Embarrassed Alberta Revises Its School Censorship Order. This One Is Worse

Having been so widely ridiculed for its first Ministerial Order banning all books with “explicit sexual content” from all school libraries, the Government of Alberta just issued a revised Order. It is worse.

What embarrassed the Government with Order #1 was that a number of the world’s most respected books have explicit sexual content and were caught by its ban.  Order #1 required that they be removed along with the Government’s principal target – graphic novels for teenagers. So, when Margaret Atwood, Aldous Huxley, Isabelle Allende, Margaret Laurence, Ayn Rand, and Maya Angelou were among those being banned, Premier Danielle Smith apparently felt she had to backtrack, blaming the Edmonton Public School Board for “vicious compliance” when all it had done was follow the directive in the Minister’s Order faithfully.

Order #2 is Government’s solution to its problem. It starts with the claim that “visual” depictions of sexual acts are its real concern. Written depictions are now okay. This is a curious distinction since we all know that great writers’ written depictions are far more evocative than most visual images.  But since Margaret Atwood and Margaret Laurence and Isabelle Allende did not write graphic novels, Order #2 will ensure the Government is not embarrassed by “classics”, as the Premier calls them, being included in the school boards’ lists of books they are required to ban.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides’ made clear when he first raised his concerns in May that his real target was young adult graphic novels. In his initial statement, he said he had been roused by four coming-of-age graphic novels, most of which depict sexual 2SLGBTQ+ content, and which had been found in circulation in Edmonton and Calgary public schools – all schools with high school students in them. He named the four books: Blankets by Craig Thompson, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, and Flamer by Mike Curato. He failed to mention that all are award-winning books with excellent professional reviews. (You can find profiles of each here.) 

He later admitted he had not read any of the four, just selected passages shown him by “concerned Alberta parents” who turned out to be activists from the far-right organization Action4Canada which celebrated his Order #1 with the following post on its website: “Action4Canada is pleased to announce A MASSIVE WIN in Alberta against the pornographic books! Most importantly, this is a victory for our precious children. PRAISE GOD! Thank you to the Alberta Minister of Education, Demetrios Nicolaides, for meeting with Action4Canada’s team, responding to our concerns and acknowledging the evidence of sexually explicit materials in Alberta schools. It’s a positive step toward restoring morality and common sense in education.” [Emphasis in the original]

Their ”victory” is secured with Order #2. But the many Alberta teenagers for whom these books were written will be the losers. Virtually all of the graphic novels in Alberta school libraries that are now to be removed were appropriately there, chosen according to school library policies (now overridden) because they speak to real issues in the lives of many teens – self-doubt, sexuality, consent, sexual assault, suicidal feelings, gender identity, community violence, family discord and violence.

A dangerous precedent is being set in Alberta: that the appropriateness of books in schools will not be determined by educators and librarians using their best professional judgment but by politicians wanting to please their electoral base.

Equally troubling is the dilemma confronting school boards and school officials. Do they abandon their professional duty to make decisions based on the needs and best interests of their students by quietly complying with the Order? Or, do they try to uphold their duty by objecting loudly and publicly, refusing to comply without a fight. While they may lose, they will have resisted normalizing the censorship that harms students. Education in a democracy is about helping students become independent and critical thinkers – skills necessary for success in every aspect of their adult lives. It is far better that they develop these skills in schools where they encounter challenging multi-format materials of interest, relevance, and importance to them, vetted by professional educators and librarians, than having to look elsewhere because these literary resources are banned from their schools by political censorship.