Tod MaffinCanadian Commentator, From Far and Wide · Emotional Support Canadian

Little Sisters Bookstore vs the Canadian Government

7 Jun 2026 · 2 min

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2:06

The video narrates the history of Vancouver’s Little Sisters Bookstore, a queer‑focused sanctuary that stocked a wide range of LGBTQ+ literature. Beginning in the mid‑1980s, Canada Customs repeatedly seized or destroyed the store’s shipments under antiquated obscenity laws, burdening the owners with proving the material was not immoral. After years of targeted harassment—up to 75% of its U.S. imports were intercepted—the owners pursued legal action, ultimately reaching the Supreme Court of Canada in 2000. The Court ruled that Customs had violated the bookstore’s Charter rights to freedom of expression and equality, and it reversed the burden of proof, requiring officials to demonstrate obscenity before seizure. In a symbolic reversal, Canada Post, a Crown corporation, featured Little Sisters, its owners, manager, and mascot cat on a “Places of Pride” postage stamp, framing the act as either institutional redemption or a quintessentially Canadian irony. The piece closes with a Pride Month greeting.

Chapters

Canada Post just put a Vancouver bookstore on a stamp. A bookstore that the Canadian government spent 20 years trying to destroy. It's the Little Sisters Bookstore. It's in Vancouver's West End. It became a sanctuary for Vancouver's queer community, stocking everything from novels and magazines to erotic literature, self-help books. Almost immediately, Canada Customs came for them. Starting in the mid-'80s, shipments to Little Sisters began disappearing at the border. Or arriving with pages literally torn out of them, books labeled obscene, magazines held up for months. At one point, nearly 75% of everything the store ordered from the US was being seized or destroyed. Other bookstores ordering some of the same material had no problems. The targeting was not subtle. The federal government was doing this under laws that dated back to the 1800s, which gave customs officials sweeping power to seize material that they personally judged obscene. The burden of proof sat entirely on the importer. You had to prove that your books were not immoral. The government didn't have to prove anything. So Little Sisters' owners sued in the BC Supreme Court, then the Court of Appeal, and then it went to the Supreme Court in 2000. The court's decision: that Canada Customs had violated Little Sisters' Charter rights, both freedom of expression and equality rights. It also flipped that burden of proof. From that point forward, customs officials had to prove that something was obscene before seizing it. And this week, Canada Post, a Crown corporation, part of the same federal government that spent 2 decades trying to bankrupt that store through bureaucratic harassment, put Little Sisters on a postage stamp. It's part of a series called Places of Pride. The stamp features portraits of the 2 owners, their longtime store manager, plus the cat, Little Sister, after whom the whole place was named. It is, depending on your disposition, Either a beautiful act of institutional redemption, or the most Canadian thing that's ever happened. The government that tried to silence you eventually decides to honour you. Happy Pride Month.