| Chair: | Louise Nadeau |
| Members: | Denise Alcock Kevin Keough |
| Regrets: | Alan Bernstein (ex-offico) |
| Guest: | Jacques Lévesque, Consultant Renaud Foster (for item 2) |
| Staff: | Carol Anne Esnard, Corporate Secretary Christine Fitzgerald, VP Corporate Affairs Portfolio (by phone) Elizabeth Dickson, IAB Project Lead (for item 3.4) |
Louise Nadeau called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. and welcomed everyone to the 22nd meeting of the Nominating Committee. She reported that Alan Bernstein, President of CIHR, sent his regrets.
The minutes were deemed to be an accurate reflection of the discussions which took place on September 18, 2003 and were approved.
2.1 Matters for Action
It was reported that the recommended membership slate for the Stem Cell Oversight Committee was approved at the Executive Committee meeting of October 3, 2003. The matter for action in respect of the Governing Council Governance Assessment Project will be a discussion item at this meeting.
3.1 Nominating Committee Vacancy
The Nominating Committee agreed with the President's recommendation to appoint Dr. Nancy Edwards to fill a vacancy on the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee's recommendation will be submitted to the November 2003 Governing Council meeting for approval.
3.2 Executive Committee Vacancies
The Nominating Committee agreed with the President's recommendations to appoint Mr. Hubert Gauthier and Dr. Robert Sheldon to fill two vacancies on the Executive Committee. The Nominating Committee's recommendation will be submitted to the November 2003 Governing Council meeting for approval.
3.3 Standing Committee on Ethics Vacancy
It was reported that two of the three vacant positions on the Standing Committee on Ethics had been filled over the summer months through the extension of invitations to those individuals listed on a prioritized list of candidates which had been approved by the Executive Committee in May 2003.
The Nominating Committee accepted the advice of the co-chairs of SCE to not take further action to fill the final vacancy on SCE, noting that the SCE terms of reference require a minimum membership of 8 members, and the current membership of SCE stands at 13 members.
It was recommended that SCE undertake a review of its terms of reference at its February 2004 meeting with particular attention given to the Chair and membership section, as well as the Mandate section.
3.4 Standing Committee for Oversight of Grants and Awards Competitions Membership Renewal
The Nominating Committee agreed with the recommendations put forward for the renewal of the membership of the Standing Committee for Oversight of Grants and Awards Competitions (SCOGAC). It is recommended that twelve of fourteen positions be filled by the inaugural members, who will have assigned one, two and three year terms. The introduction of the staggered turnover of membership for SCOGAC not only maintains an equitable representation of the four pillars of health research (biomedical, clinical, health services and policy, population health), but also ensures continuity (in terms of experience and corporate memory), and stability.
The Nominating Committee's recommendation will be submitted to the November 2003 Governing Council meeting for approval.
3.5 Institute of Population and Public Health Institute Advisory Board Vacancy
The Nominating Committee agreed that the Institute of Population and Public Health's proposed candidate to fill a vacancy on its Institute Advisory Board (IAB) would be a valuable addition. However, Governing Council has provided guidance that, in the next round of membership renewal, IABs should strive to include more candidates at earlier career stages, representation beyond the research community, and representation from industry, the knowledge translation community and smaller institutions. In view of this, the Nominating Committee suggested that the IPPH-IAB vacancy be used as an opportunity to begin moving in this direction.
3.6 Institute Advisory Board Modeling Exercise
Elizabeth Dickson gave a brief overview of an Institute Advisory Board Modeling exercise which she undertook in order to determine the pros and cons of continuing the current IAB renewal process on an annual basis or biennial basis.
The Nominating Committee acknowledged the importance of the issues raised by the Scientific Directors concerning (1) the virtues of greater stability in membership in relation to creation of common understandings, commitment and collective ownership, and (2) the savings in energy, time and money for all concerned that could accompany a move to the biennial model.
However, the Nominating Committee also recognized that annual turnover in IAB membership provides (1) a key mechanism for visibly expressing the openness of CIHR to the Canadian public; and (2) flexibility to respond to emerging health issues and to an evolving understanding of the role of IABs. Furthermore, because both the initial naming of IABs in 2000 and the first round of renewal in 2003 presented one-off challenges, the Nominating Committee felt that the model for IAB turnover adopted by GC needed to be continued and assessed through one or two more rounds before major modifications are contemplated.
The Nominating Committee will submit its recommendation to continue with the annual IAB renewal process to Governing Council at its November 2003 meeting.
Jacques Levesque, consultant with Renaud Foster, gave a synthesis report of high level findings of the evaluation of governance activities for CIHR's Governing Council undertaken during the months of September and October. He noted that this report was a representation of facts as they currently exist, and was not to be interpreted as an audit of Council's governance activities.
The Nominating Committee expressed its satisfaction with the Renaud Foster report and concurred that the findings were a fair representation of Council's current governance activities and issues. It suggested that these findings be presented to the President of CIHR, Alan Bernstein, prior to their presentation to Governing Council at its November 2003 meeting.
Governing Council, at its November 2003 meeting, will be asked to confirm these findings, determine key priority issues, and define next steps in terms of issue resolution and action plan.
The 22nd meeting of the Nominating Committee was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
