The province says it will review its controversial policy after outcry over removing beloved novels from classrooms
The Canadian province of Alberta says it will temporarily pause its controversial book ban “to ensure that our classic literary works remain in school libraries” after novels, including several warning of dystopian government overreach, were pulled from shelves.
Premier Danielle Smith said the temporary pause would allow officials time to rework new rules that focus on how gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality are discussed in classrooms.
“It’ll be paused for a couple of hours while the ministerial order is rewritten,” she told reporters on Tuesday afternoon. “The direction will be to take books with pornographic images out of the libraries and to leave the classics alone. I think that there was some misunderstanding of the order, so it’s being made clear.”
The rules, set to go into effect on 1 October, reflect a lobbying success by socially conservative “parents’ rights” groups in the province and mirrors a trend in the United States.
