Alberta government reschedules book ban announcement to Monday

Aerial shot of the Alberta legislature on Monday, May 26, 2025. (Cam Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton)

The Alberta government has delayed its book ban announcement until Monday.

The province initially said it would announce new details Friday afternoon, but the update has been rescheduled to Monday at around 3 p.m.

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Premier Danielle Smith said earlier this week the order would be changed to target books that contain sexual images.

The government’s initial order covered books with images, audio and written passages with sexually explicit content.

Last week, the Edmonton Public School Board’s list of more than 200 books, including Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, was leaked.

Smith accused EPSB of purposely misunderstanding the order.

“We are not trying to remove classics of literature,” Smith said. “What we are trying to remove is graphic images that young children should not be having a look at.”

The initial order, issued in July, directed schools to remove books with sexually explicit content for students in all grades by the end of September. Students in Grade 10 and higher would have access to books with non-explicit sexual content.

The education minister emailed school divisions last Tuesday to instruct them to pause efforts to comply with the order until further notice.

With files from The Canadian Press