Canada Student Loans Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. S-23)

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

17 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) [Repealed, 1993, c. 12, s. 9]

• (b) prescribing in accordance with paragraph 7(f) the provisions to be included in agreements between borrowers and lenders relating to guaranteed student loans;

• (c) providing for the alteration of agreements between borrowers and lenders and prescribing the conditions and consequences of those alterations;

• (d) providing for the assignment or transfer by lenders of agreements between borrowers and lenders and prescribing the conditions and consequences of such assignments or transfers;

• (e) prescribing, for the purposes of section 6, the rate of interest, or the manner of determining the rate of interest, payable by the Minister on a guaranteed student loan or a class of guaranteed student loans;

• (f) prescribing, for the purposes of paragraph 7(d),

  • (i) the manner of calculating the interest and the amount on which it is to be calculated, and

  • (ii) the rate of interest or the manner of determining the rate of interest;

• (g) prescribing, in the event of default in the repayment of a guaranteed student loan, the measures to be taken by the lender and the procedures to be followed for the collection of the amount of the loan outstanding and accrued interest;

• (h) prescribing, for the purpose of section 7 or 7.1, the method of determining the amount of any loss sustained by a lender;

• (i) prescribing the procedure to be followed by a lender in making a claim against the Minister;

• (j) respecting the subrogation of Her Majesty to the rights of a lender with respect to a guaranteed student loan;

• (k) prescribing the maximum number of periods of studies that may elapse after which, notwithstanding anything in this Act, the principal amount of a guaranteed student loan made to a full-time student and interest thereon shall commence to be payable by the borrower;

• (k.1) respecting the circumstances in which an amount on account of principal or interest is not required to be paid in respect of guaranteed student loans;

• (l) respecting, for the purposes of subparagraph 7(e)(i), criteria, parameters, or the incorporation by reference of such established lender practices as are specified, in respect of the repayment of guaranteed student loans made to full-time students;

• (m) [Repealed, 2022, c. 19, s. 152]

• (n) prescribing the period within which a lender shall make a claim against the Minister in respect of the amount of any loss sustained as a result of a guaranteed student loan and prescribing the amount or proportion by which any amount to be paid by the Minister to a lender pursuant to section 7 shall be reduced where the lender fails to make a claim within the prescribed period;

• (o) prescribing the formulas referred to in subsection 3(2);

• (p) providing for reports to be made to the Minister for the purposes of this Act and prescribing the kind of information to be included in those reports;

• (q) providing for the repayment of guaranteed student loans by borrowers or classes of borrowers on an income-contingent basis;

• (q.1) providing, in respect of student loans made to full-time and part-time students, for the gratuitous payment, including the method of calculating it, whether conditionally or unconditionally, by the Minister to lenders of amounts in respect of those loans, and for the discharge of those loans to the extent of those amounts;

• (q.2) prescribing the amount that may be forgiven in respect of a year under section 11.1 in respect of a guaranteed student loan;

• (q.3) prescribing the maximum number of years in respect of which amounts may be forgiven under section 11.1 in respect of a guaranteed student loan;

• (r) defining the expressions family physician, full-time student, nurse, nurse practitioner, part-time student, responsible officer of a lender and under-served rural or remote community for the purposes of this Act;

• (r.1) prescribing the circumstances in which a borrower ceases to be a full-time student;

• (s) providing, notwithstanding section 15, for the adjustment of the amount of the provincial allocation for a province for any loan year, in any case where the aggregate of the amounts set out in certificates of eligibility issued or caused to be issued by the appropriate authority for the province for a previous year exceeded the aggregate of the amounts referred to in paragraphs 15(1)(a) and (b) applicable to that province for that previous year;

• (s.1) [Repealed, 2022, c. 19, s. 152]

• (s.2) respecting the circumstances in which no amount on account of principal or interest is required to be paid by members of the reserve force in respect of their guaranteed student loans;

• (s.3) respecting the payment of interest under subsection 5.1(2);

• (t) prescribing any other matter or thing that under this Act is to be prescribed by the regulations; and

• (u) generally, for carrying into effect the purposes and provisions of this Act.

Forms

Marginal note:Forms

17.1 The Minister may prescribe

• (a) any form or other document that is by this Act or the regulations to be prescribed by the Minister; and

• (b) the information to be included in any document referred to in paragraph (a), in addition to the information otherwise required by this Act or the regulations to be included therein.

Offence and Punishment

Marginal note:False statement or information

• 18 (1) Every person who, in respect of a guaranteed student loan, knowingly makes any false statement or misrepresentation, including by omission, in an application or other document or knowingly provides any false or misleading information, including by omission, is guilty of an offence under this Act and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (2) A prosecution for an offence under this Act may not be instituted later than six years after the time when the subject matter of the complaint arose.

Administrative Measures

Marginal note:Administrative measures

• 18.1 (1) If a person, in respect of a guaranteed student loan, knowingly makes any false statement or misrepresentation, including by omission, in an application or other document or knowingly provides any false or misleading information, including by omission, the Minister may

  • (a) [Repealed, 2022, c. 19, s. 153]

  • (b) deny the person the deferral of payments of principal or interest under section 5 for a prescribed period, or terminate the deferral;

  • (c) deny the person payments of interest under subsection 5.1(2) for a prescribed period, or terminate the payments;

  • (d) deny the person repayment of a guaranteed student loan on an income-contingent basis referred to in paragraph 17(q) for a prescribed period, or terminate repayment on an income-contingent basis;

  • (e) deny the person a gratuitous payment referred to in paragraph 17(q.1); or

  • (f) require the person to immediately repay any outstanding amount of a guaranteed student loan that they obtained by reason of the false statement or misrepresentation or the false or misleading information.

• Marginal note:Outstanding student loans

  (2) If, before the day on which this section comes into force, a person knowingly made any false statement or misrepresentation, including by omission, in an application or other document or knowingly provided any false or misleading information, including by omission, in respect of a guaranteed student loan that is outstanding on that day, the Minister may take any measure set out in paragraphs (1)(b) to (f).

• Marginal note:Notice

  (3) The Minister may not take any measure under subsection (1) or (2) without having given the person 60 days’ notice of the Minister’s intention to take the measure.

• Marginal note:Submissions

  (4) The person may make submissions to the Minister in respect of the measure at any time.

• Marginal note:Rescission or modification of measure

  (5) The Minister may rescind or modify a measure taken under subsection (1) or (2) if new facts are presented or the Minister considers that the measure was taken without knowledge of some material fact or on the basis of a mistake concerning one.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (6) The Minister may not take any measure under subsection (1) or (2) later than five years after the day on which the Minister becomes aware of the false statement or misrepresentation or the false or misleading information.

General

Marginal note:Right of recovery by lender

19 A guaranteed student loan made by a lender to a borrower not of full age, and interest thereon other than interest payable under section 6, is recoverable by the lender from the borrower as though the borrower had been of full age at the time the loan was made.

Marginal note:Waiver

19.01 On application by a qualifying student or a borrower, the Minister may, to avoid undue hardship to the student or borrower, waive

• (a) a requirement of the regulations with respect to the times within which the student or borrower’s confirmation of enrolment or certificate of eligibility is to be submitted; or

• (b) a requirement of the regulations, or a requirement prescribed by the Minister, with respect to the form or manner in which information in respect of the student or borrower is to be provided.

Marginal note:Financial assistance denied due to error

19.02 If the Minister is satisfied that a person was denied financial assistance under this Act to which the person would have been entitled as a result of an error made in the administration of this Act or the regulations, the Minister may take remedial action to place the person in the position that he or she would have been in under this Act had the error not been made.

Marginal note:Limitation period

• 19.1 (1) Subject to this section and section 19.2, no action or proceedings shall be taken to recover money owing under a guaranteed student loan more than six years after the day on which the money becomes due and payable.

• Marginal note:Deduction and set-off

  (2) Money owing under a guaranteed student loan may be recovered at any time by way of deduction from or set-off against any sum of money that may be due or payable by Her Majesty in right of Canada to the borrower or the estate or succession of the borrower.

• Marginal note:Acknowledgment of liability

  (3) If a borrower’s liability for money owing under a guaranteed student loan is acknowledged in accordance with subsection (4), the time during which the limitation period has run before the acknowledgment does not count in the calculation of that period.

• Marginal note:Types of acknowledgments

  (4) An acknowledgment of liability means

  • (a) a written promise to pay the money owing, signed by the borrower or his or her agent or other representative;

  • (b) a written acknowledgment of the money owing, signed by the borrower or his or her agent or other representative, whether or not a promise to pay can be implied from it and whether or not it contains a refusal to pay;

  • (c) a part payment by the borrower or his or her agent or other representative of any money owing; or

  • (d) any acknowledgment of the money owing made by the borrower, his or her agent or other representative or the trustee or administrator in the course of proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act or any other legislation dealing with the payment of debts.

• Marginal note:Acknowledgment after expiry of limitation period

  (5) If a borrower’s liability for money owing under a guaranteed student loan is acknowledged in accordance with subsection (4) after the expiry of the limitation period in respect of the loan, an action or proceedings to recover the money may, subject to subsections (3) and (6), be brought within six years after the date of the acknowledgment.

• Marginal note:Limitation period suspended

  (6) The running of a limitation period in respect of a guaranteed student loan is suspended during any period in which it is prohibited to commence or continue an action or other proceedings against the borrower to recover money owing under the loan.

• Marginal note:Enforcement proceedings

  (7) This section does not apply in respect of an action or proceedings relating to the execution, renewal or enforcement of a judgment.

Marginal note:Application

• 19.2 (1) This section applies only in respect of the recovery of money that became due and payable under a guaranteed student loan before the coming into force of this section.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (2) Subject to this section, no action or proceedings shall be taken to recover money owing under a guaranteed student loan more than six years after the day on which the limitation period that applied before the coming into force of this section started to run.

• Marginal note:Prior acknowledgments

  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the day of the most recent acknowledgment of a borrower’s liability in respect of money owing under a guaranteed student loan is deemed to be the day on which the limitation period started to run if

  • (a) the acknowledgment was made before the coming into force of this section; and

  • (b) under the law applicable at the time of the acknowledgment, the time during which the limitation period ran before the acknowledgment did not count in the calculation of that period.

• Marginal note:Deduction and set-off

  (4) Money owing under a guaranteed student loan may be recovered at any time by way of deduction from or set-off against any sum of money that may be due or payable by Her Majesty in right of Canada to the borrower or the estate or succession of the borrower.

• Marginal note:Acknowledgment of liability

  (5) If, on or after the day on which this section comes into force, a borrower’s liability for money owing under a guaranteed student loan is acknowledged in accordance with subsection (6), the time during which the limitation period has run before the acknowledgment does not count in the calculation of that period.

• Marginal note:Types of acknowledgments

  (6) For the purposes of subsections (5) and (7), an acknowledgment of liability means

  • (a) a written promise to pay the money owing, signed by the borrower or his or her agent or other representative;

  • (b) a written acknowledgment of the money owing, signed by the borrower or his or her agent or other representative, whether or not a promise to pay can be implied from it and whether or not it contains a refusal to pay;

  • (c) a part payment by the borrower or his or her agent or other representative of any money owing; or

  • (d) any acknowledgment of the money owing made by the borrower, his or her agent or other representative or the trustee or administrator in the course of proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act or any other legislation dealing with the payment of debts.

• Marginal note:Acknowledgment after expiry of limitation period

  (7) If, after the expiry of the limitation period in respect of a guaranteed student loan — including any limitation period that expired before the coming into force of this section — and on or after the day on which this section comes into force, a borrower’s liability for money owing under the loan is acknowledged in accordance with subsection (6), an action or proceedings to recover the money may, subject to subsections (5) and (8), be brought within six years after the date of the acknowledgment.

• Marginal note:Limitation period suspended

  (8) The running of a limitation period in respect of a guaranteed student loan is, commencing on the day on which this section comes into force, suspended during any period in which it is prohibited to commence or continue an action or other proceedings against the borrower to recover money owing under the loan.

• Marginal note:Statutory bar

  (9) Subject to subsection (7), if the limitation period in respect of a guaranteed student loan expired before the coming into force of this section, no action or proceeding shall be taken to recover money owing under the loan.

• Marginal note:Enforcement proceedings

  (10) This section does not apply in respect of an action or proceedings relating to the execution, renewal or enforcement of a judgment.