No examples of potentially age-inappropriate content from Alberta’s rural school libraries had landed on the education minister’s desk by Tuesday morning.
During a roundtable with about 20 reporters and other rural media representatives, Demetrios Nicolaides confirmed that the examples of graphic content the government was alerted to originated from four books in Edmonton and Calgary school libraries.
But their existence nonetheless suggests that there’s a standards gap when it comes to explicit material that could end up in the hands of children, he maintained.
“It’s almost an impossibility to be able to know the full extent of the content of the vast majority of books that are published in any environment,” said Nicolaides, the member for Calgary-Bow. “So these are ones that we do know of, of course, that were brought to our attention.”
Regardless, don’t expect the government to go through each library’s collection, said Nicolaides, whose portfolio expanded May 16 to include childcare. “How school boards have their libraries vet or sort content will probably be left up to them.”
The UCP set up the roundtable to answer questions about the move towards provincial standards for school libraries in the selection and management of materials with sexual content.
Explicit depictions of sexual and other acts in four graphic novels or graphic memoirs — books in comic-strip format — prompted the province to announce that it’s investigating the idea of developing standards. The books were found in school libraries open to children in kindergarten and up.
Feedback suggests that many school boards are comfortable with an overall standard being set, Nicolaides said, providing they retain control of acting on the province’s direction through their own policies.
“That’s probably the direction we’ll go because there are a lot of nuances. We’ll establish the ‘what’ — what we’re trying to do, what we intend to do.”
But the “how” will stay with boards, allowing them to apply their “unique circumstances, unique schools and unique dynamics” to the provincial direction.
Nicolaides announced consideration of the new standards May 26, which the government backed up with an online survey of Albertans’ thoughts on the issue.
The survey closed June 6 and by Tuesday results were still being “collected and collated,” Nicolaides said.
Sexual depictions in the four books include masturbation, oral sex, pornography use and petting. Mentions of self-harm, sexual abuse and suicide are also present. The books were in libraries visited by students in kindergarten and higher grades, the government said.
All four are coming-of-age books written by Americans and based upon their authors’ life experiences. Three of them directly reflect experiences in the LGBTQ2S+ community.
After hearing about the roundtable, the NDP maintained that the UCP is diverting attention from its own performance.
“This government continues to fund education at the lowest level in the country, leaving schools overcrowded and understaffed,” said Amanda Chapman, the opposition’s shadow minister of education.
“Instead of addressing the urgent issues in our classrooms — like overcrowding, staffing shortages and Alberta’s position as the lowest funder of education per student in the country — the Minister of Education is focused on staging political distractions,” Chapman said in an emailed statement.
“What’s more troubling is the pattern we’re seeing from this government: decisions made behind closed doors, performative consultations that offer no real clarity, and a consistent refusal to be upfront with Albertans about what they’ve heard and how policies will be rolled out.”
Decisions on school library content should lie not with politicians but with teachers and library professionals. “In many cases, there aren’t even librarians available to make these decisions, let alone enough teachers or educational assistants to support our kids,” said Chapman, the member representing Calgary-Beddington.
“Albertans deserve a government that is transparent, ethical and competent — one that trusts experts to do their jobs and gives them the resources to do them well.”
Nicolaides doesn’t foresee a need for new legislation. Any standards the government creates will come into being through ministerial order.
How or whether the standards apply to every age or grade range hasn’t been determined.
Nicolaides stopped well short of endorsing the four books, but he did say that sexually graphic content can be important for some ages and groups in some situations.
“Our major concern is around age appropriateness,” he said. Explicit books “can be helpful resources to individuals who have a particular experience or have particular questions. And I don't have any concern with any kind of topic or subject being made available in school libraries.”
Many school boards already have policies around content. Potential new requirements would be consistent across the province and would apply to public, separate, francophone, public charter and independent schools.
A new standard would not affect materials in Alberta’s municipal public libraries, including 55 of them located in schools.
“Those could be uniquely challenging scenarios,” Nicolaides said.
He said he’s talked the issue over with Dan Williams, the new minister of municipal affairs, but not in any depth. The Peace River representative was appointed May 26, after the last minster. Ric McIver, accepted the position of speaker of the legislative assembly.
“We have had some conversations, because he is interested in understanding a little bit more about what we're doing,” said Nicolaides.
