Latest news with #AlbertaEducation
CTV News
5 days ago
- General
- CTV News
No data on how often ‘sexually explicit' books accessed by Alberta students: minister
Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides joins us to break down the recent controversy involving certain reading material in schools
National Post
29-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Amy Hamm: Danielle Smith's dangerous censorship game
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Alberta schools should get rid of sexually explicit books, but government should not be involved in setting standards Photo by David Bloom/Postmedia No one — conservatives, least of all — should be cheering for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's promise to introduce government standards for age-appropriate school library books. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS Enjoy the latest local, national and international news. Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events. Unlimited online access to National Post. National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE ARTICLES Enjoy the latest local, national and international news. Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events. Unlimited online access to National Post. National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors There is zero question that the sexually explicit books found in Alberta public schools, both elementary and high schools, were not acceptable. It is also not accurate of critics to frame Smith's move as 'book banning,' since the content being removed — which includes graphic depictions of oral sex and molestation, among other things — is so grossly and evidently inappropriate for minors. If a stash of Playboys made it into a grade school classroom, no one could reasonably frame their removal as 'book banning,' and nor should we in this current situation. However, what is also not acceptable is putting the government in charge of setting moral standards, or of regulating content. And make no mistake: it's likely that any policy or legislation that defines 'age appropriateness' is going to do just that — whether intentionally or not, now or in the years to come. This newsletter tackles hot topics with boldness, verve and wit. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays) By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again Smith's government announced this week that it is 'conducting a public engagement to collect feedback on the creation of consistent standards to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries.' An online survey is open until June 6. The government hasn't announced whether the new rules will be set by legislation, or by changing regulations. 'While the province provides voluntary guidelines for learning and teaching resources, Alberta currently does not have a consistent provincewide standard for school boards when selecting age-appropriate school library materials,' reads the government's press release. It explains that the new standards will be mandatory for the upcoming school year. It goes without saying that this public engagement can only discover the opinions of survey respondents. No doubt the survey will also attract responses from indiscriminately disapproving puritans, roused by the prospect of having their moral austerity considered, at last, by policymakers. We do not need this data to tell us that the already discovered sexually explicit materials are not appropriate for school-aged children. It is unclear, then, why the public's opinion is needed at all — unless any resultant policy will be broader, or applied more restrictively, than what is required to remove the offending material. The whole thing is suspicious. Conservatives who favour smaller and less interventionist government should be skeptical. Whatever policy or legislation the Alberta government implements may well invite censorship by a future government, which could lead to real book bans, not just the removal of content that is pornographic, or pornography adjacent. Is it worth the risk? This advertisement has not loaded yet. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Instead, the government should seek to find out who put the inappropriate books into children's libraries in the first place, determine if those people should be teaching minors and have the schools remove the books. Any educator refusing to pull the ghastly material off the shelves would have their ability to teach children called into question. Passing legislation, or making policy changes, shifts the focus from the most concerning aspect of this scandal: Did adults intentionally place this graphic content in school libraries for minors to read? And if so, what were their motivations? As it stands, whoever ordered these books for Alberta schoolchildren seems to be enjoying a complete lack of scrutiny. Because the explicit materials were found in LGBTQ+ graphic novels, Smith's announcement has, predictably, morphed into a new front of the culture war. This has enabled the improper sexual content to become secondary in the discussion. The Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA), for instance, issued a press release that floats the idea that Smith might be attempting to target the LGBTQ+ community with content bans. (A better question: why is there so much sexually explicit content in LGBTQ+ books?) As ridiculous as the ATA's accusation is, Smith will have a difficult time defending herself from it. That's because she is making a mistake: no government, including hers, should get involved in content regulation for its citizens. That is a slope just waiting to be slipped on. My unsolicited advice to Smith: leave this one to the librarians.
CTV News
29-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Edmonton school trustees, advocates want province to allow undocumented kids to enrol
Elementary students coats and boots are seen in a school in Edmonton on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Edmonton public school trustees have voted to push Alberta's government to make legislative changes to allow undocumented kids to enrol in school and increase education funding accordingly. The unanimous vote Tuesday came after advocacy groups sent speakers and affected children to months of school board meetings to bring the issue to light. Thirteen-year-old Areana Capata was one such speaker. At a meeting last month, she told trustees that she has three siblings who haven't been able to attend school in two years. 'How will they go to college, get jobs they love, or even feel confident in themselves if they're constantly being denied the chance to grow up?' Capata told trustees. 'The worst part is it's not their fault. No child chooses to be undocumented.' Trustee Jan Sawyer said during Tuesday's meeting that it's critical the school division does 'everything it can' to ensure undocumented children get an education. 'That's why we're here, because we believe it's essential,' Sawyer said. Whitney Haynes, the executive director of the Alberta Workers Association for Research and Education, said in an interview her organization is working with nine children in the Edmonton area, though she knows more are out there. Haynes said not every situation is simple. She said Canadian residency status can be a fluctuating process and while some parents come to Canada through unofficial channels, there are other situations where parents with temporary work visas are between jobs or when a work permit expires. 'Once that expires, then they're undocumented,' Haynes said, adding that when a parent's permit expires, so does the mechanism that allows their kids to attend Alberta schools. 'These kids are often under threat in school, but they had never been kicked out in the past. Just recently (we) started seeing them being kicked out.' Haynes said Edmonton's Catholic school board has been more likely to kick students out for lapsed visa status, and her organization has been trying to work with the division but has been met with silence. Edmonton Catholic spokesperson Christine Meadows said in an email that it was aware of Tuesday's vote and that it's 'committed to welcoming all students to the fullest extent allowed by provincial legislation and policy.' Meadows said her division was pleased to see a motion to bring the advocacy item forward to the provincial school boards association also pass on Tuesday. 'It's important that school boards across the province have the opportunity to discuss complex issues like this one together,' she said. A report prepared for Tuesday's Edmonton Public School trustees meeting said besides wanting the division to advocate to the province, the division also received requests to implement a 'sanctuary policy' where schools could enrol undocumented children regardless of their residency status. It says under Alberta legislation that isn't possible, whereas Ontario's education laws actually require admission regardless of legal residency status. Alberta's Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides didn't answer emailed questions about if he plans to follow through on the request or if he'd meet with the trustees, but he said most foreign children are eligible for public education in the province. 'This includes children of temporary residents as well as families with refugee status, including those claiming refugee status after they have arrived,' Nicolaides said. 'As a rule, the only instance where a child's education would not be covered is if they were arriving as a tourist or visitor.' Nicolaides also said 'there is a difference between having a right to access education and a right for that education to be delivered free of charge.' Alberta's Education Act stipulates that only students who are legal residents of Alberta, and who have at least one parent that is a resident of Alberta, are eligible to receive a publicly funded education. However, non-Alberta resident children who are legal residents elsewhere in Canada can attend public schools in Edmonton — for a fee. 'Since the division does not receive per-student provincial funding for these ineligible students, the fee is required to help cover the cost of providing educational programming,' reads a report from earlier this month by Edmonton Public's superintendent of schools, Darrel Robertson. Robertson's report said the fee for the current school year is just over $10,000, and noted that two non-resident students from Nunavut were registered in Edmonton public schools this year. The report says there's also a fee, which is higher, for international students. The director of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, Renee Vaugeois, whose organization has been part of the advocacy campaign, said there wasn't a difference as Nicolaides described. 'Under the (United Nations) Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly all children, especially the primary school level up to Grade 12, have the right to education,' Vaugeois said, noting Alberta formally endorsed the convention in 1999. 'We've ratified that convention. That is international binding law but the Alberta Education Act is written in a way to exclude certain people.' Vaugeois said she was thrilled to see the Edmonton Public School trustees vote the way they did, but noted nothing is going to change unless Alberta's government gets on board. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Edmonton school trustees, advocates want province to allow undocumented kids to enrol
Elementary students coats and boots are seen in a school in Edmonton on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Edmonton public school trustees have voted to push Alberta's government to make legislative changes to allow undocumented kids to enrol in school. The vote comes after advocacy groups sent speakers and affected children to months of school board meetings to bring the issue to light. Alberta Workers Association for Research and Education director Whitney Haynes says her organization is working with nine such children in the Edmonton area, though she knows more are out there. Haynes says Canadian residency status can be a fluctuating process that can lead to lapses and leave kids undocumented, like when parents on temporary work visas are between jobs. Alberta's education minister says most foreign children are eligible for public education in the province, but not all. Demetrios Nicolaides says children have a right to education, but that doesn't necessarily mean education comes 'free of charge.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
CBC
27-05-2025
- General
- CBC
How school librarians deal with controversial books
Joseph Jeffrey is the chair of Canadian School Libraries, a non-profit that works with schools to develop standards and policies for their libraries. He joins us with his thoughts on the Alberta government's push to change the rules regarding library materials.
