Alberta government releases list of Edmonton, Calgary schools where ‘sexually explicit’ books were found
Posted September 3, 2025 3:57 pm.
Last Updated September 3, 2025 7:52 pm.
Alberta’s education minister has outed some of the province’s schools where “sexually explicit” graphic novels were found.
Minister Demetrios Nicolaides’ list, which he posted to social media Tuesday night, includes 30 public schools in Edmonton and 28 in Calgary.
“I initially did not share this list, as I did not feel drawing attention to individual schools was necessary or helpful. However, I believe Albertans deserve transparency,” Nicolaides wrote.
The schools are part of Edmonton Public Schools (EPSB) and Calgary Board of Education (CBE).
“Note that this is only two school boards out of the many in the province,” Nicolaides specified.
One of the schools featured on the list is Victoria School of the Arts in central Edmonton.
The government says the graphic memoir “Fun Home” was found in the library there by concerned parents. The work by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel explores themes such as sexual orientation, gender roles and suicide.
Some students at Victoria were shocked to find out the book, which includes nude drawings, was on the library’s shelves.
“Victoria is a pre-K to Grade 12 school,” said Grade 11 student AJ Mosonyi. “It’s pretty wild to hear that they had these kinds of books. Any kid could be seeing and reading these things. Like, it’s not OK.”
BACKGROUND: Alberta bans explicit sex books in schools; new rules start Oct. 1
Other students believe the government should back off and let teachers and librarians police what books they’re allowed to read.
“There’s obviously age limits, but I think they should go based on what the book is rated at instead of making their own ratings,” said Grade 12 student Jules Wallbridge.
“The book ban does nothing but aid in the kind of destruction in the youth’s education,” added fellow Grade 12 student Avery Cochrane.
Ministerial order being rewritten
On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced her government is rewriting a ministerial order directing school divisions to ban books containing sexually explicit content to ensure classic books stay on library shelves.
Smith says the order is being changed so it only targets books containing images of sexual content. The government’s initial order, issued last month, covered books with images, illustrations, audio and written passages with sexually explicit content.
The revision comes after the EPSB put together a list of more than 200 books to remove from its libraries to comply with the initial order. The list includes Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. Dozens more books were 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.”
RELATED: Could George Orwell’s ‘1984’ be banned from Alberta’s school libraries?
Smith accused the division of purposely misunderstanding the government’s order. It’s unknown when Minister Nicolaides will release his new order.
The graphic novels the Smith government wants pulled from schools were in libraries across the province, according to the Alberta-based group Parents for Choice in Education (PCE), which sent volunteers into schools to find them.
“Apparently, there are organizations that encourage teachers to form groups to seek out such books and put them in libraries,” said John Hilton-O’Brien with PCE. “I believe those people are simply trying to make it easier for children of sexual and gender minorities by normalizing this activity.
“Unfortunately, they’re also putting in books that normalize sexual activity in general and the research says that’s not going to be healthy for kids.”
Hilton-O’Brien applauds the government’s crackdown on explicit books and its latest move to rewrite the order for clarity.
But the organization for Canada’s school libraries believes the whole process should come to an immediate end.
“This ministerial order still needs to be removed entirely, and the onus put onto the school districts through re-hiring trained professionals to do this work, rather than it being done at a political or bureaucratic level,” said Joseph Jeffery with Canadian School Libraries.
Books pulled off shelves in May
Edmonton Public Schools did not answer CityNews’ questions about how the books ended up in their libraries, nor did they comment on the minister’s decision to name schools.
But in a statement, the EPSB chair thanked the minister for listening to parents, students and educators by hitting pause.
A spokesperson also confirmed that graphic novels identified by the minister as “sexually explicit” were pulled off the shelves in May and remain unavailable to students.
Calgary’s public schools also confirmed the books were removed in May and said work on library materials has been paused pending further direction from Alberta Education.
“CBE has internal guidelines for the selection, deselection and reconsideration of learning commons resources. CBE’s practices are guided by principles such as those outlined in the Foundations for School Library Learning Commons in Canada: A Framework for Success (Canadian School Libraries, 2023),” explained a statement on behalf of CBE’s board of trustees.
“New schools receive a standard resource package from approved vendors based on CBE’s criteria.”
–With files from The Canadian Press
