Censorship

The government of Alberta has imposed unprecedented censorship on all public libraries in the province – a first in Canadian history. In May, the government pushed through Bill 28, giving the Minister of Municipal Affairs virtually unlimited authority over almost all aspects of all Alberta public libraries – an extreme and unwarranted attack on the province’s public library boards, staff, and administration that a recent poll found were trusted by 82% of Albertans.

With the precipitous decline of democracy in the United States, it is all too easy to ignore that Canada’s democracy is in decline as well. We ignore the signs at our peril.

On May 13, the Alberta government passed Bill 28 which amends the Libraries Act to grant the Minister of Municipal Affairs, currently Dan Williams, authority over “management, administration or operation” of every public library in the province. The Bill gives the Minister unprecedented power to issue “any order that the Minister considers appropriate.” 

Responses to each paragraph of Alberta MLA Nate Glubish’s letter to a constituent publicly defending Government Bill 28 that authorizes provincial takeover of Alberta public libraries.

In May 2025, Alberta’s Minister of Education issued Ministerial Order 030/2025, setting province-wide rules governing access to literary materials in K–12 schools. While presented as a child-protection measure, a subsequent clarification made clear that the order applies not only to school libraries, but to entire school environments—including classrooms, supplementary reading, and voluntary access spaces.