On July 1, 2014, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) comes into effect. CASL is a federal law designed to “encourage the growth of commerce by ensuring confidence and trust in the online marketplace.” Although there are several components to the legislation, the one that is affecting Redeemer and its constituents most, is the provisions to prevent unwanted commercial emails – spam. CASL requires that a sender (in this case Redeemer) secures the consent of the recipient (a friend of Redeemer) before sending a “commercial electronic message” or CEM to that recipient. The provisions of the law do not apply to messages such as news of what students are doing, invitations to a free event or stories of the impact that alumni are making in the world. CASL only applies to messages that are seeking or implying a commercial transaction. The legislation also exempts registered charitable organizations (Redeemer has that designation) when the charity sends out fundraising messages. However, CASL does apply when Redeemer sends out electronic messages encouraging people to attend an event (concert, play, conference…) where an admissions fee is being charged, or if it promotes some other commercial transaction. Even if the notice of such an event is only part of a larger message (if it’s part of an e-newsletter such as Connecting Communities, for example), the provisions of the legislation apply. In order to continue to send those types of commercial messages after July 1, Redeemer will need to have the consent of its constituents. It will still have the ability to send other electronic messages; just not those that encourage a financial transaction. The government has defined two types of consent: Implied consent is when the sender and the recipient have an existing relationship. That includes anyone who has volunteered at, gave a donation to or made a purchase at Redeemer within the last two years. Express consent describes the situation whereby someone has formally given their consent to be contacted for a specific purpose. Redeemer is hopeful that its constituents provide their express consent so that they will continue to receive all news and information from Redeemer. We also want to make this as easy as possible for constituents to understand and navigate this. One of the ways were doing that is by giving the option to manage all of our electronic messaging, regardless of whether or not the message falls under the auspices of CASL. Over the next few months, Redeemer will be encouraging all of its constituents to give their consent. “We would like to encourage our constituents to give their consent, allowing us to continue to share the great news about our students, faculty and alumni,” says Dr. Hubert Krygsman, Redeemer’s President. “It is work that is supported by so many in our extended community.” We recognize that this can be somewhat confusing, but we wish to offer all of our constituents the best service we can. Questions or suggestions about CASL and Redeemer’s response to it can be forwarded to Tim Wolfert, Redeemer’s Director of Communication, at 905.648.2139 x4292 or by email: wolfert@redeemer.ca. Thank you for your ongoing interest in, and support of, Redeemer University College. We look forward to sharing with you the difference your support of Redeemer is making.