Toronto Public Library apologizes after refusing to let a lost girl use their phone

The Toronto Public Library has apologized after refusing to let a lost girl use a phone at one of their branches.

Megan Kinch posted on social media Friday evening after her lost 11-year-old daughter went to the library looking for help.

It has now gone viral with over 16 million views and more than 14,000 reposts.

“If a young person says that they need help to call their mom, that is an emergency and that should be a priority,” Kinch told CityNews. “My kid was in an after-school program that ended two hours early and she thought she could get home on her own.”

Esther, her daughter, said she jumped on the 505 Dundas streetcar, but it took her to a part of the city she wasn’t familiar with.

“I wandered around a lot and I asked a bunch of people if I could use their phone to call some said no, some said it was their work phone and some walked away and didn’t pay attention,” said Esther.

That’s when she crossed the street and went to a place her mother has always said is safe, the Toronto Public Library.

She walked into the Riverdale branch, located at Gerrard and Broadview streets.

“I went in the library and asked if I could use their phone, but they said, ‘No, it’s for employees only’ and they said there’s a payphone outside, and I said, ‘I don’t know how to use a payphone, and they just said no, sorry.”

The Toronto Public Library apologized for the incident in a statement to CityNews on Monday and said the situation doesn’t reflect its commitment to serving all community members 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,” read the statement.

Kinch said we all have a collective responsibility to ensure the safety of our youth.

“Maybe the Toronto Public Library needs to adopt something like New York’s safe space policy for children and youth because they obviously really need to see their children clients as different and having different needs than their adult clients, and one of those needs is to call their mom.”

The library said it hopes to learn from this and that a branch manager is personally handling the matter and hopes to be in direct communication with the family.