Under the new provincial rules, regulators can’t "make cultural competency, unconscious bias, or diversity, equity, and inclusion training mandatory." (lawsociety.ab.ca)In 2023, 50 of the province's 11,100 lawyers petitioned the law society to remove a rule that allowed the regulator to mandate legal education. Jessica Buffalo, the Law Society of Alberta's first Indigenous initiatives counsel in 2022, said she long feared that EDI initiatives at the society would be cut. Jeffrey Westman was on the Alberta Law Society's equity, diversity and inclusion committee from 2022 until 2025. In January, all 14 of the Alberta Law Foundation’s employees resigned in the wake of new government powers that gives the justice minister more control over the organization.

Source: CBC News March 21, 2026 20:55 UTC