Alberta Insider: New fronts in the culture wars

Globe and Mail

30-05-2025

Good morning.
Alberta is no stranger to some of the culture wars that have been fought in the United States and abroad in recent years. This week, two new fronts were opened in the province.
First, on Monday, the Alberta government announced plans to hold public consultations so it can set new regulations for school libraries, creating rules around books that the province deems age-inappropriate because of what it qualifies as sexually explicit content.
'School libraries spark imagination and foster a lifelong love of learning within our children,' Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told reporters in Calgary. 'Yet, unfortunately, through investigations conducted by my office, we have found books in K-12 schools that show extremely age-inappropriate content.'
The province said it found 'multiple books with explicit sexual content' as part of an investigation conducted by Nicolaides's office. Only four examples were provided on Monday, each of which are graphic novels and depict LGBTQ or coming-of-age subjects: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Blankets by Craig Thompson and Flamer by Mike Curato.
The Globe's Temur Durrani reached out to the four authors, who all said they were not consulted after their books were flagged and that the content is being taken out of context.
Thompson, an Oregon-based graphic novelist, said his book is a coming-of-age autobiography based on his own childhood in an evangelical Christian family.
Curato, a Massachusetts-based illustrator, also defended his work. 'Protecting the right to read is protecting the right to exist,' he told The Globe.
The issue of determining what books are age appropriate has led to numerous political disputes and legal challenges. The fight reached the U.S. Supreme Court last month, when a children's picture book by a Vancouver Island author about a puppy at a Pride parade was among several works at the centre of a court challenge over whether parents have the constitutional right to opt their children out of lessons involving works with LGBTQ characters.
Alberta's new policies, when implemented, will apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools.
The second battle of the week came on Wednesday, when the Canadian Medical Association filed a constitutional challenge alongside three Alberta doctors against the province's legislation that limits access to medical treatment for transgender youth.
The CMA says it is compelled to step in to guard the relationship between patients, doctors and families in making treatment decisions.
Alberta's Bill 26, which became law last December, prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapies for those under 16. It also bans doctors from performing gender-reassignment surgeries on minors (those under 18) – an already rare occurrence in the province.
CMA president Joss Reimer said the law has created a 'moral crisis' for physicians, saying an 'ideological influence' does not help the patient.
'When governments get involved and start restricting medical decisions, that means that doctors are then put into a position where they have to choose between following their ethical standards, following what they feel is best for their patients or following the law,' Dr. Reimer told The Globe.
At the time of the filing, the Alberta government had not commented on the CMA's legal challenge. The United Conservative government has previously declined to comment on legal action launched against the bill last year by advocacy groups Egale Canada and Skipping Stone Foundation, citing it was before the courts.
This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you're reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.