Tuesday was the first day of classes in Edmonton, and many school libraries looked different, their shelves conspicuously missing hundreds of books. The absent titles had been plucked away to abide by an order from the Alberta government to remove books that described sex or other topics deemed inappropriate for young people.
But a few hours before the end of the school day, the provincial government backtracked, pausing the order following a public outcry from high profile authors, including Margaret Atwood, the Canadian novelist. Her novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” was among those removed by Edmonton Public Schools, the second largest board in Alberta.
The district’s list of more than 200 excluded books had seemed, in part, to be a tacit rebuke of Alberta’s order. Danielle Smith, the provincial premier, had complained that the school system seemed to be deliberately going too far, in order to protest the order.
“After becoming aware of a list of over 200 books that Edmonton Public Schools intended to remove off their shelves, I will be revising the order immediately to ensure that our classic literary works remain in school libraries,” Demetrios Nicolaides, the education minister, said in a statement.
Julie Kusiek, chair of the Edmonton board, said in a statement that it was “grateful” for the minister’s “responsiveness to concerns raised by parents, students, educators and the community.” School system staff members had worked over the summer to pull the titles from its libraries, the board said.
“This isn’t about banning books,” Ms. Smith had said on social media in May when her government announced it would require schools to remove certain books. “It’s about protecting kids from graphic, sexually explicit content that has no place in a classroom.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, Ms. Smith tried to clarify her stance.
“I’m going to be more explicit than usual so there is no misunderstanding this policy,” Ms. Smith wrote on X. “1. Get graphic pornographic images out of school libraries. 2. Leave the classics on the shelves. 3. We all know the difference between the items in 1 and 2. Let’s not play any more games in implementing this policy for our kids.”
The original order had broadly targeted books judged not “developmentally appropriate” for young students, including titles that contain references to sex, as well as nonsexual acts like kissing or holding hands.
The ban for books with explicit sexual content is for students of all grades. Students in grades 10, 11 and 12 are able to access books with non-explicit sexual content (defined as “containing a depiction of a sexual act that is not detailed or clear”).
Eight books by Ellen Hopkins, an American author, were included in Edmonton’s ban. Ms. Hopkins is accustomed to seeing her books, which cover themes such as drug addiction, sexual abuse and L.G.B.T.Q. relationships, on banned book lists in the United States, but was surprised by a similar treatment in Canada.
“What I can say about the book bans is they were the first volley here in a war against public education,” Ms. Hopkins said in an interview.
The move comes as Alberta, a conservative stronghold, is preparing for a possible referendum on whether to secede from Canada, led by activists and residents angry at the federal government for what they believe are limits placed on its vast oil and gas resources.
The titles that had been removed by the Edmonston school board included curriculum staples — like “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, “1984” by George Orwell and “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald — as well as popular novels by young adult authors like Judy Blume, Tahereh Mafi and Emily Henry. “It” by Stephen King and “Jaws” by Peter Benchley were also banned.
About “The Handmaid’s Tale,” her dystopian novel adapted into a critically acclaimed television series, “Kindergarten students should not be reading it — no contest!” Ms. Atwood said in an email to The New York Times. “But they weren’t anyway. But 17 year olds?”
Ms. Atwood criticized the government’s move in a series of posts on X, writing a mocking 160-word post as a short story that would be “suitable” for Alberta schools about a couple called John and Mary. “They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex,” Ms. Atwood wrote.
Some conservative groups in Alberta are borrowing a playbook from conservatives in the United States in taking on polarizing cultural and social issues, said Duane Bratt, a public policy professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
Similar to discussions around trans athletes in the United States, new rules in Alberta banning transgender athletes from participating in amateur sports for girls went into effect on Monday.
Though Alberta had not released an expansive list of all the titles that would be affected by its order on school reading materials, it did identify in May four graphic novels that it deemed were “inappropriate” for containing images of sexual acts.
On Tuesday, Mr. Nicolaides again referenced those books, saying the government’s revision of the order will focus on targeting books that include “graphic pornographic images.”
Vjosa Isai is a reporter and researcher for The Times based in Toronto, where she covers news from across Canada.
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