When Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta’s Minister of Education, announced last May he was going to ban all sexually explicit books in Alberta school libraries, he immediately received effusive praise from Action4Canada, one of Canada’s leading Christian far-right parental rights organizations.
“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. Action4Canada’s Calgary team has been working very hard behind the scenes, communicating with government officials over several months…”1https://action4canada.com/massive-win-in-alberta-against-pornographic-books-in-schools/
Holding up four young adult, coming-of-age graphic novels he claimed Alberta parents had brought to his attention, Minister Nicolaides declared he was going to impose new rules to ensure books like these four would no longer be available in any school libraries in the province. In July, he issued Ministerial Order (#030/2025)2https://livewirecalgary.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025_030_Education_and_Childcare.pdf banning from Alberta school libraries by September all “materials containing explicit sexual content” except “religious texts or scriptures.” Further, the Order specified that students below Grade 10 must not be permitted “to access school library materials containing non-explicit sexual content.”
The Edmonton Public School Board dutifully complied by identifying all books in its school libraries that had a paragraph or a page or a chapter that could be deemed sexually explicit. The list of these books was leaked to the media, and there was immediate public outrage.
Several hundred titles were removed, including Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale; Aldous Huxley, Brave New World; Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged; Alice Walker, The Color Purple; Margaret Laurence, The Diviners; Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Judy Blume, Forever; and Isabele Allende, The House of the Spirits.3https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-school-books-removal-1.7620807
In response to this act of censorship, Margaret Atwood drafted a short story for teens that would be deemed “suitable” for Alberta school libraries, adding the work was necessary because the province’s minister of education thought students were “stupid babies.”
Her story was about two 17-year-olds, named John and Mary, who were “very, very good children.”
“They never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits.”
“They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex”…they were ardent Christians who “paid no attention to what Jesus actually said about the poor” and instead “practised selfish rapacious capitalism” in the vein of the conservative literary hero Ayn Rand.
John and Mary lived happily ever after. “But, while they were doing that, The Handmaid’s Tale came true and [Premier] Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job”—a reference to the high-ranking wives of commanders in her book who wore blue while the handmaids, in red garments, were subjected to produce children for elite couples in a totalitarian and theocratic state.4https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alta-library-books-1.7622459
Her story went viral.5https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx0x6zz2pro; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/02/margaret-atwood-alberta-canada-book-ban; https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/margaret-atwood-alberta-school-book-ban-1236360116/; https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/09/02/public-book-burnings-margaret-atwood-comments-on-the-handmaids-tale-alberta-book-ban; https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/books/the-handmaid-s-tale-author-responds-to-alberta-book-ban-with-satirical-short-story
The ensuing public outrage prompted the very embarrassed Minister to tell school boards they should pause any development or distribution of lists of books that are to be removed until further notice.6https://www.castanet.net/news/Alberta/569965/Alberta-government-pauses-ban-on-school-library-books-with-sex-content Less easily embarrassed, Premier Danielle Smith quickly announced the removals “will be paused for a couple of hours while the ministerial order is rewritten.” Despite the fact that the Edmonton Public School Board had done exactly what the Minister’s Order directed, Premier Smith accused it of “clearly doing a little vicious compliance over what the direction is.”7https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-school-library-book-ban-paused-1.7623252
The “couple of hours” stretched into a month before a revised Ministerial Order was released in September which required school boards to remove all “school literary materials containing any explicit visual depiction of a sexual act.”8https://kings-printer.alberta.ca/Documents/MinOrders/2025/Education_and_Childcare/2025_034_Education_and_Childcare.pdf Apparently, written descriptions of sexual activity were now permissible.
The reality is that the intended target of the Minister’s broad brush first order was young adult (YA) graphic novels, starting with the four he held up at his May 2025 initial press conference. As Danielle McLaughlin writes in a recent Centre for Free Expression blogpost, young adult graphic novels are accessible to teenagers who may have difficulty reading dense text that has no illustrations, and they help them to contend with and understand how others have dealt with such issues as bullying, sexual attraction, uncertainties about their bodies, and family strife.9https://cfe.torontomu.ca/blog/2026/03/unsafe-library
A closer look at the four YA graphic novels the Minister used to highlight what he wanted to ban tells its own story. All are highly regarded, award-winning young adult graphic novels that address difficult issues that deeply concern many teens.
The first, Scott Thompson’s Blankets, has been translated into more than 20 languages, received many book awards, and has been described by the Guardian Weekly as “One of the best graphic novels of all time” and by Time magazine as “a great American novel.“ Publishers Weekly ‘s review said, “Thompson manages to explore adolescent social yearnings, the power of young love and the complexities of sexual attraction with a rare combination of sincerity, pictorial lyricism and taste.”10CFE Profile of Blankets https://cfe.torontomu.ca/book/blankets
The second, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, has received widespread critical acclaim:
• Kirkus Reviews (starred review): “Bechdel’s memoir offers a graphic narrative of uncommon richness, depth, literary resonance and psychological complexity… Though this will likely be stocked with graphic novels, it shares as much in spirit with the work of Mary Karr, Tobias Wolff and other contemporary memoirists of considerable literary accomplishment.”
• Library Journal (starred review): “Bechdel…paints her own story in this stunning graphic memoir… One of the best graphic memoirs to date.”
• Time Magazine: “At once a coming-out story, an examination of the complex relationship we can have with our parents, and the role of art and literature in processing our lives, first-time graphic novelist Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home made for a stunning debut… Smart, darkly funny and a little fearless, Fun Home reads like a true-life modern American Gothic.”
It, too, has been translated into many languages and received numerous book awards.11CFE Profile of Fun Home: https://cfe.torontomu.ca/book/fun-home-family-tragicomic
The third, Mike Curato’s Flamer, also has received widespread critical acclaim:12CFE Profile of Flamer: https://cfe.torontomu.ca/book/flamer
• School Library Journal (starred review): “Curato has created a beautiful story of a teen who must decide if he will force himself into the mold of what he thinks a ‘normal’ boy is, or if he can allow himself to live life on his own terms. An essential book that shows readers that they are never alone in their struggles
• Booklist (starred review): “Just as his deft artwork meticulously balances between blazing feelings and quiet contemplation of natural beauty, Curato gives Aiden a poignantly well-rounded character: for all the homophobia and racism inherent in institutions like the Boy Scouts and the Catholic church, Aiden still defiantly finds inspiration and strength there. Masterfully nuanced and stunningly told, this is visual storytelling at its finest.”
• Kirkus Reviews (starred review): “[T]he true star of this book is the writing, which describes a boy who could live in any decade on his journey of self-discovery. This is a story that will be read and reread, and for some, it will be the defining book of their adolescence.”
Finally, Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer, one of the most challenged books in the U.S., likewise has received good critical reviews, won literary awards, and been translated in multiple languages:
• School Library Journal (starred review): “It’s also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand.”
• Publisher’s Weekly: “This heartfelt graphic memoir relates, with sometimes painful honesty, the experience of growing up non-gender-conforming…. [It’s] sure to spark valuable discussions at home and in classrooms.”
• San Francisco Book Review: “Regardless of who you are or how you identify, this graphic novel will speak to you… Throughout this intensely honest and poignant memoir, Maia struggles with things like fitting in as a homeschooled kid, being terrified of puberty, and struggling to ask people to use their preferred pronouns… Maia Kobabe tells this story with such skill, beauty, and feeling that you won’t be able to put it down or resist its magnetic emotional pull.”
Action4Canada is not alone in trying to ban such books from all libraries in Canada. The number of parental rights groups (religious and secular) in Canada is growing, as is their zeal. They are putting active pressure on other provinces to act as Alberta has. Any success they achieve only inspires them to broaden their demands for what is to be removed.
For example, after praising God for Minister Nicolaides’ book ban order, Action4Canada started a letter writing campaign, urging parents and others to sign a letter calling for a broad ban of what Action4Canada has labeled “SOGI123” materials13https://action4canada.com/massive-win-in-alberta-against-pornographic-books-in-schools/ which for them consists of a list of 62 books14https://action4canada.com/wp-content/uploads/List-of-SOGI-Inclusive-Books-for-K-12-Schools.pdf that are LGBTQ+ friendly, and/or discuss gender stereotyping, gender identity, issues of teen angst, family discord, and sexual orientation. In a bold move, they also demanded that, in addition to the 62 specific titles, the library ban “any other titles by the same authors, plus any books of the same genre.”15This is laid out in Action4Canada’s “Notice of Liability”, a bogus legal document they encourage supporters to send to public library staff and to school board officials and school library staff. https://action4canada.com/wp-content/uploads/liability-notice-pornographic-books-sogi-resources.pdf
Meanwhile, other parental rights groups are mobilizing. He is a sampling:
• Concerned Citizens Canada [“For the preservation of democracy, dignity and our way of life”]16https://www.instagram.com/concerned_citizens_canada/ is using social media aggressively to ban books in schools. One of their tools is a series of Instagram reels targeting school divisions across Manitoba, titled “These books aren’t in my kids’ school.” In each, the CCC host provides a link to the school divisions library catalogue, a link to the names and contact information for the school trustees and proceeds, after cautioning the listener to make sure no one under 18 in the room, to read what she considers scurrilous passages from selected books in the school division’s libraries, such as Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, and from young adult graphic novels such as Margaret Atwood, The Hand Maid’s Tale-Graphic Novel.17https://www.instagram.com/concerned_citizens_canada/
• Parents for Choice in Education, an Alberta-based non-sectarian organization, has strongly supported the Minister’s book banning order. PCE’s Executive Director, John Hilton-O’Brien, sums up their view, “Removing materials from minors’ access isn’t about freedom of expression, but ensures schools are presenting the best possible resources for students to learn from.”18https://www.parentchoice.ca/
• Parents As First Educators are working to rid schools of curriculum and books that deal with sex education, systemic racism, and gender identity.19https://www.pafe.ca/
• Parents Voice BC is taking a different approach. It describes itself as a registered “centre-right political party” that aims to take control of all school boards in British Columbia. It claims to have registered in all 60 school districts for the October 2026 election with a goal of winning “a Double-Double majority: the majority of Trustees on a majority of the province’s school boards,” setting the stage for “electing Trustee majorities on all school boards in the province in 2030.” The group’s slogan is “Education, not Indoctrination” and supports the elimination of the same sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) materials in schools, as does Action4Canada. Mark Walla, Parents Voice BC founder and president, sums up their view, “I think a lot of people feel like all the social justice-related stuff in schools has gone too far. Are we doing that at a detriment to all the regular, kind of, what I think of as the basics of education?”20https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/parental-rights-movement-us-canada-1.6796070
• Regroupement des Parents Vigilants du Québec focuses much of its attention on “the Quebec Culture and Citizenship (CCQ) program imposed in all primary and secondary schools by the Quebec Ministry of Education” and demanding a complete moratorium on sex education in Quebec schools.21https://www.rpvquebec.org/
Targeting books on sex education, family diversity, as well as young adult graphic novels is part of the disturbing pattern revealed in the Centre for Free Expression’s annual report of challenges Canadian libraries faced in 2025.22https://cfe.torontomu.ca/publications/rising-demands-censorship-challenges-faced-canadian-libraries-2025 Public, school, and academic libraries in Canada received 460 challenges in 2025, of which 359 were for young adult books. Of those, 320 (89%) were the result of the Alberta Minister’s Order, and all of those 320 books were removed.
Further, every one of the ten most challenged items in Canadian libraries in 2025 was a young adult graphic novel or graphic novel series. Here is the top ten list:
1. Neil Gaiman, The Sandman (series)
2. Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead (series)
3. Brian K. Vaughan, The Last Man (series)
4. (tied) Kanoko Sakurakoji, Blackbird (series)
4. Brian K. Vaughan, Saga (series)
6. (tied) Craig Thompson, Blankets
6. Alan Moore, The Watchman (Series)
8. (tied) Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale—Graphic Novel
8. Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
8. Matyas Namai / George Orwell, 1984: The Graphic Novel23Ibid.
Demands by special interest groups for removal of books are assertions that because they do not like something, no one else should have a right to see, read, or hear it. This runs contrary to Canadians’ Charter right to freedom of expression which includes the right not only to express yourself but the right to seek and receive information. It also violates the fundamental value of libraries world-wide—intellectual freedom; namely, as the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions put it, “Libraries shall ensure that the selection and availability of library materials and services is governed by professional considerations and not by political, moral and religious views.”24https://repository.ifla.org/rest/api/core/bitstreams/e2e51673-8803-4f34-bfe8-2f6eba849dfc/content
For school libraries, judgments about what is appropriate are best made by professional educators and librarians, not by politicians playing to their political base. To the detriment of youth in Alberta, their provincial government has decided otherwise. There is growing pressure elsewhere for governments, school boards, and library boards to do likewise—pressure that must be vigorously resisted.
