Privacy, Disciplinary Procedure, Code of Conduct
Commitment to Privacy
CAFA is committed to respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect, use and safeguard the personal information you provide to us.
Information Collected
If you choose to become a member of CAFA, or request information from us, you may need to provide personal contact information including name, address, email address, phone number, etc.
Use of Personal Information
Since a primary function of CAFA is to promote communications between advisors in the farming sector, personal contact information collected from members is made available to other members and the public. If you are a member, have applied for membership, or have indicated an interest in CAFA, we may contact you with industry news, membership information, or important services we think you will find valuable.
Another function of CAFA is to give producers within the farming community the opportunity to contact members of CAFA directly. This is done in part by listing members on the CAFA website. In the event you are a member of CAFA and you do not wish to give producers within the farming community the opportunity to contact you, please request that CAFA remove your name at info@cafanet.ca.
When applying for membership you also have the option of not sharing your personal contact information with other members. Simply notify us of your wish not to share this information at the time you become a member. If you are already a member and wish to remove your name from the shared member list, you can do so by contacting CAFA at info@cafanet.ca.
If you receive correspondence from CAFA and you wish to be removed from our mailing list, we will stop contacting you on request by emailing us at info@cafanet.ca, or by replying to our correspondence directly.
We may disclose information when legally required to do so. In other words, we will disclose information when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires disclosure for the protection of our legal rights.
Access to Information
You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing CAFA info@cafanet.ca.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, the practices of this site or your dealings with the website, feel free to email us at info@cafanet.ca.
Copyright (c) 2022, Canadian Association of Farm Advisors. All rights reserved
Discipline Policy
The Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) Inc. is comprised of a number of member’s whose primary objective is to assist farm families and businesses. Most CAFA members have a primary professional designation and are bound by the Legislation, Rules and By-laws of those governing bodies which set out their professional and ethical obligations. Such CAFA members who fail to meet these standards are subject to the complaints and regulatory processes of their respective primary professional designation. Some CAFA members may not have a primary designation.
Complaints against a CAFA member needs to be first addressed with that member. If a satisfactory solution cannot be agreed upon then the complaint can be submitted to CAFA. CAFA cannot help with every type of complaint. If we cannot help with a complaint, we will tell you and try to give you information about other sources of help.
CAFA will not guarantee that the information that you or any other person has provided will remain confidential because:
We must share some or all of the information with the member you are complaining about. We may give copies of documents received from you and any other person to the member and we may share personal information (such as names, addresses and telephone numbers) with the member.
Purpose
Members of the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) Inc. are encouraged to maintain the highest standards of professionalism. Members of CAFA come from a variety of professions, many with their own codes of ethics. Membership in CAFA, however, represents a willingness to adhere to the standards of professional conduct outlined below. When a member’s specific professional discipline’s code of ethics calls for a standard of conduct different from the following, whichever code or guideline is the more stringent or more extensive or demands the higher standard and sensitivity will apply.
Clients
At the outset of an engagement, the farm advisor will state in writing whose interests he or she is representing during the course of the engagement. Should the need arise to revise the definition of “client” during the engagement, this need will be communicated to and negotiated with all appropriate parties and confirmed in writing.
Members, their organizations and professional associates will keep client information and the identity of the client confidential and will not disclose it without the written consent of the client.
CAFA members shall act in a client’s best interests.
Professional Conduct
Use of Personal Information
Since a primary function of CAFA is to promote communications between advisors in the farming sector, personal contact information collected from members is made available to other members and the public. If you are a member, have applied for membership, or have indicated an interest in CAFA, we may contact you with industry news, membership information, or important services we think you will find valuable.
Another function of CAFA is to give producers within the farming community the opportunity to contact members of CAFA directly. This is done in part by listing members on the CAFA website. In the event you are a member of CAFA and you do not wish to give producers within the farming community the opportunity to contact you, please request that CAFA remove your name at info@cafanet.ca.
When applying for membership you also have the option of not sharing your personal contact information with other members. Simply notify us of your wish not to share this information at the time you become a member. If you are already a member and wish to remove your name from the shared member list, you can do so by contacting CAFA at info@cafanet.ca.
If you receive correspondence from CAFA and you wish to be removed from our mailing list, we will stop contacting you on request by emailing us at info@cafanet.ca, or by replying to our correspondence directly.
We may disclose information when legally required to do so. In other words, we will disclose information when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires disclosure for the protection of our legal rights.
Access to Information
You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing CAFA info@cafanet.ca.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, the practices of this site or your dealings with the website, feel free to email us at info@cafanet.ca.
Copyright (c) 2022, Canadian Association of Farm Advisors. All rights reserved
Discipline Policy
The Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) Inc. is comprised of a number of member’s whose primary objective is to assist farm families and businesses. Most CAFA members have a primary professional designation and are bound by the Legislation, Rules and By-laws of those governing bodies which set out their professional and ethical obligations. Such CAFA members who fail to meet these standards are subject to the complaints and regulatory processes of their respective primary professional designation. Some CAFA members may not have a primary designation.
Complaints against a CAFA member needs to be first addressed with that member. If a satisfactory solution cannot be agreed upon then the complaint can be submitted to CAFA. CAFA cannot help with every type of complaint. If we cannot help with a complaint, we will tell you and try to give you information about other sources of help.
CAFA will not guarantee that the information that you or any other person has provided will remain confidential because:
We must share some or all of the information with the member you are complaining about. We may give copies of documents received from you and any other person to the member and we may share personal information (such as names, addresses and telephone numbers) with the member.
Purpose
Members of the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors (CAFA) Inc. are encouraged to maintain the highest standards of professionalism. Members of CAFA come from a variety of professions, many with their own codes of ethics. Membership in CAFA, however, represents a willingness to adhere to the standards of professional conduct outlined below. When a member’s specific professional discipline’s code of ethics calls for a standard of conduct different from the following, whichever code or guideline is the more stringent or more extensive or demands the higher standard and sensitivity will apply.
Clients
At the outset of an engagement, the farm advisor will state in writing whose interests he or she is representing during the course of the engagement. Should the need arise to revise the definition of “client” during the engagement, this need will be communicated to and negotiated with all appropriate parties and confirmed in writing.
Members, their organizations and professional associates will keep client information and the identity of the client confidential and will not disclose it without the written consent of the client.
CAFA members shall act in a client’s best interests.
Professional Conduct
- Members will not represent their education, training, experience, professional credentials and competence, or areas of skill and expertise in a deceptive or misleading manner.
- Members will act with integrity, diligence and competency.
- When a member refers a client to another party, the member will disclose to the client the nature of any business relationship between them or their organization and whether there will be any referral fee or other fee sharing.
- Members agree not to misrepresent their affiliation with the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors nor to imply that being a member of CAFA implies either credentialing or endorsement by CAFA.
- Members will avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible and will disclose them to all affected parties.
- Members have an obligation to provide a client with all information obtained in the course of conducting their engagement, which is pertinent to the decisions the client is contemplating.
- Members have a duty to keep current in their professional practices through industry imposed professional development and adhere to the continuing education requirements set forth by CAFA.
- Members, in their professional activities, shall act in a manner that reflects positively on all other CAFA members and will treat all persons fairly.
- Members will recognize and respect intellectual property rights including providing specific acknowledgment of the original authorship and source when publishing or publicly representing another person’s work.
- Members will assist other members in their professional development, where possible and appropriate, and support them in complying with this Code of Professional Ethics.
- Members will respect the development and growth of the field of farm business and will take positive steps to promote the field.
The Board may, by resolution, discipline a Member for violating any provision of the Articles, By-laws or Rules or for generally inappropriate behaviour, provided that the Board acts in good faith and in a fair and reasonable manner in light of the circumstances, as may be provided in the Act. By way of example, but not limitation, discipline may include:
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suspending a Member and any or all of his or her privileges for contravening the Articles, By-Laws or Rules of the Corporation;
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expelling a Member for participating in any conduct which may be detrimental to the Corporation as determined in the sole discretion of the Board; and terminating a Member’s Membership for serious or persistent contravention of the Articles, By-laws or Rules, persistent late or non-payment of Fees and persistent or seriously inappropriate.
Discipline of CAFA Members who have a primary professional designation or license:
Where a complaint is received against the conduct of a CAFA member from members of the public, the complaint shall be in written form and either received by mail or electronic mail. The complaint should clearly specify the nature of the complaint and what aspect of CAFA’s Code of Conduct, that the complaint is being made pursuant to. Copies of any documents that relate to the complaint should be attached.
Where a complaint is received against the conduct of a CAFA member with a professional designation or license, then CAFA will request that the complaint shall first be made to the governing body of that organization by the member of the public making the complaint. CAFA will recognize any form of discipline (other than monetary) and will impose a sanction equal to that imposed by the CAFA member’s governing body. CAFA will not impose financial sanctions.
If the party who files the complaint is dissatisfied with the governing body’s decision, any appeal shall be to the CAFA member’s governing body and not to CAFA.
Discipline of CAFA Members who do not have a primary professional designation or license:
There may be circumstances where a CAFA member has significant industry experience and who has been granted membership with CAFA while not having a professional designation or license. In those cases where a complaint is received against the conduct of a CAFA member, the complaint shall be in written form and either received by mail or electronic mail. The complaint should clearly specify the nature of the complaint and what aspect of CAFA’s Code of Conduct that the complaint is being made pursuant to.
In order to deal with those complaints, the matter will be referred to CAFA’s Discipline Committee who will review the complaint to ensure that the CAFA member does not have a primary professional designation or license. If there is no professional designation or license then the Discipline Committee will review the case by holding a hearing and render their written decision. The member’s CAFA membership status may be impacted as a result.
In the event that the Board determines that a Member should be expelled or suspended from membership in the Corporation, the executive director, or such other officer as may be designated by the Board, shall provide twenty (20) days’ notice of suspension or expulsion to the Member and shall provide reasons for the proposed suspension or expulsion. The Member may make written submissions to the executive director, or such other officer as may be designated by the Board, in response to the notice received within such twenty (20) day period. In the event that no written submissions are received by the executive director, the executive director, or such other officer as may be designated by the Board, may proceed to notify the Member that the Member is suspended or expelled from membership in the Corporation. If written submissions are received in accordance with this section, the Board will consider such submissions in arriving at a final decision and shall notify the Member concerning such final decision within a further twenty (20) days from the date of receipt of the submissions. The Board’s decision shall be final and binding on the Member, without any further right of appeal.
Send the complaint and a copy of any documents that relate to the complaint to either:
1a) The governing body of the organization where the member has a primary professional designation or license; or,
1b) Canadian Association of Farm Advisors
PO Box 270
Seven Sisters Falls, Manitoba
R0E 1Y0
Direct: 204-348-3578
The Code of Professional Conduct (CPC) is part of an overall framework that includes Entrance Requirements and Disciplinary Procedures.
USE OF SITE
The content on this site, including news, quotes, data and other information, is provided by CAFA and its third-party content providers for your personal information only, and is not intended as a substitute for professional advice.
CAFA shall not be liable for any errors, inaccuracies, or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. CAFA EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY OF ANY CONTENT PROVIDED, OR AS TO THE FITNESS OF THE INFORMATION FOR ANY PURPOSE.
Although CAFA makes reasonable efforts to obtain reliable content from third parties, CAFA does not guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider. This site may point to other Internet sites that may be of interest to you, however CAFA does not endorse or take responsibility for the content on such other sites.