Alberta Announces Provincewide Library Changes to Prevent Minors From Accessing Explicit Sexual Imagery

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, right, stands with Minister of Municipal Affairs, Dan Williams, following a swearing in ceremony in Calgary on May 16, 2025. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

The Alberta government has announced plans to implement changes in all public libraries to prevent children and younger teens from accessing material that includes graphic sexual images.

Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams introduced the measure on April 2 as part of omnibus Bill 28, which includes expanding child access restrictions on explicit materials to public libraries, increasing municipal accountability measures, building more homes in the province, and changing rules on vacant home taxes.

The bill, dubbed the Municipal Affairs and Housing Statutes Amendment Act, promises not to ban books in libraries but to take steps to make sure children younger than 16 can’t access explicit visual depictions of sex. The act calls for such materials to be physically separate, such as placed behind a counter, and to require parental permission to access.

“I think parents expect that truly explicit, sexually explicit, pornographic material isn’t something that they'll fall upon by accident,” Williams said at a press conference, adding that library staff will control content in that category.

One example of such content, Williams said, is “Gender Queer,” a graphic novel about sex by Maia Kobabe, which has been declared by the author herself as not suitable for children, yet can still be accessed in libraries by minors.

The minister said the province has no interest in overriding parental authority and kids can still access such materials with permission from a parent.

“It’s not my job to get in the way of that, but ... those who are under the age of 16 are going to have to get their parents’ permission for things that are truly pornographic in nature,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.

Williams was asked if his government would be prepared to use the notwithstanding clause to protect the law from court challenges. The clause allows federal or provincial governments to temporarily override specific fundamental Charter rights for up to five years.

The minister said he didn’t consider the government’s proposal to be censorship or to violate any Charter rights because the change is in line with obscenity laws across the country.

“I don’t think it’s a question of freedom of expression for a seven year old to learn this,” he said, holding up an example of a novel available in libraries that shows pictures demonstrating how to perform sexual acts.

He said the government’s plan to regulate access to the content follows the science on the issue. He noted that multiple studies show that underage access to explicit material can have “incredibly detrimental effects” on healthy sexuality in the future.

A provincial handout about the plan said public libraries are shared spaces for children and adults and are responsible for ensuring safeguards for minors. It said the details are still to be finalized, but any measures will not impact written works, educational or health-related resources, or content that does not contain explicit images.

School Libraries

The move appears to build on previous legislation enacted to restrict graphic sexual material in school libraries.

The changes were announced last summer by Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.

The guidelines, announced in July of 2025 and outlined in a ministerial order, were created based on feedback from Albertans collected through a public engagement survey, and consultations with school boards, he said.

“We have created a balanced province-wide standard to ensure school library materials are age appropriate and free of sexually explicit content,” Nicolaides said at the time. Alberta schools had no formal standards for selecting age-appropriate books for their libraries prior to the new measure, he said.

Some of the books identified as “inappropriate” for children by the province include “Gender Queer,” as well as “Fun Home,” a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel; “Blankets,” a graphic novel by Craig Thompson; and “Flamer,” a graphic novel by Mike Curato.

All the books contain explicit sexual content involving either heterosexual or same-sex couples, as well as references to sex between people with large age differences. They were previously available in some elementary school libraries.

Premier Danielle Smith’s government officially revised the ministerial order last fall and gave schools until January to adhere to the new rules.

Carolina Avendano contributed to this report.