New Business Corporations Act, 2021 and Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022 in force March 12, 2023

January 19, 2023

From Ministry of Justice

The Business Corporations Act, 2021 and The Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022 will come into force on Sunday, March 12, 2023. New Business Corporations Regulations, 2022 and Non-profit Corporations Regulations, 2022 will also come into force at the same time.

The Business Corporations Act, 2021 and its regulations will implement various changes, including:

• Reducing red tape by removing requirements for corporations and officials to provide notices and other documents to the Registrar of Corporations in matters focused solely on the internal business of the corporation;
• Removing the existing rule that requires at least 25% of directors to be Canadian residents;
• Modernizing the Act by expressly authorizing the use of electronic technology, such as allowing notice of shareholder meetings to be sent electronically and security certificates to be signed electronically;
• Updating provisions respecting the Corporate Registry to reflect current processes more accurately for the registration of corporations and the filing of documents;
• Implementing new provisions that require corporations to maintain a register of individuals with significant control;
• Expressly allowing corporate names to be in Cree, Dené, Michif, Lakota, Nakota, Dakota or Saulteaux, which may include special characters;
• Remove the requirement and cost to publish corporate events in the Gazette; and
• Expressly clarifying the current process of filing entities that are not created through business legislation within the Corporate Registry, known as “other legislated entities.”

The Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022 will implement many of the same changes noted above. Additionally, the new Act will remove the ability for the Registrar to appoint a non-accountant to conduct an audit or review. To partially offset this change, the new regulations will prescribe revised threshold revenues at which a charitable corporation can resolve to dispense with an audit or review. The threshold at which a charitable corporation is required to conduct an audit will be increased from $250,000 to $500,000, and the threshold at which a charitable corporation is required to conduct a review will be increased from $25,000 to $100,000.

The new Act will also extend the reporting period for financial statements from four months before an annual meeting to six months before an annual meeting, granting non-profit corporations more time to complete these statements.

For further information, please consult the following links:

• The Business Corporations Act, 2021: https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/products/113407
• The Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022: https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/products/118165
• The Business Corporations Regulations, 2022 and The Non-profit Corporations Regulations, 2022: https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/products/119966
• Tables of Concordance for The Business Corporations Act, 2021 and The Business Corporations Regulations, 2022: https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/categories/2181
• Tables of Concordance for The Non-profit Corporations Act, 2022 and The Non-profit Regulations, 2022: https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/categories/2180
• Additional information will also be posted on Information Services Corporation’s website as the implementation date approaches: https://www.isc.ca/Pages/default.aspx