Marissa Lentz-McGrath
Local Journalism Initiative
TimminsToday.com
NEW LISKEARD – Inside Chat Noir Books, the scent of fresh coffee mingles with the crisp pages of new books.
Nestled in the heart of New Liskeard in Northern Ontario, the independent bookstore has been a community staple since 2003, offering a carefully curated selection of books, board games, toys, and a cozy coffee bar beneath its signature red tin roof.
But now, store co-owner Jennifer Fournier is bracing for uncertainty.
A proposed 25 per cent tariff on books imported from the United States could put added financial pressure on independent bookstores like hers, potentially driving up prices and making books less accessible for readers.
“Printing is mostly done in the States, so it really, actually doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not it’s a Canadian or an American publisher,” said Fournier.
“A lot of our Canadian authors — their books get printed in the States, and then they get sent back to us, that’s where the tariffs would come into play. So even if it’s a Canadian author, they may be being tariffed because it’s not actually physically being printed in Canada. Our printing capabilities are pretty limited.”
The federal government has proposed the counter-tariff in response to new trade measures introduced by the Trump administration.
If implemented, the levy could increase book prices across Canada, affecting both retailers and consumers. Fournier, who owns the store with her husband Paul, is unsure if Chat Noir Books will have to raise prices to compensate.
“I honestly don’t know at this point. Everything is changing so fast. We really don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.
“Nobody wants to see prices on anything go up, and we always are worried about book prices going up, because then it just limits the number of hands that books can get into. Books are a window into how other people feel and how other people live. And to limit that is always a problem.”
Independent bookstores already operate on tight margins, and the addition of a tariff would present an added financial burden, particularly in an era of increasing online competition.
Fournier said that independent bookstores like Chat Noir Books try to absorb as many costs as possible to keep books affordable for their customers.
“As an independent bookstore, we’re smaller. We’re always on that edge, and we tend to try our best to absorb as many of those costs as we can, to make sure that we can get books to people,” she said.
“Independent stores tend to be passionate about the books. It’s not really about making some CEO somewhere enough money for a second house, or a fourth house, or a second yacht, or whatever it is they’re making money for. It’s always going to be harder on the little guy. Our margins are always significantly smaller.”
Beyond the financial burden on bookstores, Fournier worries that the tariffs could have a ripple effect on literacy and accessibility to books in Canada, particularly for schools and libraries.
“If you make something more expensive, it just makes it harder to attain,” she said.
“And it doesn’t just affect individuals … The libraries, the schools are where people are able to access things like books, things that are the fabric of how we grow our empathy towards other people, by reading other people’s stories.”
With no clear timeline on when the tariffs might take effect or how long they could last, uncertainty looms over the industry. Fournier said she shares the concerns of many Canadians about rising costs across the board.
“Nobody really knows exactly what’s happening. Nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen or how long things are going to happen for. So there’s a lot of uncertainty. But I think everybody is concerned about the prices of everything,” she said.
“It’s not just books. People are worried right now about what this is going to do for the prices of everything. And we’re feeling the same.”
