Privacy

The Lakelands Association of REALTORS® Policy
on the Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Information

Objective & Scope of Policy

The Lakelands Association ("The Lakelands", "LAR", or "Association") is committed to advancing the interests of the real estate brokers and salespersons who comprise LAR’s membership. The Lakelands is also committed to the continuing professional development of our members.

Members of The Lakelands are also members of the Ontario Real Estate Association ("OREA") and the Canadian Real Estate Association ("CREA"). CREA approved a Privacy Code as a national standard at its annual meeting held in Montreal in October of 2001. Consistent with the adoption of the CREA Privacy Code and with applicable law, LAR is dedicated to maintaining high standards of confidentiality with respect to information provided to it. This Policy Statement has been prepared to inform you of our policy and practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information provided to the Association.

This Policy Statement governs Personal Information collected from and about individuals who are Members; from and about individuals who visit our websites; and information regarding non-members that is provided to LAR for the purposes described below. It does not govern Personal Information the Association collects from and about its employees, the protection of which is governed by other applicable laws and internal LAR policies. LAR retains the right to use aggregated data – data from which the identity of an individual cannot be determined – in any way that it determines appropriate.

This Policy Statement also governs how The Lakelands treats Personal Information in connection with your use of LAR’s web sites.

Using contractual or other arrangements, the Association shall ensure that agents, contractors or third party service providers, who may receive Personal Information in the course of providing services to The Lakelands as part of our delivery of services, protect that Personal Information in a manner consistent with this Policy Statement.

For the purposes of this Policy,

"Personal Information" means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual, or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from the information.

"External Associate" means an individual who is neither a Member nor a Student. An External Associate may be an individual or an employee of an organization with which LAR has dealings in the normal course of fulfilling its mandate. Examples of external associates include independent contractors or service providers; employees of CREA, Boards or the Real Estate Council of Ontario; legal counsel and consultants;

"Members" means real estate brokers and salespersons who are members of the Association.

The Collection, Use & Disclosure of Personal Information

LAR uses the personal information provided verbally or in writing by Members upon application for membership (and which may be provided during the course of membership); by Students upon application for enrolment into education courses (and which may be provided during the period of enrolment); and others, for different purposes to fulfill its mandate. These purposes include:

• Acting as a professional association in support of Members as REALTORS® in Ontario, and in support of the real estate industry in Ontario, including the administration of its by-laws and policies and ensuring compliance with same;
• Providing services to Members, including our MLS® System;
• Informing Members about products and services that might be of interest to them;
• Providing continuing education to Members and others;
• Administering and facilitating membership in OREA and CREA and in our Association, including ensuring Member compliance with the by-laws, rules and regulations of those organizations;
• Meeting any legal or regulatory requirement; and
• Such other purposes consistent with the foregoing purposes.

Personal information about Members and Students will be collected, to the extent possible, directly from the individual concerned. LAR may obtain Personal Information about Members from CREA or from a Board for membership or education purposes.

LAR does not knowingly collect Personal Information from or about anyone under the age of 18, especially children under 13, and destroys such information if it discovers that it is has been provided by a minor.

LAR’s use of Personal Information is limited to the purpose of fulfilling the mandate of LAR or a purpose consistent with that purpose. LAR does not sell, trade, barter or exchange for consideration any Personal Information it has obtained, except where permitted by law or within the other terms of this Privacy Policy. Unless permitted by law or within the terms of this Privacy Policy, no Personal Information is collected about a Member without first obtaining the consent of the individual to the collection, use and dissemination of that information.

LAR may disclose Personal Information of Members to CREA and to a Board for membership purposes, may disclose Personal Information of Members to RECO for educational purposes and may disclose Personal Information of Members to organizations that assist the Association in the course of fulfilling its mandate, including organizations that perform services on its behalf.

Personal Information will only be provided to organizations providing services to LAR if they agree to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to LAR and under the instruction of LAR and, with respect to that information, to act in a manner consistent with this Policy Statement.

Your Consent

In addition to your consent when submitting information, LAR may also, from time to time, collect more specific, written consents or authorizations.

There are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where LAR is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:

• Where required by law or by order of a tribunal;
• Where LAR believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
• Where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
• Where it is necessary to permit LAR to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that the Association may sustain; or
• Where the information is public.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, LAR will not disclose more information than is required.

Accuracy & Retention

LAR endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided by its Members and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which LAR uses that data. Information contained in files that have been closed is not actively updated or maintained.

LAR retains Personal Information as long as LAR believes it is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected. Currently, the principal place in which LAR holds Personal Information is in the Town of Huntsville. LAR will have in place a Document Retention and Destruction Policy, which outlines the procedures for the retention and subsequent disposition of LAR records including those records that contain Personal Information.

Security

LAR endeavours to maintain adequate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to its offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information.

LAR further protects Personal Information by restricting access to Personal Information to those employees and External Associates that the management of LAR has determined need to know that information in order that LAR may provide its services. LAR has a policy under which employee misuse of Personal Information is treated as a serious offence for which disciplinary action may be taken.

In terms of communicating Personal Information, you may wish to note that there is no method of transmitting or storing data that is completely secure. While the physical characteristics of each are different, mail, telephone calls, faxes and transmissions over the Internet are all susceptible to possible loss, misrouting, interception and misuse of the information being communicated or transmitted.

As do many organizations, LAR attempts to strike a reasonable balance between security and convenience. In communicating with Members and others, LAR reserves the right to use a method of communication that is less secure than some of its less convenient alternatives. An example of this is e-mail. At this time, when we use e-mail, it is sent as unencrypted plain text. We do this because the Association believes that many of our Members and External Associates cannot readily process encrypted e-mail. This is done for their convenience but has the security concern that, if misrouted or intercepted, it could be read more easily than encrypted e-mail.

Please note that for security purposes and to ensure that our website and networks remain available for use, LAR’s service providers employs software programs to monitor network traffic, to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, and to prevent denial of service or other attacks intended to cause damage. Evidence of such acts may also be disclosed to law enforcement authorities and result in criminal prosecution under the laws of Canada or such other jurisdictions as may apply.

LAR audits its procedures and security measures from time to time to ensure that they remain effective and appropriate.

Visiting the The Lakelands Web Sites

During the course of using the Internet, you may encounter "cookies", which are files or pieces of information that may be stored in a computer’s hard drive when an individual visits a web site.

Session cookies are used to improve navigation on Web sites and to collect aggregate statistical information. LAR’s sites use session cookies. LAR does not share Personal Information obtained through cookies with any third parties. Most Internet browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you do not wish to accept cookies, you can set your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent.

Our web servers track general information about visitors such as their IP address, domain name and time of visit. LAR’s web servers also collect and aggregate information regarding which pages are being accessed. This information is used internally, to better serve visitors; to help us to manage our sites; to diagnose any technical problems; and to improve the content of our web site.

LAR has no control over the use of Personal Information on third party websites that individuals may access through hyperlinks at our web site.

Access to Personal information

LAR permits access to and review of Personal Information held by LAR about an individual by the individual concerned.

If an individual believes any Personal Information concerning that individual is not correct, that person may request an update of that information by sending a request to the person indicated in the section "Contact Us".

LAR reserves the right not to change any Personal Information it believes is accurate but will append any alternative text the individual concerned believes appropriate. An individual may also request that LAR delete an individual’s Personal Information from the Association’s system and records, except if such Personal Information is required to fulfill the Association’s mandate or to meet legislative requirements. However, due to technical constraints and the fact that LAR backs up its systems, Personal Information may continue to reside in the Association’s systems after deletion. Individuals, therefore, should not expect that their Personal Information would be completely removed from LAR system in response to a request for deletion.

To guard against fraudulent requests for access, LAR will require sufficient information to allow it to confirm the identity of the person making the request before granting access or making corrections.

LAR reserves the right to decline to provide access to Personal Information where the information requested:

• Would disclose the Personal Information of another individual or of a deceased individual; or business confidential information that may harm LAR or the competitive position of a third party;
• Is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege;
• Could reasonably result in serious harm to the treatment or recovery of the individual concerned, serious emotional harm to the individual or another individual, or serious bodily harm to another individual; or
• May harm or interfere with law enforcement activities and other investigative or regulatory functions of a body authorized by statute to perform such functions;
• Is not readily retrievable and the burden or cost of providing would be disproportionate to the nature or value of the information;
• Does not exist, is not held, or cannot be found by LAR;

– or –

• Any other grounds under applicable legislation.

Since confidentiality is integral in a number of LAR’s procedures, including such procedures as the appeals or arbitration of commission disputes and the appeals of discipline decisions or the determination of complaints made against Members, access to personal information may also be declined where the person requesting same has consented, by virtue of Membership in LAR and by being subject to LAR’s by-laws and rules, to LAR’s jurisdiction over such procedures as provided for in the by-laws and rules of LAR.

Where information will not or cannot be disclosed, the individual making the request will be provided with the reasons for non-disclosure.

Where information will be disclosed, LAR will endeavor to provide the information in question within a reasonable time and no later than 60 days following the request.

LAR will not respond to repetitious or vexatious requests for access. In determining whether a request is repetitious or vexatious, it will consider such factors as the frequency with which information is updated, the purpose for which the information is used, and the nature of the information.

Amendment of LAR Practice and This Policy

LAR will from time to time review and revise its privacy practices and this Policy Statement. In the event of any amendment, an appropriate notice will be posted on thelakelands.ca and communicated to Members and others in an appropriate manner.

Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date of posting of the revised Policy Statement to LAR’s web sites as well as to existing information held by LAR.

Information Regarding Former Members

LAR will only disclose Personal Information about former Members in accordance with this Policy Statement.

What You Consent and Agree To

Resolving Your Concerns

In the event you have questions about (a) access to Personal Information; (b) the collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information by LAR; or (c) this Privacy Policy, you may contact our Executive Officer:

Crystal Henderson, Executive Officer

The Lakelands Association of REALTORS®

34 Cairns Cres., Huntsville, Ontario P1H 1Y3

E-mail: comms@thelakelands.ca

Telephone: (705) 788-1504

Fax: (705) 788-2040

For more information on the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), please see the act posted in its entirety on the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s website at www.privcom.gc.ca