While Ontario’s non‑profit law sorely needs updating, the Ontario government’s recent initiative to do so has resulted in a deeply flawed replacement.

In drafting the new ONCA, the government prioritized two objectives:

• Ensuring it closely mirrors the law applicable to businesses
• Empowering members to participate more fully in a corporation’s activities.

While there’s much to modernize about non‑profit corporate law, the introduction of many business law concepts was not tempered by the differing realities of the non‑profit world.

Couple that with a highly legalistic drafting style, the new Act will be inaccessible for many, and  force many less sophisticated non‑profits to seek more legal advice than they might have in the past.

The result: an Act that is certainly not responsive to, or knowledgeable about, the sector.

Continue reading “What’s Wrong with the New Ontario Not for Profit Corporations Act”