Source: http://www.stic-csti.ca/eic/site/cd-dgc.nsf/eng/cs03957.html
Timestamp: 2013-06-19 05:13:18
Document Index: 108552178

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 20', 'art 21', 'art 20', 'art 21', 'art 20', 'art 21']

Continuing your cooperative under the Canada Cooperative Act - Corporations Canada
Continuing your cooperative under the Canada Cooperative Act
Policy Statement 17.4
How to fill out Form 3003 – Notice of Registered Office
How to fill out Form 3006 – Notice of Directors
If you are currently incorporated under Canadian legislation other than the Canada Cooperatives Act (Coop Act), either under another federal act or under a provincial act, it is possible for you to continue or move out of that Act into the Coop Act provided your current governing legislation allows you to do so. To continue under the Coop Act, you must satisfy its requirements, that is:
carry on your undertaking in two or more provinces and have a fixed place of business in more than one province; and
be organized and operated and carry on business on a cooperative basis.
If a body corporate does not meet these requirements but it intends to amalgamate immediately after continuance with another cooperative and the amalgamated cooperative will meet the requirements, it can continue into the Coop Act for the purpose of amalgamating. The body corporate must concurrently apply for a Certificate of Continuance and a Certificate of Amalgamation. If the body corporate intends to be a non-profit housing cooperative, it must also comply with Part 20 of the Act.
If the body corporate intends to be a worker cooperative, it must also comply with Part 21 of the Act.
Once you have continued into the federal jurisdiction and have received your Certificate of Continuance, you are no longer governed by the prior governing act.
Form 3011 - Articles of Continuance (PDF Version, 869 KB, 4 pages)
Statutory Declaration (See Annex A)
A NUANS Name Search Report for the proposed name that is not more than 90 days old. If you have received prior approval of the name, attach a copy of the letter from Corporations Canada approving your name along with the copy of the NUANS Name Search Report;
Authorization from Exporting Jurisdiction
Form 3003 – Notice of Registered Office (PDF Version, 445 KB, 2 pages)
Form 3006 - Notice of Directors (PDF Version, 440 KB, 2 pages)
the filing fees Note that you do not need to use these pre-printed forms but that the documents used must conform closely to the forms.
Once approved by the Director, Corporations Canada issues a certificate of continuance and the cooperative is entered on the corporate register.
Note that by-laws are not required to be filed for continuance.
Your application must include a statutory declaration signed by the directors stating that, after continuance, or continuance and amalgamation, the cooperative will be organized and operated and will carry on business as a cooperative. The declaration must also state that the information contained in forms 3003 and 3006 filed with the articles of continuance meets the requirements of the Act.
Non-profit housing cooperatives must also submit a declaration signed by the directors stating that, after continuance, the cooperative will comply with Part 20 of the Act.
Worker cooperatives must also submit a declaration signed by the directors stating that, after continuance, the cooperative will comply with Part 21 of the Act.
If your cooperative intends to carry on business in a region or regions where both English and French are spoken, you may wish to consider adopting a bilingual name.
Corporations Canada offers a service where you can get pre-approval of your cooperative name before filing your Articles of Continuance. This is recommended as it will avoid unnecessary rejection at the time you file your articles; if a name is not approved, articles will be rejected.
To continue into the Coop Act, the jurisdiction under which the cooperative is incorporated must allow the continuance. If the legislation of that jurisdiction requires a governmental authority to issue a document authorizing the export, that document should be submitted with the articles of continuance. When filing authorizations from jurisdictions not specifically listed here, also file a copy of the relevant sections of the exporting legislation. In Canada, only cooperatives legislation in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario authorizes export continuances to the federal jurisdiction. Bodies corporate existing under the Canada Business Corporations Act and the Bank Act, Cooperative Credit Associations Act, Insurance Companies Act and Trust and Loan Companies Act may also be continued under the Coop Act.
top of page How to fill out Form 3011 - Articles of Continuance
The name must include one of the following words: "cooperative"; "coop"; "coop�rative"; "cooperative"; "united"; "pool" or "co-op". The same word must be used in both the English and the French forms of the name.
If the cooperative is a non-profit housing cooperative, paragraph 353(a) of the Act stipulates that its name must include the words: "non-profit," "not-for-profit," "not for profit," "sans but lucratif" or "à but non lucratif"; and "housing cooperative," "housing cooperative," "housing co-op," "coop�rative d'habitation," "coop d'habitation," "co-op d'habitation," "coop�rative de logement," "coop de logement" or "co-op de logement." If the cooperative is a worker cooperative, section 361 of the Act stipulates that its name must include one of the following terms: "worker cooperative," "worker cooperative," "worker co-op," "coop�rative de travailleurs," "coop de travailleurs," "co-op de travailleurs," "coop�rative de travail," "coop de travail" or "co-op de travail." If the business of the cooperative is restricted by its articles or by a resolution of its members to a specific business purpose, the cooperative must have as part of its name one or more words that suggest the nature of the restriction.
The information provided here must be the same as the one provided in item 3 of Form 3003 - Notice of Registered Office.
The minimum number of directors is 3. At least 25% of the directors must be resident in Canada. However, where the cooperative will only have 3 directors, at least one must be resident in Canada. [Subsection 76(1)].
Mandatory for Housing Cooperatives: The articles state that the business of the Housing Cooperative is restricted to that of primarily providing housing to its members [Section 353(b)].
A cooperative may be continued with or without membership shares [Section 9].
Continuance without membership share capital
Continuance with membership share capital
Number of shares Non-profit housing cooperatives
The articles must state whether the number of membership shares to be issued is limited or unlimited. If limited, the articles must include the maximum number of membership shares to be issued. All other cooperatives
The articles must state whether the shares are set at: par value (the stated value of each share) or
For cooperatives that do not use par value shares, the articles must state whether the membership shares are to be issued, purchased, redeemed or otherwise acquired at a fixed price or in accordance with a formula. The articles must describe any formulas used.
Item 8 - Distribution of Property in case of Dissolution(Optional)
Housing Cooperatives Restriction: Housing cooperatives must distribute their assets among one or more non-profit housing cooperatives, cooperatives incorporated in a province that have similar objectives and limitations, or a specific charitable organization. [section 354(e)].
Worker Cooperatives Note: Unless otherwise provided in the articles, at least 20% of the surplus must be distributed to another cooperative, a non-profit entity or a charitable entity after payment of its liabilities but before any distribution is made to a member or shareholder.
All Cooperatives Subject to the above restrictions respecting non-profit housing and worker cooperatives, the articles of a cooperative may provide for distribution or disposal of a cooperative's property on dissolution of the cooperative, including distribution:
Housing Cooperatives Restriction: Housing cooperatives may not issue investment shares [Section 354(a)].
Other Cooperatives (Optional) If the cooperative wants to have an investment share structure, the articles must state it and provide particulars:
the number of classes of investment shares
the preferences, rights, conditions, restrictions, limitations and prohibitions attaching to the investment shares and, if there is to be more than one class, the designation of each class and the special preferences, rights, conditions, restrictions, limitations and prohibitions attaching to each class
The Coop Act allows investment shares to be issued to members and non-members alike at the discretion of the cooperative. Investment shareholders have no right to vote at a meeting of a cooperative unless the articles specifically give them the right to vote and only in the following limited circumstances set out in the Act [subsections 124(2) to 124(4)]: the articles can give non-member investment shareholders the right to elect up to 20 percent of board members; that when the cooperative wants to change its structure in a way that affects investment shareholders, the Act gives shareholders the right to vote on those proposed changes.
These provisions are designed to provide more flexibility in the way cooperatives may raise capital and provide safeguards for investment shareholders, while keeping the control of the cooperative in the hands of the members.
Items 10/11 - Statements Check off one of the two statements that apply to your cooperative. These statements are required by the Act.
Item 12 - Name Change and Details of Incorporation
If a change of name is effected upon continuance, state the previous name of your cooperative under the exporting jurisdiction.
Set out the date of the incorporation and the exporting jurisdiction.
Item 13 - Restrictions on Powers of Directors to Manage (Optional)
Item 14 - Other Provisions (Optional)
How to fill out Form 3003 - Notice of Registered Office
Item 4 - Indicate the full address of the registered office.
The address must be within the municipality and province specified in Item 2 of Form 3011 - Articles of Continuance.
top of page How to fill out Form 3006 - Notice of Directors
Directors have to be elected by the members, except where the cooperative chooses to allow directors to be elected by the investment shareholders [Subsection 78(5)]. Note that not more than 20% of the directors may be elected by investment shareholders who are non-members.
Residency requirement: At least 25% of directors must be resident in Canada. If the cooperative has only three directors, at least one director must be resident in Canada [Subsection 78(4)].
The by-laws do not need to be submitted when submitting a request for continuance. The by-laws are nevertheless very important to the cooperative as they are the internal governance rules adopted for the cooperative.
The Act requires the by-laws to cover at least the following areas (section 15):
qualifications and procedures for acceptance of members;
rights of joint members, if any;
rights and obligations of members and, if any, auxiliary members;
transfer or assignment of members' interest;
selection, qualifications and term of office of directors;
distribution of any surplus earnings;
definition of any agency relationship the cooperative has with its members;
conditions of termination of membership; and
electronic voting at members' meetings, if permitted.
The by-laws may also address:
representation by delegates;
classes of membership;
any other matter that the members consider necessary or desirable.
In addition to the above, the by-laws of non-profit housing cooperatives and worker cooperatives must include certain provisions. Refer to section 355 of the Act for non-profit housing cooperatives and section 360 for worker cooperatives.
For more information on cooperatives, you may also want to contact Cooperatives Policy at Industry Canada (formerly the Cooperative Secretariat with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada):
TTY (for hearing impaired): 1-866-694-8389 top of page Annex A
In the Matter of the Canada Cooperatives Act and in the Matter of an Application for Continuance Pursuant to Section 285
We are the directors of , (the "Cooperative") and we have personal knowledge of the matters herein deposed to.
The information contained in forms 3003 and 3006 filed with the articles of continuance meets the requirements of the Act
Choose one of the following statements: After the continuance, the Cooperative will be organized and operated and will carry on business on a cooperative basis.
(For non-profit housing cooperatives)
After the continuance, the Cooperative will be organized and operated and will carry on business on a cooperative basis and the cooperative will comply with Part 20 of the Canada Cooperatives Act.
(For worker cooperatives)
After the continuance, the Cooperative will be organized and operated and will carry on business on a cooperative basis and the cooperative will comply with Part 21 of the Canada Cooperatives Act.
And we make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing it to be true, and knowing that it is of the same force and effect as if made under oath and by virtue of the Canada Evidence Act. (This declaration must be signed by all the directors of the Cooperative.) Declared before me at
the City of __________,
_______________________________	(signature of director)
Declared before me at the City of __________,