Privacy Statement

Policy on the Collection, Use and Disclosure
of Personal Information
"Privacy Statement"

The Manitoba Real Estate Association ("MREA" or "Association") is committed to advancing the interests of Manitoba’s real estate boards ("Boards", or a "Board") and the real estate brokers and salespersons who comprise MREA’s membership. MREA is also committed to the licensing education of persons wishing to become licensed real estate salespersons and brokers and the continuing education of its Members and others.

Members of MREA are also members of the Canadian Real Estate Association ("CREA"). The MREA adheres to and abides by the principles set out in the CREA Privacy Code. All employees, and sales representatives associated with this Association must sign an acknowledgement that they will comply with the requirements of the Code.

Consistent with the adoption of the CREA Privacy Code and with applicable law, MREA 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 are Students; and information regarding non-members that is provided to MREA 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 MREA policies. MREA 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 MREA treats Personal Information in connection with your use of MREA’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 MREA 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 MREA 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 Manitoba Securities Commission; legal counsel and consultants;

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

"Students" means persons who are enrolled in the licensing education courses or the continuing education courses offered by the Association.

The Collection, Use & Disclosure of Personal Information

MREA 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 fulfil its mandate. These purposes include:

• Acting as a professional association in support of Members as REALTORS® in Manitoba, in support of Manitoba’s real estate boards and in support of the real estate industry in Manitoba, including the administration of its by-laws and policies and ensuring compliance with same;
• Providing products and services to Members;
• Providing continuing education to Members and others;
• Providing licensing education to persons who are enrolled in the licensing education courses;
• Administering and facilitating membership in CREA and a Board, including ensuring 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. MREA may obtain Personal Information about Members from CREA or from a Board for membership or education purposes.

MREA 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.

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

MREA may disclose Personal Information of Members to CREA and to a Board for membership purposes, may disclose Personal Information of Students to the Manitoba Securities Commission for educational purposes and may disclose Personal Information of Members and Students 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 MREA if they agree to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to MREA and under the instruction of MREA and, with respect to that information, to act in a manner consistent with this Policy Statement.

Your Consent

Your provision of Personal Information to MREA means that you agree and consent that we may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you are requested not to provide any Personal Information to MREA.

In most cases, you are free to refuse or withdraw your consent at any time. You may wish to note that, in most instances, information or services can only be offered if you provide Personal Information to MREA.

If you choose not to provide us with any required Personal Information, MREA may not be able to offer you those products, services or information. However, the withdrawal of consent to MREA’s use of Personal Information for the purpose of providing you with information about one or more of its services will not affect the ability of MREA to provide other services to you.

In addition to your consent when submitting information, MREA 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 MREA is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:

• Where required by law or by order of a tribunal;

• Where MREA 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 MREA 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, MREA will not disclose more information than is required.

Accuracy & Retention

MREA 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 MREA uses that data. Information contained in files that have been closed is not actively updated or maintained.

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

Security

MREA 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.

MREA further protects Personal Information by restricting access to Personal Information to those employees and External Associates that the management of MREA has determined need to know that information in order that MREA may provide its services. MREA 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, MREA attempts to strike a reasonable balance between security and convenience. In communicating with Members, Students and others, MREA 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, Students 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 web site and networks remain available for use, MREA’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.

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

Visiting the MREA Web Sites

The web site(s), through our Internet Service Provider, automatically gathers such general information as the visitor’s IP (Internet Protocol) address, the date and the time this site is accessed, the sections visited, and the content downloaded. This non-identifiable information is collected specifically for web site Visitor Information Reports, which help us better understand user demographics and traffic patterns. Unless voluntarily supplied by the user, we do not collect personal information on individual users such as name or email addresses.

MREA 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

MREA permits access to and review of Personal Information held by MREA 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 "Resolving Your Concerns".

MREA 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 MREA delete an individual’s Personal Information from the Association’s system and records, except if such Personal Information is required to fulfil the Association’s mandate or to meet legislative requirements. However, due to technical constraints and the fact that MREA 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 MREA system in response to a request for deletion.

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

MREA 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 MREA 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 MREA; or
• Any other grounds under applicable legislation.

Since confidentiality is integral in a number of MREA’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 MREA and by being subject to MREA’s and the Board’s by-laws and rules, to MREA’s jurisdiction over such procedures as provided for in the by-laws and rules of MREA and the Board.

Since confidentiality is integral in a number of MREA’s educational procedures, including such procedures as administering of licensing education examinations, access to personal information may also be declined where the person requesting same has consented, by virtue of enrolling as a Student of MREA and by being subject to MREA’s educational rules, policies and standards to MREA’s jurisdiction over such procedures as provided for in its educational rules, standards and policies.

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, MREA will endeavor to provide the information in question within a reasonable time and no later than 30 days following the request.

MREA 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 MREA Practice and This Policy

This statement is in effect as of January 13, 2004.

MREA will from time to time review and revise its privacy practices and this Policy Statement and communicate this amendment in an appropriate manner.

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

Information Regarding Former Members and Former Students

MREA will only disclose Personal Information about former Members or former Students in accordance with this Policy Statement.

What You Consent and Agree To

When you provide MREA with Personal Information, you consent and agree to the following, as described in this Policy:

• The collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information from or about you
• Your right to access and correct data
• Your acceptance of the risks concerning the transmission of information to MREA
• The amendment of this Policy Statement.

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 MREA; or (c) this Privacy Policy, you may contact our Chief Privacy Officer:

Jennifer Johnson
Chief Privacy Officer
Manitoba Real Estate Association
1873 Inkster Boulevard,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R2R 2A6

E-mail: jjohnson@mrea.mb.ca
Telephone: (204) 772-0405
Fax: (204) 775-3781