Message From the President

The Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (CIAA) applauds the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulator’s (CCIR) new strategic priorities and initiatives as they relate to the development of solutions to common regulatory issues and the promotion of a harmonized insurance regulatory system. CIAA and CCIR share the same common goal for consumer protection and believe seamless licensing administration is a win-win for regulators, independent adjusters, insurers and, most importantly, the public. CIAA, in collaboration with insurance industry colleagues, is reaching out to industry stakeholders to attain collective support of our appeal for CCIR’s assistance in developing a solution to the complexity of deploying adjusters quickly into disaster areas. It is anticipated with the combination of strong industry support and CCIR’s current mandate we can successfully achieve an effective and efficient process for seamless mobility of adjusters for the protection of the consumer.

CIAA recently announced its ability to respond to insurers’ CAT preparedness requirements. With the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, any excess capacity to respond is already strained as it is and the association’s CAT Response Resource is an insurer’s gateway to CIAA professional members able to respond in the event of an emergency.

As we have reported previously, the agreement on Internal Trade Labour Mobility (TLM) excluded occupations that were either licensed and/or regulated by the financial sector regulators of provincial governments. The premiers reviewed this matter in 2010 and agreed to remove the unnecessary protectionist barriers and improve full labour mobility of qualified Canadian professionals without additional training, testing or assessment. In theory, the TLM is a document that evidences the provinces’ agreement to lower hurdles for licensed professionals to have “portability” of their licenses between the provinces. Implementation takes effect Jul. 1, 2011 and will now include independent adjusters as one of the regulated professions to be covered and no longer exempt from the benefits. All Canadian independent adjusters meet national standards of qualification requirements and education programs sufficient to protect the public interest and indeed the time has come for mutual recognition whereby those who are deemed competent to practice independent loss adjusting in one jurisdiction should be deemed competent to practice in other jurisdictions as well.

CIAA maintains a strong position on the issue of unlicensed adjusting activity and reports instances of misconduct to the appropriate regulating body. Currently there is a very broad range in the severity of penalties imposed by the various jurisdictions and CIAA would like to see implementation of more effective deterrents and consequences. Independent adjusters must meet regulators’ demanding competency, knowledge, skills and experience requirements mandatory in attaining their licence and in order to protect the consumer, regulators have to have the ability to adequately penalize all breaches of the Insurance Act.

We are extremely fortunate to have such dedicated volunteers working unconditionally for the good of the entire membership and I thank them all for their unwavering support. If an association’s stature depended solely on the experience, wisdom and selflessness of its volunteers, CIAA would be ranked at the top.

Enjoy a safe and happy summer season!