelon pins, which show support.
Since the Mainlander first reported on the library’s policy this month, some advocates have spoken out against it, accusing the library of selective enforcement on the ban on workplace political symbols.
Interim CEO and chief librarian Dawn Ibey says preventing staff from political expression in the workplace ensures the library is a safe and welcoming space for all community members.
“We want to ensure that library users feel welcome,” she said. “We feel that the way to do that is to set an expectation with our staff that as public service servants, they maintain impartiality in the workplace on political issues while doing their job.”
Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 391 president Amir Abbey, who represents Vancouver Public Library workers, declined to comment.
The controversy stems from a handful of complaints from library patrons made last summer.
Rebecca, a Vancouver Public Library employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing her job, said she and some co-workers wore pins adorned with watermelons to work. Watermelons, with the same colours as the Palestinian flag, are a symbol worn to support Palestinian human rights or represent Palestinian resistance to occupation.
“I wanted to wear it to show that I care about what’s happening in Palestine and that I care about people being killed,” Rebecca said. “It seemed pretty straightforward to me.”
She said others added watermelon emojis to their profiles on the library’s internal website for staff.
According to internal emails shared in response to a freedom of information request and posted on the library’s website, patrons complained about Palestinian imagery.
“I saw staff wearing political symbols (watermelons),” one patron wrote. “How can Jewish users feel safe here?”
Rabbi David Mivasair said Palestinian imagery is not inherently antisemitic, but it is often anti-Zionist and invokes criticism of Israel.
“For any Jewish people to claim that they’re not comfortable there because they’re Jewish. It’s a false claim,” Mivasair said. “They’re not comfortable there because they support Israel, and they don’t want Israel to be depicted in a negative way.”
He added suppressing representations of Palestine does not combat antisemitism.
After these complaints, library management sent a memo to staff reminding them of the code of conduct.
One section says employees may engage in political activities but may not display slogans or symbols representing a particular party or candidate while at work.
The library also has a policy that it does not endorse issues that do not directly affect library services and will not extend its goodwill and brand to endorse partisan activities.
In July, Christina de Castell, who was the Vancouver Public Library’s CEO and chief librarian until Jan. 9, hosted a video call with staff.
In a transcript of the call, de Castell said watermelon pins are a political symbol and thus could not be displayed at work.
De Castell said staff can still wear widely accepted symbols, like union merchandise, orange shirt symbols, poppies and peace signs.
“For poppies and peace signs, it’s quite rare to hear someone saying they’re political or polarizing, although this happens with poppies from time to time,” she said in the transcript.
“The city participates in and hosts Remembrance Day services, so there’s clarity that [poppies] would be an acceptable symbol if someone chose to wear one.”
The policy is intended to prevent discrimination, harassment and bullying at the library, Ibey said.
“It’s important that staff present themselves in a way that reinforces the library as a welcoming and non-partisan community service that is available to all members of the community,” Ibey said.
But some staff say the policy is applied inconsistently. According to Rebecca, she and co-workers often display Pride symbols, their identifying pronouns and other emblems that have become politicized.
“It just feels hard to understand why people are so opposed” to the watermelon pins, Rebecca said.
She added that choosing to enforce the policies in this case targets supporters of Palestine.
“It feels like they’re just pulling from whatever policies they can to try and target this specific behaviour, this thing that they want us not to do, and they’re using whatever means possible,” Rebecca said.
Mivasair said calling watermelons a more political symbol than Pride flags or poppies is “grossly unfair and disingenuous.”
“The boundaries of what is political and the definition of what is political really has to be made clear,” he said.
But library leadership defends its decision that watermelon pins are political and may not be worn by staff at work.
“We believe that it is a political symbol,” Ibey said. “We have heard from staff and public who feel that way as well and feel that it does not allow us to meet our obligations in terms of a healthy, safe workspace and making others feel welcome.”
Ibey said a political symbol is imagery intended to influence government action. She said where symbols fall under the Vancouver Public Library’s policies is an ongoing conversation.
She added staff are permitted to wear symbols aligned with support the library’s board has publicly expressed, like Pride flags for LGBTQ2S+ rights.
Terri Givens, a political science and migration professor at the University of British Columbia who researches discrimination, said watermelon pins and other Palestinian imagery are political and invoke strong feelings for many people.
“We wear political symbols because we know people are going to have a reaction to them,” she said. “At this particular moment in time, this symbol has a political meaning.”
She said the policy is understandable, but the library needs to explain publicly why staff can wear Pride symbols but can’t wear Palestinian symbols.
“If they can justify it in the broader context of what is considered political, then it’s not unreasonable,” she said. “But there has to be a clear justification.”
