In Alberta, something has happened that should alarm Canadians no matter where you sit on the political spectrum. Special-interest groups such as Action4Canada and Parents for Choice in Education lobbied hard for restrictions on what children can access in schools. On the surface, their argument seemed simple enough: Protect kids from sexually explicit material. Few parents would quarrel with the idea that Grade 3 students don’t need to be reading graphic depictions of oral sex. But what has followed goes far beyond that common-sense principle.

The result has been a sweeping purge of school libraries that captures not only fringe titles but also some of the most revered works in modern literature. Edmonton Public Schools alone has flagged more than 200 books for removal, among them , , ,

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