{"id":6018,"date":"2021-11-02T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-08-12T08:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.millerthomson.com\/not-for-profit-legislative-update-from-alberta\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T14:00:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:00:04","slug":"not-for-profit-legislative-update-from-alberta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.millerthomson.com\/en\/insights\/social-impact\/not-for-profit-legislative-update-from-alberta\/","title":{"rendered":"Not-for-Profit legislative update from Alberta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the past year, there have been a number of significant legislative changes affecting the not-for-profit sector in Alberta. Some key updates to be aware of include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Amendments to all incorporating legislation allowing organizations to hold virtual meetings;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Amendments to the Companies Act<\/em>, impacting more than 4,500 Alberta not-for-profits that were incorporated under Part 9 of that Act; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The coming into force of the Freedom to Care Act<\/em>, which protects volunteers of not-for-profit organizations from liability, and allows not-for-profit organizations to apply for one-time, short-term exemptions from certain Alberta regulations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Below we provide a brief summary of each of these updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Ongoing authority for virtual meetings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The Alberta legislature passed Bill 53: the Service Alberta Statutes (Virtual Meetings) Amendment Act<\/em> (\u201cBill 53\u201d) on March 26, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Bill 53 amended several pieces of Alberta legislation, including the Societies Act<\/em>, the Companies Act<\/em>, and the Cooperatives Act<\/em>, to allow for virtual meetings and voting, unless an organization\u2019s governing documents explicitly prohibit it. Bill 53 also amended the Societies Act<\/em>, the Companies Act<\/em>, and the Cooperatives Act<\/em> to allow notices and documents to be sent by electronic means in accordance with the Electronic Transactions Act<\/em>. The changes implemented by Bill 53 are retroactive as of August 15, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Important amendments to the Companies Act<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Certain sections of the Red Tape Reduction Implementation Act, 2020<\/em>, amending the Companies Ac<\/em>t were proclaimed into force on March 29, 2021, and the remaining amendments were proclaimed into force on June 1, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Prior to 1982, the Companies Act<\/em> was used to incorporate for-profit businesses. As such, many of the provisions of the Companies Act<\/em> were not applicable to not-for-profit companies incorporated under Part 9 of that Act. Many of the amendments to the Companies Act<\/em> introduced by the Red Tape Reduction Implementation Act, 2020<\/em>, intended to eliminate these irrelevant provisions. Other amendments were made to make processes more efficient or effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some important amendments to be aware of include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n