Alberta bill would ban DEI hiring at public institutions, expand deepfake protections

The Alberta government introduced legislation Tuesday that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices at public institutions and create new offences for the non-consensual distribution of AI-generated intimate images.

Bill 33, the Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, proposes amendments to the Alberta Human Rights Act that would require hiring and promotion decisions at public institutions — including public post-secondary institutions, school boards, municipalities, Crown-controlled organizations and public agencies — to be based on merit and job requirements rather than personal characteristics, except where a specific characteristic is genuinely required to perform the work.

The bill would also prohibit mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training, requiring workplace training to be relevant to employee roles and responsibilities instead.

The government said existing human rights protections would continue to apply to hiring and promotion decisions under the proposed changes.

On the intimate images side, the legislation would create a new provincial offence for the non-consensual distribution of altered and unaltered intimate images — including digitally altered and AI-generated images, videos and audio — carrying fines of up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to two years, or both.

Victims would gain the ability to pursue civil legal action when intimate content depicting them is shared without consent or when someone threatens to share it, even if the content has not been distributed. Albertans would also be able to withdraw consent to the distribution of intimate content and hold people accountable for negligent behaviour that causes such content to be shared.

"While AI can be a powerful driver of productivity, innovation and economic growth, it can also be misused in ways that can cause enormous harm," the government said in the release. "Our government takes this misuse extremely seriously and we won't leave Albertans without strong protections and recourse if they are targeted by deepfakes and other forms of intimate content."

The Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services said in the release it welcomed the proposed changes. "The non-consensual creation or sharing of intimate content, whether authentic or AI-generated, is a violation of a person's privacy and can have profound impacts on their sense of safety," the association said. "These proposed changes are an important step toward ensuring Alberta's laws keep pace with technology, strengthen protections, give those who experience sexual violence greater choice and control in seeking justice, and hold those who cause harm accountable."

The bill also includes separate amendments under the Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 (No. 2) that would expand eligibility for King's Counsel appointments to lawyers who have taken parental or other types of leave, periods currently not counted toward the years of service required for eligibility. Additional changes to the Court of King's Bench Act would support the Family Focused Protocol, aimed at resolving family and divorce proceedings through a family-focused approach.

Bill 33 requires further readings in the legislature before it could become law.