Alberta Releases Updated School Standards on Sexual Content, Focusing on Explicit Imagery

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith stands withMinister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides following a swearing-in ceremony in Calgary, Alta., on May 16, 2025. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

The government of Alberta has released updated guidelines for the selection of books in school libraries, saying the new standards will keep materials with visual depictions of sexual acts out of children’s hands while ensuring that classic literary books remain on the shelves.

The province made the announcement on Sept. 8, almost a week after it paused the implementation of guidelines it had announced in July, citing the need to revise them after Edmonton Public Schools released a book removal list the province said didn’t reflect the policy’s intended purpose.

The new standards will prevent misinterpretation and ensure the guidelines target explicit visual depictions of sexual acts, the government said.

“Our goal has always been to make sure students are not exposed to visually graphic sexual material in school libraries,” Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a press release. “I am confident we can meet that goal while making the process as simple and straightforward as possible for schools and teachers.”

Edmonton Public Schools late last month released an internal list of 200 books slated for removal, saying that as a result of the government order, “excellent books” would be removed from the shelves this fall. The list included titles such as Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.”

After the list was made public, Premier Danielle Smith said the school division’s book selection amounted to “vicious compliance,” later noting that “we all know the difference” between “graphic pornographic images” and “the classics.”

The new standards narrow the restrictions to explicit visual depictions of sexual acts and no longer apply to written descriptions, as the previous guidelines did. They also simplify the application of the government order by having the same rules apply across all grade levels. The province said the changes make the intent of the standards “clear and achievable.”

School boards will now have until Jan. 5, instead of Oct. 1, to remove books that don’t comply with the updated standards.

When asked by reporters why the government wasn’t concerned with written descriptions of explicit sexual material, he said, “An image can be understood and conveyed at any grade level with any degree of comprehension.

“Whereas, of course, vocabulary and understanding progresses and develops throughout the school year.”

Responding to the updated guidelines, the Edmonton Public Schools board said it had developed its initial list “in good faith,” based on earlier rules that included both images and written passages, and that it will now proceed with implementing the new government order

“Today’s updated Ministerial Order narrows the scope to explicit images, allowing classic written works to remain on our shelves,” the board said in a Sept. 8 statement.

“As always, the Board of Trustees continues to value a collaborative working relationship with the province and with families in support of school libraries that serve the educational needs of students.”

Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi criticized the province’s measures, characterizing them as book bans.

“The UCP’s book ban isn’t about ‘age-appropriate’ books; it’s about ideology, division, and distraction. All at the expense of Alberta’s students,” he said in a Sept. 8 social media post.

“The fix is simple: back down and focus on funding classrooms, not banning books.”

The province took steps to implement school book standards after confirming that several “inappropriate” titles containing graphic content related to sexual activity, nudity, and molestation were available in some kindergarten to Grade 12 libraries.

Excerpts from the books shared with the media and the public show explicit sexual images involving both heterosexual and same-sex couples, as well as references to sex between people with large age differences.

The Alberta Parents’ Union, a parental rights advocacy group, said it was pleased the province revised the order to “get the policy right.”

“We believe that parents are the real experts in their own kids, the best advocates for their own kids, and the best judges of what is age-appropriate for their own kids,” Jeff Park, the group’s executive director, told The Epoch Times in a statement.

“Opposing schools making explicit sexual images accessible to children without the knowledge of their parents is not akin to banning books, and we hope this revised order makes the distinction much more clear.”

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.