By-laws and financial statements
Filing under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act

By-laws

All corporations need to file by-laws within 12 months of the by-laws being confirmed by members. They must also file amended or repealed by-laws.

Financial statements

Soliciting corporations (those that receive public donations or government grants in excess of $10,000 in a single financial year) need to file financial statements.

Also consult Your Reporting Obligations under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (NFP Act).

If you are not sure about whether or not your corporation needs to file these documents, consult a lawyer or other business professional.

Once by-laws and financial statements are filed

Corporations Canada does not review approve or assess the readability of the documents. They are automatically filed with the corporation’s records, which are maintained by Corporations Canada and are made available to the public.

What Corporations Canada keeps on file

By-laws and financial statements previously filed with Corporations Canada are not removed from the corporate records maintained by Corporations Canada. This includes documents previously filed that are no longer in force or that are for previous years or are filed by mistake.

By-laws and financial statements are public documents

The corporate laws that govern federal corporations require the public disclosure of information about federal corporations. This includes by-laws and financial statements filed with Corporations Canada under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act.

Members of the public can request copies of by-laws and financial statements. Corporations Canada is only required to keep financial statements for six (6) years after they were filed.

Correcting errors found in by-laws or financial statements already filed

If you find an error in a document that has already been filed with Corporations Canada or find out that a document has been filed by mistake (for example, a draft version of the by-laws has been filed instead of the approved version), you have to file the amended version.

A suggested best practice consists of explaining, on the first page of the amended document, that the document previously filed contains an error and that the amended version is a replacement.

The policy Correction of articles and certificates of a Not-for-profit corporation does not apply to corrections of by-laws and financial statements filed by the corporation.

Note

Documents previously filed with Corporations Canada will not be removed from the corporate records maintained by Corporations Canada.