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The public deserves results of local school divisions’ bookshelf clearing
By Lethbridge Herald on January 22, 2026.
Editor:
In the first week of January, the UCP’s battle with school libraries ended. Following the ministerial order, schools in Alberta yanked all so-called “graphic” visual materials from their libraries.
The results were varied. While the Calgary Board of Education tossed 44 titles, the Edmonton Catholic School Division pulled only 6 from their collections. Edmonton’s Public School Board trashed 34 titles, but the Calgary Catholic School District and Red Deer Public Schools reportedly found nothing that needed shredding.
Arguably, this is a happy ending story. According to the Calgary Board, the removal of 44 titles from a collection of roughly 700, 000 titles is a small figure. But for those of us who value schools, libraries, and the freedom to read, there are big problems.
To begin, the book ban controversy started last spring, instigated by a right wing lobby group called Action4Canada. Not surprisingly, the A4C’s concern focused on LGBTQ+ materials, and Education Minister Nicolaides willingly turned their prejudices into policy. When a fringe lobby influences our school systems, we’re all in trouble.
What’s most alarming: the public has been given numbers, but the actual titles of the banned books have not been released and remain a mystery. Were they books with LGBTQ+ themes? Were they sex education texts? As a result, it’s impossible to discuss the merits of the banned books. Clearly this silence is intended to quell debate.
Yet the questions don’’t disappear. Thinking locally, we must ask, How did Lethbridge School Division and Holy Spirit Catholic School Division comply with the order? To the best of my knowledge, they’ve not reported the results of their own obligatory search-and-destroy mission, but the public deserves to know.
Jacob Bachinger, Lethbridge
9-8
Well said.
‘Prejudice to policy’ … Could be on our new licence plate.
This was merely a ploy to distract Albertans from the very bad governance of the UCP and Danielle Smith. Parents For Choice In Education, a lobby group, who wants the UCP to pay for their private school options (Alberta pays the most amount of provincial government funding for private education in Canada), and ACTION 4 Canada, a far right fringe group, who praised the convoy troublemakers in Ottawa, and the Coutts border blockade troublemakers, was behind this, in the fall of 2024, not on May of 2025, like UCP cabinet minister, Demetrios Nicolaides had claimed at a UCP press conference.
Once again, we see more former Conservative politicians in Alberta opposing the UCP and Danielle Smith, and for good reasons.
Former Alberta ministers criticize government for “unacceptable” conduct https://share.google/f5YhPL0sF8NJV3rIS
With all the lawyers I have known over the year it doesn’t surprise me that these would be showing support for Albertans. They certainly know how stupid these Reformers are and the idiots who support them, mainly seniors.
You are correct.
Apparently retired oilmen have been making it clear about how they feel about these mindless seniors believing ever lie these Reformers feed them, and signing this petition to Separate.
Like me they know Trudeau poured billions into this province to help us survive what these Reformers had done to us. What has them fuming is the fact that these seniors have found it smart to bad mouth the Liberals and shown them no respect for saving thousand of oilmen jobs in Alberta by buying us a $35 billion pipeline, can you blame them? Listening to Danielle Smith spread the lie that Ottawa is stealing all our money when they are the ones helping the rich steal it, is sickening and these seniors believing it need their asses kicked, don’t they?
Both library boards must release their numbers of this book banning govt policy as silence shouldn’t be acceptable.
Once again we see Pierre Poilievre proving how stupid he is while he bad mouths Carney wanting us to forget that him, Jason Kenney, Brian Jean and Jim Prentice helped Stephen Harper add $150 billion to our federal taxes by helping the rich get richer by cutting their taxes.
That’s how stupid he is.