Toronto library apologizes for not letting lost girl use their phone

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The first subheading under “Equity” in the Toronto Public Library’s list of values is accessibility. Last week, a branch in the city’s east end may have failed to live up to the spirit of that code when staff refused a lost little girl’s request to call her mother.

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The TPL has since apologized for the incident and said it was “simply not okay.”

Meanwhile, Megan Kinch, single mom to 11-year-old Esther, feels the incident points to a greater need for specific policies that recognize youth as a distinctly vulnerable population.

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“We do need to think about safety for kids and their access to safety,” Kinch told the National Post this week.

”Instead of just freaking out about the Internet, we actually have to create ways that they can get help, and one of those spaces should be the library.”

‘None of that needed to happen’

With no school last Friday due to a professional activity day for teachers, Esther spent the day in a youth program.

When it ended two hours before schedule without Kinch’s prior knowledge, Esther was upset that her mother wasn’t there for pick-up, and phoned her from the site.

Kinch offered to come get Esther or suggested she make her way home independently, something the downtown Toronto kid had done on her own before.

“I was sort of giving some more detailed instructions on how to get home and also saying, ‘Are you sure you can do it? I’ll come get you,” Kinch said. “She got frustrated and hung up on me, and then I couldn’t call her back because it was from an institutional number.”

Esther then hopped on a streetcar on Dundas Street – going in the wrong direction.

Further complicating things, the Toronto Transit Commission vehicle was diverted from its normal route, bringing Esther to an unfamiliar neighbourhood.

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“When the streetcar ended up going over the highway, she realized that she was not where she was supposed to be and that’s why she got off,” Kinch explained.

Now on Broadview Avenue and getting worried, Esther, who had recently lost her emergency flip phone somewhere in her bedroom and had only a slip of paper with three numbers, couldn’t find anyone to let her use their phone.

So she went into the TPL’s nearby Riverdale Branch and asked to use theirs. The librarian behind the counter denied the request, stating it was against policy to let the public use their phones, and directed the girl to a payphone outside.

“She said that she didn’t know how to use the pay phone, that she needed help, and they said that they were closing at 5:00 p.m.,” Kinch recounted.

Esther had quarters and a debit card on her, but couldn’t figure out how to use the payphone.

Now visibly upset and with darkness encroaching, she eventually found a woman kind enough to let her call her mother and drop a location pin.

The pair were reunited not long after.

“None of that needed to happen,” Kinch said. “If the library had just called me when she went in there, I wouldn’t have even had to worry and she wouldn’t have had to worry.”

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On X, Kinch’s post about the incident had piled up nearly 17 million views.

Some commenters have questioned why an 11-year-old was alone in Canada’s largest city, but Kinch hopes they’ll understand that it’s the norm for many middle-school-aged kids in the Toronto District School Board.

“My kid lives downtown and she would have found her way home walking,” Kinch said. “She had a plan to walk back over the bridge and I’m sure she would have ended up back in her familiar area if she did.”

‘Doesn’t align with our commitment to serving all community members’

Officials from TPL reached out on Monday night, long after several media outlets had already contacted Kinch, and offered a genuine apology. It was followed by a similarly contrite phone call the next day.

In an email to the National Post, TPL said what occurred “doesn’t align with our commitment to serving all community members, especially children, with care and compassion.”

“We view this as a very important opportunity to review and reinforce our staff training protocols to make sure nothing like this happens again. Keeping our community safe and welcome is at the heart of what we do.”

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Kinch doesn’t feel youth can be lumped in with the general public when it concerns policy decisions that could put their safety at risk.

In her daughter’s case, she said, it should have been clear that the girl had no intention of abusing phone use.

“But if one rogue employee is able to do that, it really shows a clear need for policy change and training for public libraries and maybe for other city staff who run other kinds of city entities.”

In a larger sense, Kinch believes youth have different needs than the general public, and that more advocacy is needed on their behalf.

As for Esther, she’s ready for the spotlight to switch off but is proud of the agency she helped establish for herself and hopefully other kids who might find themselves in a tough spot.

“She was powerless to a mean librarian who was a gatekeeper, but I think because of the public and the media she was able to take some of that power back and say ‘No. As a kid, I am powerful. People do care about us. You can’t just mess with us and get away with it, there is some accountability for treating kids badly.”

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