Alberta’s Freedom to Care Act creates two protections for charitable organizations. It generally shields unpaid volunteers from personal liability for damage caused while acting within their assigned responsibilities, while preserving liability for serious misconduct, vehicle-related claims, offences, impairment and other specified circumstances.
The Act also gives Cabinet power to exempt an eligible nonprofit from particular regulations made under another Alberta Act. The exemption must be organization-specific, tied to a defined charitable purpose and limited in duration.
That makes the law both a liability shield and a discretionary mechanism for reducing regulatory barriers to nonprofit activity.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Act protects qualifying volunteers from liability for acts or omissions performed within the scope of their nonprofit or Crown volunteer responsibilities, provided they hold any required licence, certification or authorization. It also permits the Lieutenant Governor in Council to grant a nonprofit a temporary exemption from specified regulations made under another Act.
Who It Affects
Unpaid directors, officers, trustees and other individuals serving Alberta nonprofits or the Crown receive the liability protection. Alberta-incorporated charitable entities, qualifying extra-provincial organizations and organizations designated by regulation may request regulatory exemptions.
Why It Matters
The Act shifts some legal and regulatory risk away from individual volunteers and toward the organizations they serve. Its exemption power could give Cabinet a flexible way to accommodate charitable programs, but it also places significant implementation decisions outside the statute itself.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
Part 1 applies to claims filed after the Act takes effect and protects an unpaid individual who performs services for a qualifying nonprofit or the Crown. The individual may receive reimbursement or an allowance for expenses without losing volunteer status.
The protection covers damage caused while the volunteer acts within the scope of assigned responsibilities and has any legally required licence, certification or authorization.
The protection is not a blanket immunity. It disappears when the volunteer commits wilful, reckless or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, an offence, or operates a vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other legally insured vehicle in causing the damage.
It also does not apply where another Alberta enactment already limits or protects the volunteer’s liability. The underlying nonprofit remains liable where applicable, and it cannot recover from a protected volunteer for the same damage.The Act adds a litigation consequence for unsuccessful claims against volunteers.
If a damages action based on a volunteer’s work for a nonprofit does not produce a judgment against that volunteer, the volunteer is entitled to solicitor-and-client costs. That rule can raise the financial risk of pursuing a weak claim, although it does not prevent a claim or determine whether the nonprofit itself is liable.Part 2 establishes a separate exemption process.
A nonprofit must apply to the responsible Minister in the required form and manner. Cabinet may then exempt that organization from specified provisions of regulations made under another Act, but only for a specified charitable purpose and a limited period.
The power cannot be used where another enactment already provides an exemption for the same charitable purpose, and it does not extend to regulations that solely apply to nonprofits.The Minister must report annually to Cabinet on exemption requests. The Lieutenant Governor in Council can designate or exclude organizations by regulation and can make additional regulations to address interpretation or implementation issues.
The Act binds the Crown and takes effect on September 1, 2021.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The liability protection covers claims filed on or after the Act’s effective date, rather than only conduct occurring after that date.
A volunteer can remain eligible while receiving reasonable reimbursement or an allowance for expenses actually incurred in performing the service.
The statutory shield does not cover damage arising from operation of a vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other vehicle for which the owner must maintain insurance.
A Cabinet exemption must identify the regulatory provisions, the single nonprofit organization, the charitable purpose and the period covered by the order.
The Act does not permit a nonprofit to use this process where another enactment already provides an exemption for the relevant charitable purpose.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Definitions that set the eligibility boundaries
The Act defines charitable purpose broadly to include civic, educational, health, cultural, recreational, environmental, tourism and other public-benefit activities, provided the purpose is not for-profit. It defines damage broadly enough to include physical, economic, emotional and reputational losses.
The nonprofit definition focuses on entities organized for public benefit and operating primarily for a charitable purpose. It also allows regulations to designate additional organizations or exclude organizations otherwise within the ordinary definition, giving Cabinet a meaningful role in deciding who qualifies.
Claims covered by the volunteer rules
The volunteer provisions apply to claims for damage caused by a volunteer’s act or omission when the claim is filed on or after the Act’s commencement. The filing-date rule determines whether the new protection applies, regardless of when the underlying conduct occurred.
Qualified immunity for volunteer conduct
Section 3 removes personal liability when a volunteer acts on behalf of a nonprofit or the Crown, stays within the scope of the volunteer role and holds any legally required authorization. The provision operates notwithstanding other enactments, but yields where another enactment already provides a liability limitation or protection.
The exceptions preserve liability for the most serious forms of misconduct and for conduct involving offences, impairment or insured vehicles. The nonprofit’s own liability remains intact, and the organization cannot seek contribution or recovery from a volunteer who receives the statutory protection.
Enhanced costs protection for volunteers
A volunteer who successfully defends a damages action brought over work for a nonprofit is entitled to costs on a solicitor-and-client basis when the action does not result in a judgment against the volunteer. This is a stronger costs entitlement than ordinary party-and-party costs and may help volunteers avoid personally absorbing defence expenses.
The section addresses proceedings against the individual; it does not eliminate claims against the nonprofit or create a general right to recover legal costs in every volunteer-related dispute.
Case-specific exemptions from other regulations
The Lieutenant Governor in Council may exempt a nonprofit from specified provisions of regulations made under another Act. The nonprofit must first apply to the Minister, and the resulting order must identify one organization, one charitable purpose and a defined period.
The provision excludes regulations that apply only to nonprofits and cannot be used where another enactment already supplies an exemption for the relevant purpose. The statute does not prescribe substantive approval criteria beyond these limits, leaving Cabinet and the Minister considerable discretion over the application process and the scope of relief.
Annual reporting on exemption requests
The responsible Minister must submit an annual report to Cabinet on exemption requests received under section 5. The section creates internal executive reporting, but it does not expressly require the report to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly or made public.
Crown application, regulation-making and commencement
The Act binds the Crown, so the volunteer protection applies to qualifying volunteer services performed for the Alberta government as well as for nonprofits. The regulation-making power covers organizational designations, exclusions, undefined terms and implementation difficulties.
The Act takes effect on September 1, 2021. Because the implementation framework can be supplemented through regulations, the practical boundaries of eligibility and administration may develop beyond the text of the Act.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on this topic across all five countries.
Explore this topic in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Unpaid nonprofit volunteers, including directors, officers and trustees, receive protection against personal damages liability for authorized work that does not involve the statutory exclusions.
- Nonprofit organizations may find it easier to recruit and retain volunteers who are concerned about the financial consequences of ordinary mistakes made in service roles.
- Charitable programs that face regulatory requirements poorly matched to their operations may obtain targeted, time-limited relief through a Cabinet order.
- The Alberta Crown benefits from a parallel liability framework for qualifying volunteers who perform services for government programs.
- Volunteers defending unsuccessful damages claims benefit from the entitlement to solicitor-and-client costs, which can reduce the personal cost of litigation.
Who Bears the Cost
- Nonprofit organizations remain exposed to liability for damage caused by protected volunteers and cannot transfer that liability back to the volunteer through recovery proceedings.
- People injured or otherwise harmed by ordinary volunteer conduct may lose a direct personal claim against the volunteer and may need to pursue the nonprofit or another liable party instead.
- Claimants who sue a volunteer and fail to obtain a judgment face the possibility of solicitor-and-client costs, increasing the downside of litigation.
- The responsible Minister and Cabinet must administer exemption requests, define eligible organizations where needed and manage the policy consequences of case-specific regulatory relief.
- Regulators and organizations operating alongside exempt nonprofits may face uneven application of regulatory requirements when one organization receives relief for a particular charitable activity.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The Act tries to keep people willing to volunteer by limiting their personal exposure, while preserving meaningful remedies for people harmed by nonprofit activities. The stronger the protection for individuals, the more pressure falls on nonprofits, insurers and claimants to absorb or pursue the remaining risk; the broader the exemption power, the more operational flexibility nonprofits gain but the less uniform the regulatory framework becomes.
The liability shield depends on facts that may be disputed: whether the volunteer acted within the scope of responsibilities, whether the person held the necessary authorization and whether conduct amounted to gross negligence, recklessness or wilful misconduct. The Act does not define those thresholds in detail.
Courts will therefore remain important in deciding whether a claim belongs inside or outside the protection, particularly where a volunteer’s role was informal or poorly documented.
The exemption power offers flexibility but little statutory guidance on how applications should be assessed, how affected regulators or third parties participate, or whether Cabinet must give reasons. Because orders apply to one organization and one purpose for a limited period, nonprofits may face recurring applications and inconsistent outcomes.
The annual reporting duty is directed to Cabinet and does not expressly create public transparency or legislative oversight.
The Act also creates an allocation problem rather than eliminating risk. Protecting volunteers may preserve community capacity, but shifting exposure toward nonprofits can affect insurance needs, reserves and access to compensation for injured people.
The vehicle exception and the preservation of other statutory protections prevent the scheme from becoming universal, but they also make coverage analysis highly fact-specific.
There's more to this law than the bill.
Codify Laws traces every connection across the legislative lifecycle.