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July 4th, the Conservative Alberta authorities signed a ministerial order banning any books with “explicit sexual content” from faculties, excepting non secular texts. Colleges are required to be in compliance by October 1st—a really fast turnaround to sift by means of hundreds of titles. The biggest college district within the province, Edmonton Public Faculty Board, launched a listing of 200 books to be faraway from college library cabinets beneath this order, together with The Handmaid’s Story by Margaret Atwood.
In response, Margaret Atwood wrote a satirical quick story, saying, “Here’s a piece of literature by me, suitable for seventeen-year-olds in Alberta schools, unlike — we are told — The Handmaid’s Tale. (Sorry, kids; your Minister of Education thinks you are stupid babies.)” The story is about two “very, very good children” who “grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex.” They “practised selfish rapacious capitalism” and “never died, because who wants to dwell on, you know, death and corpses and yuk?” In the meantime, “The Handmaid’s Tale came true and Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job. The end.”
This is a bit of literature by me, appropriate for seventeen-year-olds in Alberta faculties, in contrast to — we’re advised — The Handmaid’s Story. (Sorry, youngsters; your Minister of Schooling thinks you might be silly infants.)
John and Mary had been each very, excellent youngsters. They by no means picked…
— Margaret E Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) August 31, 2025
Danielle Smith claims the Edmonton Faculty Board is practising “vicious compliance” with this checklist and that books like The Handmaid’s Story had been by no means supposed to be banned. She mentioned the federal government will “hold their hand through the process to identify what kind of materials are appropriate.”
However The Handmaid’s Story does comprise depictions of intercourse. In reality, it’s an vital a part of the ebook. The “handmaids” referred to within the title are raped to provide youngsters. These scenes are described on the web page. Beneath this ministerial order as it’s worded, The Handmaid’s Story is strictly the type of ebook the Alberta authorities is requiring be faraway from college library cabinets.
Literary Activism
Information you should utilize plus ideas and instruments for the struggle towards censorship and different bookish activism!
In fact, it isn’t the ebook the Conservatives had in thoughts. The examples given had been LGBTQ+ books, not classics which can be taught throughout the nation. They need faculties to see by means of the letter of the regulation to the intent, which is to censor the sorts of books they discover harmful or overly sexual—which normally means queer books. They only don’t wish to must spell out their bigotry explicitly.
Ira Wells, president of anti-censorship group PEN Canada, calls this the most important ebook ban of its variety in Canada, saying,
“What the federal government of Alberta is doing right here is ebook banning. It’s literary censorship and we must always use these phrases.
All dad and mom — myself included — are involved in regards to the media that our youngsters devour. We wish to ensure that our youngsters are consuming age-appropriate media.
However right here now we have a case the place partisan politicians are taking it upon themselves to find out what our youngsters ought to learn. That’s a Rubicon that we don’t wish to be crossing.”
