Filing a Transition Application under the New Societies Act

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Mary Childs, Michael Blatchford and Steve Carey in November 2016.

All existing societies in British Columbia are required to “transition” within a two-year period from when the new Societies Act came into effect on November 28, 2016. Transitioning involves filing an application in a new electronic system called Societies Online.

This section on filing the transition application covers:

First, are you sure you’re ready to file?

To file the transition application for a society, you must first complete the 5 steps in preparing for transition. Here is a checklist of what you must have done in advance:

• ✅ You decided whether the society wishes to designate itself as a member-funded society. (And if the answer is yes, your members have approved this by special resolution.)
• ✅ You brought the society up-to-date in its Corporate Registry filings: its latest annual report is filed and you checked that the registered office and director information is up-to-date.
• ✅ You have in hand the society’s constitution, rearranged as required, in an electronic format that can be copied and pasted, such as a word processing document.
• ✅ You have in hand the society’s bylaws, consolidated as required or duly adopted by the members, in an electronic format that can be uploaded, such as a word processing document or a PDF.

Transitioning an Existing Society: A How-to Guide for Non-profits in BC © Drew Jackson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.