Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada to implement specific measures to detect and deter money laundering and financing of terrorist activities. The Act established client identification and verification requirements for financial institutions and related professionals whose services are susceptible to being abused for those purposes.

To protect the confidentiality and legal privilege between lawyers and our clients, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada negotiated an agreement with the Government of Canada under which lawyers are excluded from the requirement to report information regarding client financial transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (“FINTRAC”). That agreement required the Law Societies across Canada to adopt rules for client identification and verification in order to ensure that the fundamental policy provisions of the Act will be respected. Accordingly, The Law Society of Manitoba amended its Rules to include provisions with which Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP and all other lawyers in private practice in Manitoba must comply.

To facilitate this process of information collection Thompson Dorfman Sweatman has created a Client Intake Form  to be used to collect and store this information. New and Existing clients of TDS should review this form and contact us if you have any questions.