The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) is set to comply with the Government of Alberta directive that would see certain types of books banned from schools by Oct. 1.
Speaking to the media on the first day of school, Sept. 2, CBE’s Chief Superintendent Joanne Pitman said that the board had been working through the criteria that were listed in the ministerial order.
“We are going to be applying that across our over half a million book collection, and our plan is to be compliant prior to October 1,” she said.
One of the controversially banned books from the Edmonton Public School Board was The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, and which tells a story of a dystopian reality where women are forced to produce children for a ruling class of theocratic men.
That book fell foul of the order, which bans books with overt sexual content, regardless of context, from being allowed in schools.
Writing on X, Atwood called out Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides for the book ban, saying he thought students were “stupid babies,” and urging people to read her book before it became a part of book burnings.
Pitman would not confirm that CBE would also be banning The Handmaid’s Tale from schools.
“Our goal is our goal, our expectation is that we are in compliance with the way the criteria are laid out in the ministerial order. So, as we apply that criteria, it will impact the books that are available. Does that impact The Handmaid at this time? I’m not going to confirm Handmaid’s Tale in terms of the application of the criteria,” she said.
The superintendent did say that the ministerial order did not affect what students choose to read if they bring in their own material from outside of the school.
“The criteria the ministerial order requires that classroom libraries be cataloged and publicly available, and so we’re working through the process to support our staff, our first and foremost goal is to welcome students back into school,” said Pitman.
“Right now, books will be available to students, but making sure that those lists are publicly available as laid out in the ministerial order will be our next steps. Our first priority is making sure that we’re engaging in teaching and learning.”
Dozens of teachers used the annual Calgary Pride parade on Aug. 31 to protest the provincial book ban.
Premier Danielle Smith paused the book ban ministerial order for several hours on Sept. 2, with a goal of rewriting the ministerial order so that books containing what the government considers pornographic images are removed, but that would also not apply to classic books.
The pause was criticized by the leader of Alberta’s official opposition, Naheed Nenshi, who said that materials should be age-appropriate for students but that the original ministerial order was poorly thought out.
