Goal
To ensure Canada is no longer a destination for snow-washing by advocating that it joins other countries by creating a world-class, publicly accessible registries of beneficial owners for companies, trusts, and real estate.
The Context
Canada has a problem. Secret companies are being used to launder money into the Canadian economy. It’s called snow-washing, and it contributes to soaring real estate prices, acting as a haven for criminals to launder their dirty money through secret companies, casinos, and luxury goods.
Because Canada has a strong economy and lax rules on corporate transparency, it is the perfect destination for criminals and tax evaders to stash their cash. This includes the proceeds of illicit trade of natural resources being smuggled from high-risk regions or contributing to corruption. Beneficial ownership registries are recommended to combat Illicit financial flows, including the launderings of proceeds from mineral-related crimes.
Anyone wanting to launder money in Canada may conceal their identity by anonymously purchasing a property or by creating a company without disclosing their true identity. By remaining anonymous, individuals can use dirty money to buy real estate or funnel the funds through company operations. Once the property or the company shares are sold, the secret owner can benefit from the proceeds.
Canada has federal and provincial business registries, yet information about beneficial owners is missing in many of these registries. The lack of publicly available information about the true owners of companies makes it easy for individuals to conceal their identities and set up companies to launder money.
Canada’s federal government, along with provinces and territories, can join other countries working to fight snow-washing by creating world-class, publicly accessible registries of beneficial owners for companies and real property. Because criminals exploit legal loopholes that allow for secrecy, publicly accessible registries deter those who aim to launder money and avoid taxes anonymously.
What We Are Doing
IMPACT has joined with its campaign partners, Transparency International Canada and Canadians For Tax Fairness, to advocate for Canada to create world-class, publicly accessible beneficial ownership registries that apply to companies, property, and trust arrangements. We also collaborate with NGOs and exchange insights to advance beneficial ownership policy reforms globally.
The End Snow-Washing Coalition calls upon the federal government to work with provinces to create a pan-Canadian company registry of beneficial owners that is publicly accessible, centralized, and searchable. We also want the registry to use international best practices such as ID verification, a tip-line for whistleblowers, and a registrar with comprehensive powers to issue penalties.
Visit the coalition website www.endsnowwashing.ca for full details.
Campaign Results
- Four legislative victories at the federal and provincial levels:
- Federal registry successfully implemented (2024)
- B.C. corporate registry successfully passed into law (2023)
- B.C. property registry successfully implemented (2021)
- Quebec corporate registry successfully implemented (2021)
- Two federal level regulatory victories:
- Higher penalties for non-compliance, incl. jail time in the federal beneficial ownership legislation (2024)
- Company service providers to be included as part of Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering Regime (2024)
- One provincial level regulatory victory:
- B.C. property registry became free to search (2024)
- New Federal registry is now live, searchable and publicly accessible and uses standardized information, in line with the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard
