Most brokers assume a past client can be emailed indefinitely. The implied-consent windows are shorter and more specific than that.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 5 October 2026
Official sources: CRTC, Canada's anti spam legislation
Canada's anti-spam legislation governs commercial electronic messages — email, SMS and most direct messaging. It applies to a rate update, a newsletter and a one-line note asking whether someone is renewing. The burden of proving consent sits with the sender, not the recipient.
CASL treats a mortgage inquiry as six months of implied consent and a funded transaction as two years, and an ongoing mortgage does not extend either clock. After that you need express consent. Every message needs an unsubscribe link that works for at least 60 days, with requests honoured within 10 business days.
Given knowingly, in writing or orally, on an opt-in basis. A pre-checked box is not valid. It does not expire until it is withdrawn, which is why it is worth collecting properly.
Arises from a defined relationship and runs on a clock. When the clock expires, so does the right to send.
The six-month inquiry window is the one most often misread. Someone who asked for a quote and never transacted is a six-month relationship. A funded deal starts a two-year clock from the transaction. Because the windows attach to defined events, do not assume the ongoing life of a mortgage keeps a relationship permanently alive.
A dedicated compliance team reviews files centrally and the Deal Desk places the hard ones, so your hours go to clients.
Identify yourself, and identify anyone else on whose behalf the message is sent, with contact information that stays valid. Where including all of it is impractical, a link to a readily accessible page is permitted, at no cost to the recipient.
An unsubscribe mechanism must be easy to use, must stay functional for at least 60 days after the message is sent, and requests must be given effect within 10 business days.
Administrative monetary penalties run up to $1 million per violation for an individual and $10 million per violation for a corporation. Directors, officers and agents can be personally liable where they directed, authorised or participated in the violation, which is the part that should interest anyone running a brokerage.
A dedicated compliance team reviews files centrally, tracks licence deadlines across all three provinces and keeps the audit trail in a form a regulator can read. What does not move off your desk is the knowledge: you sign the disclosure and the FINTRAC record, so you have to understand them. This is general information rather than legal advice, and the regulator's own guidance is the authority.
The CRTC publishes CASL guidance and FAQs at crtc.gc.ca, and the government's overview sits at fightspam.gc.ca. Current as of 1 September 2026.
Look up any mortgage agent or broker licence in Ontario, BC or Alberta. Direct links to each free regulator search and what to check before you sign.
Mortgage brokers became FINTRAC reporting entities on 11 October 2024. What that requires: compliance program, client ID, record keeping and reporting.
Conflict of interest disclosure in BC is a timing obligation, not a form. What brokers must disclose, when, and how the Mortgage Services Act changes it.
Ontario regulates the investor side of a private deal as heavily as the borrower side. Two suitability assessments, material risk disclosure and the forms.
Brokers at A.I.M.I. Collective get campaign tooling and templates built with consent tracking in mind.