Canada’s largest bookstore chain has announced it will remove images of Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro from its stores, while continuing to sell her books. Indigo's decision follows recent revelations by Munro’s daughter, Andrea Skinner, who disclosed that she was sexually abused by her stepfather, Gerald Fremlin, and that her mother stayed with her husband, despite the abuse.
In an essay published last week, Skinner detailed the abuse she suffered at the hands of Fremlin, beginning when she was nine years old. Skinner stated that despite informing her mother in 1992, Munro chose to stay with Fremlin. The abuse was an open secret in the Munro family, but Skinner did not go to the police until 2005. Fremlin, who passed away in 2013, pleaded guilty to indecent assault and received a suspended sentence with two years of probation.
Indigo spokesperson Madison Downey explained that Munro’s books do not violate the store’s content policy and will remain available for purchase. However, the company has decided that removing her images from the stores is appropriate given the recent disclosures.
The literary community is currently grappling with Munro’s legacy. Western University has paused its Alice Munro Chair in Creativity program, and some professors plan to include Skinner’s essay in their teaching of Munro’s work.
Local leaders in Huron County, where Munro lived for many years, are also facing pressure to reconsider tributes to the author. Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn and North Huron Reeve Paul Heffer acknowledged the need to support Skinner while balancing the community’s respect for Munro’s literary contributions.
The matter was not discussed at North Huron's meeting on July 16.
Ginn, in an interview with CKNXNewsToday.ca on July 17, states that at this time, there's no real local appetite or outcry to potentially remove a local monument honouring Munro.
Ginn says the monument in Clinton, where Munro resided for many years, will not be removed, at least certainly not right now. Ginn brought up the issue at the Central Huron council meeting on July 16 in his mayor's comments, where he stated he felt that the monument honouring Munro's accomplishments and the now public issues surrounding Munro's legacy are two separate things.
"The monument honours Alice for writing and for winning the Nobel Prize, and it really doesn't speak to whether she was a good, poor or very poor mother. Some people have difficulty separating the two issues. I don't, I think they're totally two different things," Ginn stated.
Referring to his personal stance, which he also gave in other recent interviews, Ginn noted that his opinion on Munro is his and his alone and didn't reflect all of Central Huron Council. He did also point out that the issue surrounding Munro was not an official item on the council agenda on July 16, but was brought up by him near the end of the meeting, where he stated his thoughts.
Following his comments at the meeting, Ginn shared that three other councillors agreed with his stance and the rest of council had no comment.
Again, Ginn says he hasn't gotten any sense from local residents that they want to see the monument removed.
"I think I did have one email from a Central Huron resident but everything else was from outside the municipality and some from even outside of Ontario. So, I think it's maybe a bigger story elsewhere than it is here," Ginn said.
However, Ginn reiterated, as he has in recent interviews, that if there were public outcry over the monument and possibly removing it, council would listen.
"No member of the public spoke about it at our last meeting, so we'll wait and see. I mean, obviously, if that's what the residents want, I expect council would do it, but at this point, there hasn't been that communication to council," Ginn concluded.
-With files from Ryan Drury