Campaign Timeline

march 2023

The Government of Canada tabled legislation for a federal publicly accessible registry in the House of Commons (Bill C-42). This legislation features all major Coalition recommendations and was sponsored by the Minister for Innovation, Science, and Economic Development, François-Philippe Champagne. The introduction of this legislation is a major victory for our campaign and its rollout was highlighted in Budget 2023 along with other key anti-money laundering measures. Our Coalition provided commentary and was featured in the New York Times!

The Government of British Columbia released a statement announcing its plans to develop its own publicly accessible, beneficial ownership registry for provincial corporations by 2025.

January 2023

The Government of Ontario requires all private companies registered in the province to hold accurate beneficial ownership records. This is in line with the 2017 Agreement to Strengthen Beneficial Ownership Transparency. This requirement came into force on January 1st 2023.

October 2022

The Coalition releases the Canadian Company Data Transparency Index, a report ranking Canada’s business registries using an international open-data standard. The Coalition calls upon provinces to improve their own business registries and to work with the federal government on a pan-Canadian beneficial ownership registry agreement.

June 2022

The Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia released its final report which included a number of Coalition recommendations. Most notably, the Commission recommends the B.C. Government work with the federal government in creating a pan-Canadian, centralized, beneficial ownership registry that is publicly accessible instead of having provinces develop their own individual registries. The Commission final report concludes three years of hearings in which the Coalition served as an expert witness. Our Coalition reacted to the announcement by publishing this op-ed in The National Observer.

April 2022

Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveils Budget 2022 which includes a major announcement calling for a federal publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry to be implemented by 2023. The announcement will include data verification and validation measures along with the registry to be scalable with willing provinces and territories. Furthermore, discussions with provinces and territories were announced regarding beneficial ownership disclosure for property. The Coalition applauded this announcement as it represents the biggest achievement of this campaign.

March 2022

The Coalition releases its latest report, Snow-washing Inc. which details how international corporate formation agents and other enablers market Canada as a destination to set up a secret company.

The federal Liberal Government and the New Democratic Party (NDP) jointly announced a Supply and Confidence Agreement. The agreement consists of seven policy initiatives and calls for a fast-tracked publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry by the end of 2023.

April 2021

Canada’s Federal Government announces 2.1 million dollars towards the creation of a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry of corporations in Budget 2021. The announcement included an implementation timeline for 2025. The Coalition applauded this major announcement as a major milestone for beneficial ownership transparency in Canada.

January 2021

The United States passes historic legislation announcing the creation of a centralized, beneficial ownership registry for corporations as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

November 2020

British Columbia Land Ownership Transparency Registry (LOTR) website is live and required filings begin.

March 2020

The Government of Québec announces that it will make beneficial ownership information publicly available, searchable, and free-of-cost in its existing provincial business registry. This includes information about beneficial owners of commercial trust arrangements.

FEBRUARY 2020

Canada’s Federal Government launches public consultations to evaluate the merits of a public beneficial ownership registry and includes in-person stakeholder consultations. The Government of Ontario holds consultations to understand implications for provincially registered corporations to keep internal registries with beneficial ownership information.

January 2020

The Government of British Columbia announces public consultations to evaluate the merits of a public beneficial ownership registry.

DECEMBER 2019

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau releases mandates for Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and for Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance to proceed with consultations with provinces and territories for the creation of a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry and to introduce legislation.

Federal, provincial, and territorial finance ministers met and re-affirmed plans to proceed with consultations regarding a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry.

OCTOBER 2019

Québec announces consultations to strengthen corporate transparency as a means to fight tax evasion, money laundering, fraud, and criminal activities.

JUNE 2019

Canada’s Federal Government along with select provinces announce stakeholder consultations examining the benefits of a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry. Federal requirements for federally-incorporated businesses to keep a registry for Individuals with significant control (ISCs) come into effect.

May 2019

Canada co-hosts the Open Government Partnership Summit from May 29th-31st in Ottawa, Ontario. The Coalition holds a roundtable with federal-provincial-territorial stakeholders to understand progress on beneficial ownership transparency within provinces. The Coalition also organized a high-level discussion panel featuring MP John Penrose, the UK Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Champion; Mark Robinson, Executive Director, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative; Svitlana Hlushchenko​, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Justice; Denis Meunier, former deputy director of FINTRAC; Robin Hodess, Director of Governance and Transparency for the B Team. Joël Lightbound, Parliamentary Secretary to Canada’s Finance Minister provided short remarks to conclude the panel.

April 2019

British Columbia passes The Land Owner Transparency Act which requires all property owners to publicly disclose beneficial ownership information.

March 2019

The province of Québec pledges to strengthen corporate transparency in its provincial budget. Canada’s Federal Government proposes amendments in Budget 2019 to make beneficial ownership information maintained by federally incorporated corporations more readily available to tax authorities and law enforcement. The Coalition launches OPACITY: Why Criminals Love Canadian Real Estate and How to Fix It by holding a press conference at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

December 2018

Canada passes legislation (Bill C-86) requiring private companies registered at the federal level to keep and maintain a registry of Individuals with significant control (ISCs). Canadians For Tax Fairness and Transparency International Canada are invited to provide suggestions to the House of Commons Finance Committee concerning the bill itself.

March 2018

The Coalition holds a roundtable in Toronto, Ontario with private sector stakeholders to discuss technical considerations for a pan-Canadian, publicly accessible registry.

DecEMBER 2017

Canada’s Federal Government, Provinces, and Territories create an Agreement To Strengthen Beneficial Ownership Transparency as part of Finance Ministers Meeting held in Ottawa, Ontario.