Winnipeg news — the province has cancelled the volunteer pop-up library at the Manitoba Youth Centre, shutting down the only librarian service young inmates had. It cost Manitoba Corrections nothing. Nobody will say why it was cut.
By Maplestime News Desk | Winnipeg, Manitoba | October 4, 2026
Sources: Winnipeg Free Press, NewsLocker | Last updated: October 4, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Manitoba Corrections cancelled the volunteer pop-up library at the Manitoba Youth Centre last month, the Winnipeg Free Press reported October 3.
- The Prison Libraries Committee of the Manitoba Library Association had operated and funded the program since 2024. The facility has no dedicated library of its own.
- Volunteers can still drop off crates of books, but they are no longer allowed inside the facility to help youth find books or research school assignments.
- The Youth Centre had previously asked for the once-a-month program to be offered MORE often because the youth enjoyed it.
- Justice Minister Matt Wiebe was not available for an interview. Provincial spokesperson Andrew Chapman said inmates have “more robust and fleshed out supports than ever before” but would not say why the program was cancelled.
- Advocates including Ashley Huot, University of Winnipeg professor emeritus Michael Wienrath, and Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth Sherry Gott are calling the decision senseless.
A Free Program, Cut Without Explanation
The email landed last month, and Ashley Huot, chair of the Prison Libraries Committee, could not make sense of it. Manitoba Corrections told her the pop-up library at the Manitoba Youth Centre was “no longer needed.” This was the same program the Youth Centre had previously asked to run more often, because the youth liked it.
Think about that for a second. The customers — incarcerated young people — wanted more of it. The providers — volunteers, funded by a non-profit, costing the province nothing — wanted to give more of it. The province said no.
What the Manitoba Youth Centre Just Lost
The program ran once a month. Volunteer librarians did what librarians do: found books of interest for the youth, dug up research for school assignments, and were, in Huot’s words, “a safe space.” “Books on a shelf are not the same as trying to create something similar to an actual library. We’ve always wanted more than the pop-up library and now we’re moving in the wrong direction,” Huot said Friday.
What remains inside the Manitoba Youth Centre now is a stack of books nobody curates. Reading materials are available in classrooms and common areas, the province says. Correctional facilities in Manitoba do not employ staff librarians. So the books sit, and the help with research, the guidance, the human connection — that walked out the door with the volunteers.
The Province’s Answer
It is not an answer. Andrew Chapman, a provincial spokesperson, said in an email that Manitoba Youth Centre inmates have access to “more robust and fleshed out supports than ever before.” He would not say why the library program was cancelled. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe was not available for an interview.
On September 24, the non-profit wrote to the justice minister: “It is concerning that community members who are incarcerated, especially youth, are losing out on meaningful programming, access to information and rehabilitation efforts, which are offered at no cost to (Manitoba) Corrections. We urge Manitoba Justice to promote more library services and programming, not less.”
Against Its Own Strategy
Michael Wienrath, professor emeritus of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg, said he was baffled. Outside agencies are crucial for helping inmates, he noted, and many incarcerated youth do not have a full education. Manitoba’s own 2024 public safety strategy aimed to improve literacy in corrections by expanding library and education programs. Cutting this one, he said, contradicts the strategy outright: “I don’t really understand why they would cut the library program when clearly it advances their overall goals of trying to improve inmate literacy.”
Manitoba’s auditor general said much the same thing last year. In his March 2025 report, Tyson Shtykalo found group programming, education, and work opportunities for inmates were limited, with little evidence of inmates being connected to outside resources while locked up.
Then there is Sherry Gott, Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth, who called for the decision to be reversed: “I can’t fathom why the province would cut a program that comes at no cost to them, and it serves to enhance the lives of young people in Manitoba, especially in the youth centre.”
The Bottom Line
Governments cut programs for reasons: money, scandal, redundancy. This one had no cost, no scandal, and — by the Youth Centre’s own earlier request — demand for more. A free library service for kids in custody, cancelled by email, with no explanation offered. If the province has a better reason than “no longer needed,” it has not shared it. Until it does, this looks exactly like what the advocates call it: a step in the wrong direction.
Maplestime will provide updates from the Manitoba Youth Centre library program as announcements are made.
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A free library for incarcerated kids, killed by email with no explanation — how does that serve public safety? Tell us in the comments. And share this with every Manitoban who thinks rehabilitation should mean something.
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