Uniform Law Conference of Canada Consultation on Crowdfunding

The Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC) has published a consultation document on what it is proposing as a Uniform Informal Public Appeals and Crowdfunding Act:

"The proposed uniform Act is a revised version of the Uniform Informal Public Appeals Act which was issued by the Conference in 2011. The recent growth of public appeals conducted through the internet, popularly known as 'crowdfunding' has prompted the Conference to revisit this topic (...)"

"These informal public appeals were the subject of a project launched in 2009 by the Civil Section of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada. The Conference [hereafter ULCC] has operated continuously since its formation in 1918. Its Civil Section brings together government policy lawyers and analysts, lawyers in private practice, law teachers and representatives of Canada’s law reform bodies, all of whom serve on a volunteer basis. They consider areas in which provincial and territorial laws would benefit from harmonization . The main work of the Section is reflected in “uniform statutes”, which the Section develops and recommends for enactment by all relevant governments in Canada (...)"

"The response of the ULCC was, in 2011, to develop and promulgate the Uniform Informal Public Appeals Act [UIPAA] ..."

"Saskatchewan was the first jurisdiction to implement the Uniform Act and, as it turns out, its IPAA was in place where and when it was most needed. The disastrous highway accident involving a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team resulted in significant loss of life and injuries. An appeal, with extremely general objects, carried out through an internet platform (GoFundMe), raised approximately $15 million and how it should be distributed constituted a major test of Saskatchewan’s IPAA. Fortunately, the provisions of the Act gave the organizers and the court all the tools they needed to craft a distribution scheme that commanded almost unanimous support of the victims and their families. The existence of the Act averted what had the potential to be an extremely divisive issue within the community."

"Although the Act in its present form proved its worth in the Humboldt case, it cannot be safely assumed that its application will be equally straightforward in other cases involving appeals conducted using an internet platform. "