Alberta bill would stop provincial entities from considering diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring

New Alberta legislation seeks to stop the provincial government and other public entities from considering diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring decisions.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery tabled legislation Tuesday that would prevent the provincial public service, provincial Crown corporations, publicly funded post-secondary institutions, schools board and municipalities from hiring employees based on “personal characteristics,” according to a government news release.

“Hiring decisions should be about who is best qualified for the job, and these changes will help ensure that fairness is at the heart of hiring,” Premier Danielle Smith is quoted as saying in the news release.

Amery’s statement in the release says public-sector hiring should be based on merit, qualifications and competence.

The legislation — the first bill of the fall sitting — proposes to do this by amending the Alberta Human Rights Act so that employers may not consider characteristics protected by the act — such as gender identity, race, religion or disability — in hiring and promotion decisions. However, the government could grant exemptions in regulations.

WATCH | ‘Merit’ hiring, data centres, report cards:

Alberta government lays out agenda for upcoming fall sitting

With the fall sitting set to get underway next week, the provincial government is unveiling its priorities. Proposed new bills are expected to focus on data centre protections, standardized report cards, and bike lanes. But as CBC’s Ted Henley reports, the province says Albertans shouldn’t expect any movement on the referendum immigration issues, yet.

The amendments would also prevent provincial entities from requiring employees to participate in diversity, equity or inclusion training. Workplace training must be “ideologically neutral and focused on job-related duties and skills,” a briefing note about the proposed amendment says. 

In a technical briefing, officials said the legislation would not prevent post-secondary institutions from tailoring programs for particular students, or reserving spots for those with unchangeable characteristics, such as training for Indigenous teachers, doctors or lawyers.

The law would also apply to some private or non-profit organizations that receive government funding. However, officials said it would be up to the Alberta Human Rights Commission to determine which organizations, and only after someone files a complaint.

Consequences for threatening sextortion

If passed, Bill 33, the Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 (No. 2), would also expand provincial legislation to give victims recourse when someone shares intimate content of them without their consent.

The bill would rename and expand the Victims of Non-consensual Distribution of Intimate Images Act to include victims of sextortion, which is when someone threatens to distribute intimate videos, images or other content to blackmail another person.

If passed by the legislature, the amended law would include digitally altered media, such as AI-generated content including deepfakes, and would allow a victim to sue anyone who shares or threatens to share the media without their consent.

It would allow a person to withdraw consent at any time, unless they have signed a legal consent agreement.

The legislation would create a new provincial offence carrying a fine of up to $10,000, up to two years of jail time, or both.

At the technical briefing, officials said the provincial law is intended to cover what they say are gaps in federal criminal law, and give victims more avenues of recourse. Officials said a provincial law allowing a victim to sue someone for threatening to share intimate content would be the first of its kind in Canada.

Federal law, which was updated in June, allows a prison sentence of up to 10 years for distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images, including non-consensual deepfakes, without consent.

The bill would also update the Education Act. For instance, principals have the ability now to suspend or expel a student who shares intimate images of another student without their permission. The amendment would allow them to discipline a student who only threatens to do so, and add sound, video or any other media to the list of possible content.

The bill also seeks to make other changes, many of which affect the legal profession, including:

• Reversing some of the United Conservative Party government’s previous changes to give the justice minister additional control over the Alberta Law Foundation.
• Changing the threshold for members of the Law Society of Alberta to call a special meeting to 2.5 per cent of the society’s members from a minimum of 50 members — a rule that dates back to 1966.
• Requiring that a lawyer must have been an active member of the law society for at least five years before government considers granting them a King’s Counsel designation, which recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to the legal profession or public life in the province. 
• Allowing lawyers seeking King’s Counsel designations to include their time away from practice in their years of service, to avoid disadvantaging parents.
• Ensuring public bodies disclose all income paid to public sector employees on so-called sunshine lists, when they move from one organization to another. The Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act requires the government to disclose pay, benefits and perks for public service workers earning more than $130,000 in compensation in 2026.