Restoring Funding for British Columbia Libraries

Whereas libraries are a social justice equalizer that provide universal access to information and learning materials irrespective of income level and are now so much more than books, building community and a sense of inclusion; And whereas funding rates have been frozen since 2009 and inflationary costs have increasingly been put on municipal property tax payers which is a regressive approach to funding public libraries. Municipalities face downloading from upper levels of government and have few tools to raise funds. Restoring funding to libraries supports the BC Governments agenda to eliminate poverty, improve access to education, and address social justice in BC: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call on the provincial government to restore library funding to a level that reflects both inflationary cost increases since 2009 and the value of this system to the Province.