Alberta’s education minister is directing school boards to pause a government order to remove books with explicit sexual content from libraries.
Demetrios Nicolaides, in an email to school divisions and officials Tuesday, said they should pause any development or distribution of lists of books that are to be removed, “including removing materials containing depictions of explicit sexual content.”
He said the pause is in effect until further notice and that more information would be provided to school officials “as soon as possible.”
Nicolaides’ office didn’t immediately respond to questions about the pause.
The government’s move came after a draft list from Edmonton Public Schools of books to be removed from libraries was leaked online last week.
It contained more than 200 titles, including Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and more.
The popular Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and Game of Thrones books by George R.R. Martin — both of which were turned into award-winning television series — were also on the EPSB list.
The Outlander, Game of Thrones and Fourth Wing series were on the Edmonton Public Schools draft list of books to be removed from libraries.
Karen Bartko, Global News
Dozens of additional books were also set to be inaccessible to students in kindergarten through Grade 9, including George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The inclusion of Atwood’s celebrated novel prompted the author to condemn Premier Danielle Smith online over the weekend. She penned a satirical short story that she said could replace her most famous work in Alberta school libraries.
Atwood’s short satire is about two 17-year-olds who “grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex.”
Smith said last week that the Edmonton school division was too heavy-handed in crafting its list and criticized it for not following the government’s intention with the policy.
“They have obviously put books on there that there was never any intention of having them target those books,” Smith said at a press conference, adding that the division should have exercised better judgment.
Nicolaides’ order had directed schools to remove books with sexually explicit content, including in illustrations, images, audio or written passages, from shelves by the end of September.
Under the order, schools were also tasked with implementing clear policies by the new year on how the directive would be maintained.
The rules, as outlined in Nicolaides’ ministerial order, ban books with explicit sexual content for students in all grades. Those in Grade 10 and over would have access to books containing what the province deems to be non-explicit sexual content.
Other school divisions across the province were expected to come up with similar lists as Edmonton Public, though two divisions confirmed Tuesday that they had stopped all work on complying with the order in line with the government’s pause.
© 2025 The Canadian Press