On Thursday August 6, 2020 the Province of Ontario Attorney General, Doug Downey, was part of a virtual discussion with members of the bar regarding legal policy and possible legislative changes. One of the topics was whether to make permanent the provisions of the coronavirus pandemic emergency order for witnessing of Wills and Powers of Attorney virtually, utilizing electronic means.
Similar discussions are taking place across Canada as a consequence of the coronavirus emergency and measures requiring action by the government. In the Province of British Columbia Attorney General, David Eby, introduced Bill 21 on June 22, 2020 called the Wills, Estates and Succession Amendment Act, 2020. The proposed British Columbia legislation would make permanent the provisions on virtual witnessing of wills and goes further to allow electronic wills. The British Columbia government states: “The changes will benefit British Columbians who, for example, have a disability, are quarantined, live in rural or remote communities, or would have difficulty attending a lawyer’s or notary’s office due to child care or other responsibilities.” The changes: “will enable the courts to accept wills that are created on a computer and signed electronically, and for which there is no printed copy.” The proposed British Columbia legislation includes:
“electronic form”, in relation to an electronic will, means a form that (a) is recorded or stored electronically, (b) can be read by a person, and (c) is capable of being reproduced in a visible form;
“electronic signature” means information in electronic form that a person has created or adopted in order to sign a record and that is in, attached to or associated with the record;
“electronic will” means a will that is in electronic form.
The proposed draft legislation in entirety can be read here.
This is now a rapidly changing area of the law. There will certainly be more developments across Canada that we will be following for you.
Thank you for reading!