The Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (the “ONCA”), which received Royal Assent on October 25, 2010, will finally come into force on Tuesday, January 1, 2013. (This follows the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (the “CNCA”), which came into force in October 2011.)
The stated purpose of the ONCA is to modernize the legal framework for Ontario’s 46,000 provincially incorporated not-for-profit corporations. The CNCA made similar reforms applicable to federally incorporated not-for-profit corporations.
Once the ONCA comes into force on January 1, 2013, all Ontario not-for-profit corporations will be removed from the jurisdiction of the present Ontario Corporations Act. The ONCA will potentially affect every existing not-for-profit corporation in Ontario, including social clubs and special act corporations. Directors, officers, and executives should start thinking now about what actions they will need to take to ensure that their organization’s governance structure complies with the new legal framework.
