{"id":106893,"date":"2025-08-30T03:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T03:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106893\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T03:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T03:18:13","slug":"edmonton-public-removing-more-than-200-library-books-to-comply-with-provincial-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106893\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Public removing more than 200 library books to comply with provincial rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edmonton\u2019s public school board is yanking more than 200 books from its library shelves this year \u2014 including literary classics such as author Margaret Atwood\u2019s \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d \u2014 to comply with provincial directive on banning books containing inappropriate sexual content.<\/p>\n

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The lists of the books to be removed was leaked and widely shared online Thursday, and the school division verified the list Friday morning.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAlberta\u2019s Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, claims the UCP government\u2019s decision to bring in new rules on what books are made available in school libraries was made after it received complaints from parents.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Public School Board chair Julie Kusiek said anyone unhappy with the move should contact Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDivision staff worked over the summer to ensure that only books that directly met the criteria in the ministerial order were added to the division\u2019s removal list,\u201d Kusiek said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The result, she said, is \u201cseveral excellent books will be removed from our shelves this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kusiek said trustees have already heard concerns from families about the list of books, and that trustees share those concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage anyone who has a concern about a book being removed, or the criteria for book removal set out in the ministerial order to contact the Minister of Education and Childcare directly,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlberta plans to censor some library books at K-12 schools\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In a response, Nicolaides said Thursday that his office is reviewing the Edmonton public board list and has asked the division to clarify why the books on it have been chosen for removal.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe will work with them to ensure the standards are accurately implemented,\u201d he said, adding that Alberta Education plans to work with all school boards to ensure \u201cthe policy is being implemented appropriately with the intent of ensuring young kids are not exposed to sexually explicit books.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Edmonton Public\u2019s list of books, the first such look into the policy\u2019s affect in schools, also includes Maya Angelou\u2019s \u201cI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings\u201d, Aldous Huxley\u2019s \u201cBrave New World\u201d and books from authors like Alice Munro and Ayn Rand.<\/p>\n

Dozens of additional books will also be made inaccessible to students in kindergarten through Grade 9, including George Orwell\u2019s \u201cNineteen Eighty-Four\u201d and F. Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s \u201cThe Great Gatsby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Edmonton school board is pulling more than 200 books from its library shelves \u2013 including such literary classics as \u201cThe Handmaids Tale\u201d and \u201cBrave New World\u201d to comply with a provincial directive that bans books containing inappropriate sexual content.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The school division said in an email that the list is non-exhaustive, and further titles are expected to be added.<\/p>\n

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Nicolaides has directed all schools to remove books with sexually explicit content from shelves by the end of September. They must also have in place by the new year clear policies on how the new directive will be maintained.<\/p>\n

The rules, contained in a ministerial order signed by Nicolaides last month, bans books with explicit sexual content for students in all grades.<\/p>\n

Those in Grade 10 and over may have access to books containing what the province deems to be non-explicit sexual content.<\/p>\n

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The new rules were announced by Nicolaides after he said officials found four graphic novels with explicit sexual content in school libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is simply about ensuring young students are not exposed to content depicting oral sex, child molestation or other very inappropriate content,\u201d Nicolaides said last month.<\/p>\n

Critics have accused Nicolaides of overstepping his mandate while pandering to the social conservative wing of the governing United Conservative Party.<\/p>\n

Howard Sapers, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said he was disappointed by the division\u2019s list and concerned with the path the province is going down.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just think about what the loss is to students and to their community when students don\u2019t get exposed to a variety of thought and expression,\u201d said Sapers, who also served two terms as member of Alberta\u2019s legislature.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s important to individual growth but it\u2019s also important to the kind of society we want to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Saper\u2019s organization and Nicolaides were in a public spat over the policy after an opinion column the association published said the government was engaging in \u201ctextbook censorship\u201d with its policy, to which the minister said the association was pushing a \u201cfalse narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister\u2019s office also took issue with Sapers writing that books like \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d would fall victim to the policy.<\/p>\n

Nicolaides\u2019 office said at the time that such a choice didn\u2019t align with the intent of the policy, which school boards were expected to uphold.<\/p>\n

Sapers said Thursday he \u201ctook no joy\u201d in seeing his prediction come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely a need to be vigilant about what young minds are exposed to, to make sure that it\u2019s not harmful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you have a policy that is just so over-broad that this is the result, then it\u2019s hard to accept the government at its word that it did not intend to see large-scale book banning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move comes as students head back to school for the new year, including 115,000 across more than 200 schools in the Edmonton public system. On top of that, talks continue to head off a potential provincewide strike by some 51,000 teachers.<\/p>\n

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Opposition NDP education critic Amanda Chapman said in a statement Thursday the government\u2019s priorities are wrong that the province should be more focused on heading off a strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, they\u2019ve set their sights on keeping the works of prolific Canadian authors like Margaret Atwood out of the classroom,\u201d Chapman said.<\/p>\n

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