The plan put together by the Community Foundations of Canada through the Ontario branch is to allow it to manage the money and create a database of the originators of those funds. It holds unclaimed property as the custodian for rightful owners under the Unclaimed Property Act, which includes a searchable database. The genesis of the move in Ontario is the British Columbia Unclaimed Property Society and its partnership with the Vancouver Foundation. “It’s money that’s accessible and could be returned to the community for the benefit of the community.” “This time around the legislation is more targeted,” he said. McIntosh says the suggestion this time around is to exclude the financial sector and focus only on government-related and managed funds that it is not entitled to keep. A previous attempt failed following pushback from the financial industry concerned with a sudden burden of monitoring the flow of this money. Ontario is considered the largest jurisdiction in North America without it. The foundation and partner organizations across the province are calling upon the provincial government to introduce unclaimed property legislation.īarrie-Innisifl MPP Andrea Khanjin's office confirmed she has relayed their idea to government and is awaiting a response. “What we are seeking initially is access to unclaimed funds that are held by the government of Ontario that the government has no right to keep and use for its purposes,' he added. “Those monies, if the government authorized it through legislation, could be turned over to charitable organizations through the community foundation organization that is spearheading this legislation and obviously get relieved of the ongoing liability that the trustees or insurance companies may have,” said McIntosh, a partner with Barriston Law in Barrie. There may also be residual other unclaimed funds or government money.Īll told, the foundation figures could add up to $25 million per year. There is also potential to include voluntary holders of trust money, insurance policy proceeds, securities and pension plans. There are also funds held by the provincial Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee when someone dies without a leaving will and the next of kin can’t be located or funds withheld related to the Employment Standards Act. That can include unclaimed bail returns or compensatory damages in the court system that remain unclaimed, which McIntosh says could be as much as $10 million annually. That, in turn, would help it support the community.īarrie Community Foundation board member Jim McIntosh says money that's forgotten or unclaimed and left to sit in accounts for years could be put to use right now as many are struggling through the pandemic. Spence told Narcity the total amount that's waiting for the right people is $888 million the average amount people forget about is about $1,000.A local non-profit organization is encouraging the provincial government to allow it to access unclaimed assets accruing in provincial government coffers that could add up to millions of dollars every year. The kinds of money they track includes regular bank accounts, as well as money orders that never got picked up, even positive credit card balances (as if). She says there were about 2.1 million unclaimed balances in Canada the last time they counted at the end of 2019.* In an email, Narcity spoke with Rebecca Spence, a spokesperson for the Bank of Canada. You can just type in anyone's name and see if there's money waiting for them.Įditor's Choice: While The Rest Of Us Doomscroll Newfoundlanders Are Just Going To Start Burning Stuff You don't have to provide ID or any documentation to use the site (though you'd need some to claim it of course). If there's a GIC in your name that someone forgot to give you for your birthday, or a bank account your aunt opened for you when you were a kid, the central bank's Unclaimed Balances page will let you trace it and claim it. Money gets left behind in all kinds of places in Canada, and the Bank of Canada has a site that traces all of it.

Unclaimed monies canada