Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act to be Proclaimed Into Force

After more than a decade, the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act will take effect as of October 19, 2021. It will replace the ancient Corporations Act of Ontario. For many regulators this will have no impact. Many regulators are corporations created by their enabling statute and not any general corporate legislation. Some regulators will be affected though. For example, some regulators have a few provisions in the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act that, according to their enabling Act, will specifically apply to them. For example, there are regulators that have created charitable organizations or foundations for some of their activities, such as making grants. For those regulators, we recommend that they check if the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act applies to the charitable entity. There are also some regulators, such as some administrative authorities, that are incorporated under the Corporations Act of Ontario that could be significantly affected by the proclamation of this new act, though regulators incorporated under the federal Not-for-Profit Corporations Act will not be affected. There will be a three-year transition period to become compliant with the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. Nevertheless, affected regulators should act promptly as there could be many important policy decisions to be made about the governance of their organization (e.g., the composition and selection of the Board of Directors). Also, by-law changes will likely require the approval of members. For more information, see: https://www.ontario.ca/page/not-profit-corporations-act-2010-transition-considerations.