Nenshi calls UCP school library ban on explicit content “performative”

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is accusing the UCP government of political theatre over its newly announced restrictions on sexually explicit material in school libraries.

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Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is accusing the UCP government of political theatre over its newly announced restrictions on sexually explicit material in school libraries, calling the move “purely performative” and driven by “far-right US advocacy books.”

In response to a question from True North during a press conference Monday, Nenshi dismissed the initiative entirely.

“They put in a ministerial order, and that ministerial order says absolutely nothing,” said Nenshi. “In fact, the minister himself didn’t know what his own ministerial order said when he announced it.”

On July 10, the Alberta UCP finalized province-wide standards to protect children from sexually explicit content in school libraries.

New rules direct school authorities to prohibit offering any materials containing “a detailed and clear depiction of a sexual act” and must begin removing the content from library collections by this fall.

Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all K–12 school libraries must remove books with explicit sexual content. By Jan. 1, 2026, the rest of the new standards—including policy changes and parental access to material lists—must also be in place.

Despite arguing that the announced policy accomplished very little, Nenshi did concede that age-appropriate materials are required in schools.

“Everybody knows that not one parent, not one teacher disagrees with that,” he said. “But what we don’t need is a minister who is pushed by far-right US advocacy books to ban certain books that he’s never read, that he’s never looked at; instead of actually funding the education system so that we have teacher librarians making these decisions who are experts.”

The Fraser Institute’s 2024 report on per-student spending showed that Alberta’s per-student spending fell 17.2 per cent between 2012/13 and 2021/22. However, Alberta’s enrollment increased by 14.2 per cent in that time frame — the largest of any province.

Alberta has seen record education funding recently, though. K-12 education will receive a record-setting $9.9 billion operating budget in Alberta’s 2025 budget.

“This performative thing that the minister did, which didn’t actually change any of the guidelines, is purely performative. It’s a pure distraction. Let’s actually fund education and let’s make sure the teachers don’t go on strike this fall,” said Nenshi.

As premier, Nenshi claimed he would have “real guidelines” that ensure age-appropriate materials are in schools and that teacher-librarians would be hired to conduct the work.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said his ministry does not have the direct authority to remove any particular books.

The updated rules come after the province first started pushing back against books containing pornographic imagery in May.

The initial pushback followed the province discovering that graphic novels such as Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Flamer by Mike Curato were available in schools for children as young as kindergarten age. The books contain depictions of sex acts, child molestation, and sexually violent slurs.

Nicolaides said that even Kobabe acknowledged that her book should not be available to children.

The Alberta UCP previously blasted the provincial NDP for defending pornographic content in Alberta school libraries.

The Ministerial Order prohibits students in Grade 9 and below from accessing school library books with even non-explicit sexual content. Students in Grades 10 to 12 may only access such material if it is “developmentally appropriate.”

Non-explicit sexual content is defined as “a depiction of sexual acts that is not detailed or clear.”

Some types of content that are not considered sexual include content related to medical procedures and conditions, content related to biological functions, and encyclopedias. Content including kissing, hugging, and handholding is also permitted.

School boards will be required to maintain a list of library materials accessible to parents, ensure staff supervision of student access, and respond to requests for information from the ministry.

School authorities will be required to have policies and procedures covering criteria for selecting school library materials, a review process, staff supervising access to library materials, and a process to request a review of any specific library material.

Nicolaides said he expects all school boards to follow through with the changes. In his two years as education minister, he said no school board has openly defied a government order, and it is not clear the levers at his disposal if enforcement is required.