Alberta has introduced legislation that would change hiring and workplace-training rules across public institutions while expanding legal protection against non-consensual intimate content, including material created with artificial intelligence.

Bill 33, the Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 (No. 2), received first reading in the legislature on Tuesday.

The measures remain proposals and would take effect only if the bill passes and receives royal assent.

The hiring provisions would apply to public agencies, Crown-controlled organizations, public post-secondary institutions, school boards and municipalities. The provincial government says hiring and promotion decisions would have to be based on merit and job requirements rather than diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI).

A personal characteristic could still be considered when it is a genuine requirement of the job. Hiring and promotion decisions would also remain subject to existing human-rights protections.

The bill would also require workplace training at covered institutions to be relevant to employees’ roles and responsibilities. The province describes that change as an alternative to mandatory DEI training.

The second major part of Bill 33 deals with intimate content. It would create a provincial offence for distributing altered or unaltered intimate images without consent. The definition would extend to AI-generated or digitally altered images, video and audio.

The proposed maximum penalty is a $10,000 fine, two years in jail, or both. Those are maximums, not automatic sentences, and individual cases would still be handled through the justice system.

Civil remedies would also be expanded. A person could pursue legal action when intimate content is shared without consent or when someone threatens to share it, even if the content has not yet been distributed. The proposal would allow a person to withdraw consent to distribution and would address negligent conduct that causes intimate material to be released.

The bill would make other justice-related changes. Proposed amendments to the King’s Counsel Act would prevent parental or other approved leave from disadvantaging a lawyer seeking appointment. Changes to the Court of King’s Bench Act would support continued use of the court’s family-focused approach in family and divorce proceedings.

The legislature’s daily record shows Bill 33 received first reading on Oct. 27. Further debate and committee review would be required before the bill could become law.