By the end of next month, school boards and divisions must provide Premier Danielle Smith’s Education Minister, Demetrios Nicolaides, with a list of literary materials they intend to remove.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
The Alberta government is altering its controversial ministerial order for the removal of books in schools across the province, extensively revising the restrictions to include only visual depictions of sexual acts.
The written word, particularly classic literature, will no longer be part of the bans, Alberta’s Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told reporters in a Monday teleconference. He said authorities will now also have more time to implement the new government standards.
By the end of next month, school boards and divisions must provide Mr. Nicolaides with lists of literary materials they intend to remove. Students will then be forbidden from accessing that content by Jan. 5, 2026.
Margaret Atwood responds to Alberta book ban with satirical short story
The restrictions have been revised to also remove specific age groups, meaning they will apply to all students regardless of their grade levels. That includes any part of any school in Alberta, whether it is a classroom or a library.
Dissension and debate around the province’s plan erupted days before the start of the new school year when the Edmonton Public School Board verified a list of 200 books that would need to be removed under previous measures. That list included such classics as The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Color Purple by Alice Walker and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
Public outrage from thousands of people across the world, including by Ms. Atwood, put pressure on the province to make changes. Then, last week, Mr. Nicolaides told school authorities that his order was being paused and new guidelines would soon be released.
The Alberta government has rewritten its school book ban to only apply to images and illustrations of explicit sexual acts, not written descriptions. During a technical briefing with reporters, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said visual depictions have been the government’s main concern and the revised order will ensure literary classics stay in schools.
The Canadian Press
At a briefing Monday before publishing his new ministerial order, Mr. Nicolaides positioned the significant changes as a matter of clarification rather than walking back the restrictions.
“Our intent is the same as it was at the very beginning,” he said. “The updated ministerial order really crystallizes and clarifies our intent, which is very simple: We want to ensure that material that has extremely graphic and explicit visual depictions of sexual activity are not made available.”
Mr. Nicolaides, who had previously asserted that the intent of his order was to remove materials from school that were inappropriate for certain ages, declined to say why grade levels were no longer specified in the new restrictions.
Confusion around Alberta’s school library book ban driving sales at book stores
According to Alberta’s new order, visual depictions forbidden from students include any drawings, illustrations, paintings, and photographic, video or digital representations of sexual acts.
Novels, poetry and any other literary work containing written explicit content are allowed to remain in schools, Mr. Nicolaides said.
He said the province does not intend to publicize any book lists that schools are required to provide his office by October.
Mr. Nicolaides said a large portion of the books that appeared on the preliminary Edmonton list will not be part of the new measures. However, he did not provide a definitive list of what visual works the province will use for its order.
He only reiterated four examples of graphic novels, each of which depict coming-of-age or LGBTQ subjects, and whose authors have told The Globe and Mail that their work has been taken out of context.
More to come.