Conservative activists gave Alberta government list of ‘inappropriate’ books in school libraries

Seen here in an Edmonton secondary school library, is one of four graphic novels Government of Alberta officials cited as examples of explicit and age inappropriate material that prompted new province-wide content guidelines. (Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter)

Social conservative activist groups provided Alberta government officials with lists of books now facing prohibition under new provincial content guidelines for school libraries, the IJF has learned.

On May 26, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced the province is bringing in new rules for school libraries after investigations by his office found materials containing depictions of sexual acts, nudity, drug and alcohol use, profanity and other mature content on the shelves in Alberta K-12 schools.

• Alberta to create guideline for ‘age-appropriate’ books allowed in K-12 schools

Alberta currently has voluntary guidelines for library books, but school boards follow their own processes for selecting age-appropriate and relevant materials for students. Because of the inconsistent standards between school divisions, “sexually explicit material has made their way onto school library shelves,” Nicolaides said, and so public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools will be required to follow province-wide guidelines starting in the 2025-26 school year.

While the province said it identified multiple books with sexually explicit and inappropriate content, it has so far only named four coming-of-age graphic novels: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Blankets by Craig Thompson and Flamer by Mike Curato. Three of the four books focus on 2SLGBTQ+ characters and themes.

Nicolaides told reporters in Calgary on Monday he was alerted to the issue by a group of parents who provided him with excerpts from “many of these books and other materials” and showed him information suggesting they were available in different schools.

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However, members of the groups Parents for Choice in Education (PCE) and Action4Canada have since taken credit for supplying Nicolaides with the names of books they wanted removed from school libraries.

In an email sent to followers, PCE celebrated the launch of Alberta’s public consultation on “sexually explicit” books in K-9 schools, telling members “your efforts helped make this happen.

“PCE has worked with concerned parents for the past two years to expose this issue. Using a list prepared by Action4Canada, one of our dedicated volunteers submitted examples of graphic books to government officials—proof that titles like Gender Queer and Fun Home are available to children in Alberta schools. This consultation is a direct result of that work," the email newsletter reads.

PCE is an Alberta-based parental rights group that has previously taken issue with sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) education in schools, gay-straight alliance laws and other 2SLGBTQ-related policies.

Action4Canada is a conservative Christian group with more than 60 chapters across Canada. The group promotes deeply conspiratorial beliefs, claiming the Canadian government and education system have been “infiltrated by radical LGBTQ activists” and that SOGI education and sexually explicit books are part of a “global agenda to sexualize children, interfere with parental rights, eliminate the natural family and normalize pedophilia.”

After Alberta announced its new library guidelines on Monday, Action4Canada posted on its website, thanking Nicolaides for meeting with their team and responding to their concerns about sexually explicit materials in Alberta schools.

In the post, the group said its Calgary chapter has been communicating with government officials over several months, providing evidence of inappropriate books in schools and a “comprehensive binder” that outlines supposed harms of SOGI education.

Nicolaides told the IJF in an email he met with PCE and “other concerned parents.” He did not respond to questions about whether he met separately with Action4Canada or when these meetings took place.

Action4Canada has led campaigns to have sexual education and 2SLGBTQ+ themed books removed from public and school libraries in several provinces. A 36-page list of “sexually explicit and pornographic books” available in Canadian libraries published by the group includes the novels Gender Queer and Fun Home.

The list includes excerpts of text and images from the novels. Many of the same excerpts are found in a document the government of Alberta provided to reporters on Monday showing examples of sexually explicit and graphic content found in library materials.

“Misrepresentation” of meetings by education minister

Corinne Mason, professor of women’s and gender studies at Mount Royal University, said Nicolaides’ initial claim that complaints about school library books had come from parents concerned about books their kids had access to in schools is a “total misrepresentation of the facts.”

“It’s a blatant lie from the minister about what’s happened,” they said.

Both Action4Canada and PCE are highly organized and well-funded lobby organizations, Mason said. And in the case of PCE, one with strong ties to the UCP government and Alberta’s conservative movement.

PCE executive director John Hilton-O’Brien was a founding board member and past president of the Wildrose Party of Alberta. During the 2022 UCP leadership race, Danielle Smith and other candidates participated in a forum on education hosted by PCE.

Mason said that Action4Canada’s campaigns have targeted 2SLGBTQ+ communities as ideological indoctrinators and dangerous to children in a time when the community is being violently harassed by hateful actors as pedophiles and groomers. And that it’s problematic if the UCP government has been looking to them for frameworks around what is and isn’t appropriate in schools.

“The fact that Parents for Choice in Education and Action4Canada, both of those organizations claim this as a win, I think that should be really, really concerning for folks like myself, who are very concerned about the influence of the parental rights movement generally in Alberta,” Mason said

Nicolaides said in an email the actions being taken by the UCP government have nothing to do with the LGBTQ+ community.

“The fact that our actions of protecting young students from seeing porn, child molestation, self-harm and other sexual material in school libraries are being labelled as anti-LGBTQ is frankly irresponsible,” he said.

Alberta Teachers’ Association President Jason Schilling also expressed concern that the government was willing to meet with special interest groups about library materials, but not educators.

“Parents for Choice in Education and Action4Canada are special interest groups who frequently target the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Their claims that the provincial government is taking direction from them and not educators is questionable and alarming,” Schilling said.

PCE told the IJF that its interest “is in the reasonable rights of parents. Nobody who attacks those rights can expect to escape our criticism. Those claiming that we are discriminating against them are merely using the LGBTQ+ community to excuse their egregious actions.”

Edmonton Public Schools, the Calgary Board of Education, and the Library Association of Alberta have all said the province hadn’t contacted them about the issue of age-inappropriate books in libraries before Monday’s announcement.

“Unprecedented” restriction of school library books

All provinces provide general orientations about library content, but it remains the business of school boards to decide what books it uses, said James L. Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University. Setting guidelines that block certain types of books from being in any school libraries is “really unprecedented,” he said.

“What they’re doing is censoring books,” Turk said. “It’s an absolute break from whatever any other province has done. It’s following the lead of Florida and Texas and Utah and some American states that are moving in this direction.”

The Florida Department of Education has removed over 700 books from K-12 school libraries. The agency maintains that no books have been banned in the state and the materials are “sexually explicit” and don’t belong in schools.

The number of banned books in Florida spiked after a 2023 law was passed requiring school districts to have a policy for challenging materials that “depicts or describes sexual conduct, is not suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented, or is inappropriate for the grade level and age group for which the material is used.”

The four books named by Alberta’s government have been frequently targeted by censors throughout North America. Gender Queer has the distinction of being the most banned book in the U.S. in 2021 and 2023, and the graphic novel shared the title of the most banned book in U.S. schools in 2022 with Curato’s Flamer.

These novels have also received multiple literary awards and continue to be selected for library catalogues by educators because of their ability to grapple with difficult subjects young adults are coping with in their lives, Turk said.

“They do raise challenging issues, but young adults deal with challenging things in their lives, and nobody is forcing anyone to read any of these books when they’re in school libraries,” he said.

Turk said these books may have been found in K-9 schools in Alberta because for students in grade nine and up they are appropriate. He added that he would be surprised if they appeared in the library catalogues of elementary schools.

Nicolaides told the IJF these materials were found in schools across the province, but said they are not naming the individual schools to ensure the safety and security of teachers, staff and students at these libraries.

The only specific school that has been identified as part of the province’s investigation is an Edmonton public school for students in grades 4-9. Garrett Koehler, press secretary to the minister of education, shared images on social media of Flamer and Gender Queer on the shelves of the school, commenting “these problematic books were found in and around books like Goldilocks…”

Gender Queer has been awarded the American Library Association’s Alex Award, given to books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 to 18.

The Government of Alberta’s press release for its age-appropriate book guidelines policy states the recommended reading age for Flamer is 14 and up, or younger with adult guidance.

By Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Investigative Journalism Foundation