RECA recognizes the importance of engaging with stakeholders to foster constructive relationships, enhance decision-making and drive better outcomes in regulatory matters. We identify stakeholders based on their interest and potential impact. We prioritize stakeholders based on their significance to our mission.
Definitions:
RECA’s Board approved an updated Stakeholder Engagement Policy in July 2024. Review the information below.
Download the current Stakeholder Engagement Policy (pdf)
The Stakeholder Engagement Reporting Guideline (pdf) is a companion document to the Stakeholder Engagement Policy that describes how Board and Industry Council members will report their various types of stakeholder engagement.
Our stakeholder engagement efforts will be guided by the following principles
The Real Estate Act (Act) lays out the duties of the RECA Board of Directors (Board) and the Industry Councils.
Section 5 states:
The purposes of the Board are
a) to set the strategic direction and ensure the effective operation of the Council;
b) to protect against, investigate, detect and suppress fraud as it relates to the business of licensees and to protect consumers;
c) to provide, or support the provision of, services and other things that facilitate the business of licensees, as provided for in the regulations;
d) to administer this Act as provided in this Act, the regulations, the bylaws and the rules.
Section 7.2(1) says:
The purposes of an Industry Council are
a) to set and enforce standards of conduct for licensees and the business of licensees in order to protect consumers and promote the integrity of the industry, and
b) to administer this Act as provided in this Act, the regulations, the bylaws and the rules.
Each Industry Council is responsible for stakeholder engagement within their sector under the mandate and purpose outlined in section 7.2(1) and (2) in the Act.
The Board is responsible for ensuring the effective operation of RECA and, as much as is possible, for ensuring consistency in regulation among the Industry Councils.
The conduit for engagement is not defined in the Act, but for practical purposes, the Board and Industry Councils set the strategic priorities for engagement, and management executes within that framework.
The Real Estate Act requires Board and Industry Council members to remain impartial. Section 9(1) states, in part:
No person while a member of the Board or an Industry Council shall do any of the following:
(a)…. act on behalf of an association in any manner other than as an ordinary member of the association;
(c) act in a manner, whether or not prohibited by this Act, the regulations, the bylaws or the rules, that may result in, or create the appearance of,
(ii) giving preferential treatment to any person or
(iv) foregoing independence or impartiality.
To mitigate risk, ensure consistent and coherent messaging and to avoid conflict over mandate between management, Board and Industry Councils, all stakeholder engagement must be conducted through a transparent, managed process. Stakeholder engagement plans will be developed by management on an annual basis and approved by the Board and respective Industry Councils
Meeting requests outside of the approved annual stakeholder engagement plans must be made through the Chief Executive Officer and/or the chairs of the Board or Industry Councils.
Only the Board Chair, the Chief Executive Officer, and the Registrar speak on behalf of RECA, depending on the context. The Chief Executive Officer or Industry Council Chairs speak with stakeholders on behalf of their respective Industry Councils as it relates to the Industry Council mandate on rules
Broadly speaking, the Board Chair or Industry Council Chairs should be responsible for conveying messages related to major policy decisions, while the Chief Executive Officer is more appropriate to convey operational matters and the Registrar is more appropriate to convey regulatory or disciplinary matters.
Spokesperson messages should be restricted to established RECA policy and not the spokesperson’s personal views, or where a policy has not been developed.
RECA will engage with all stakeholders, even those with opposing views. Efforts will be made to find common ground and address concerns constructively. If a stakeholder or other entity initiates legal action against RECA, all stakeholder engagement and correspondence related to the legal action must be routed through RECA’s General Counsel. Once legal action against RECA concludes, stakeholder engagement activity with that stakeholder or entity may resume as normal.
