October 26, 2004
Conference Call
(12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.)
Participants |
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| Chair: | Louise Nadeau | |
| Participants: | Nancy Edwards Kevin Keough |
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| Regrets: | Alan Bernstein (Ex-Officio) | |
| Staff: | Carol Anne Esnard | Director of Governance & Corporate Secretary |
| Rosa Venuta | Team Lead, Governance Membership | |
| Patricia Kosseim | Acting Director, Office of Ethics (for item 4) | |
| Genevieve Dubois-Flynn | Senior Ethics Policy Advisor (for item 4) | |
| Guests: | Morris Barer Anne Martin-Matthews |
Scientific Director, Institute Health Services & Policy Research (Agenda Item #5) Scientific Director, Institute on Aging Agenda Item #5) |
Louise Nadeau called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. and welcomed everyone to the 25th meeting of the Nominating Committee.
Committee members required additional time to review the minutes and will forward their
written approval and any editorial changes to the Corporate Secretary.
2.1 Matters for Action and Business Arising
Matters for action reported on from the May 28, 2004 meeting included acceptance by the Governing Council at its June 2004 meeting of Nominating Committee's recommendations with respect to,
Committee members were informed that the intent of the discussion paper entitled "Towards Excellence in CIHR's Recruitment Process" was to develop a nomination profile for potential candidates to CIHR's governance committees. This nomination profile is represented as a matrix tool which identifies desirable characteristics under three sections - demographics, skills & expertise, competencies. The impetus for moving into a more systematized approach to recruitment of volunteers was in response to emerging best practices in recruitment, recent federal government commitments to establish an open, professional and merit-based process for selection of Governor-in-Council (GIC) appointments, and Council's Governance Action Plan which outlines specific actions for the development of Governing Council member appointment criteria (role profiles, competencies, skills).
Committee members agreed that the discussion paper provides a useful framework and tool, but cautioned that this element should be but one of several factors considered in the appointment of volunteers. Other contextual factors, such as external influences which must be responded to, ensuring broad representation, recruitment practices which reflect Canada's modern society) must also be taken into consideration. Members also noted that the nomination profiles which could be developed for various committees must be adapted to ensure recruitment of volunteers who can help CIHR with the fulfillment of its strategic plan.
The committee recommended that staff take into consideration the comments and editorial changes expressed at this meeting, and prepare another draft for the committee's consideration at a future meeting.
4.1 Terms of Reference:
Committee members were reminded that on an annual basis, Council's Standing Committee are asked to review their terms of reference to ensure relevancy of mandate and roles and responsibilities. The Standing Committee on Ethics undertook this exercise in parallel to the initiation of a staggered turnover process for its membership.
The committee accepted the proposed changes with minor deletions in order to emphasize the importance of the committee's mandate of exercising ethics leadership by providing high level strategic advice to GC. CIHR staff will undertake some follow up work on clarifying the inclusion of staff as ex-officio members on standing committees and report back to the Nominating committee at its next meeting.
4.2 Membership Renewal
Committee members were informed of the process undertaken over the last six months to launch the first cycle of membership renewal for the Standing Committee on Ethics (SCE). Discussions of the committee focused on the gaps analysis, proposed list of recommended candidates to fill two vacancies, as well as proposed terms (1, 2, or 3 years) to be established for current members. The committee determined that the two vacancies required appointment of candidates with expertise in the social sciences and applied clinical fields. It also noted that future appointments should also take into consideration requisite expertise to address emerging ethical, legal, social issues involved with the growing number, size and complexity of longitudinal cohort studies in Canada and globally. Staff was requested to work with the co-chairs of SCE to compile a new list of candidates which will be considered by the Nominating Committee at its next meeting. Further work will be undertaken by staff to confirm with existing members proposed terms of renewal.
Morris Barer, Scientific Director, Institute of Health Services and Policy Research, and Anne Martin-Matthews, Scientific Director, Institute of Aging were invited to share their views with the Nominating Committee with respect to their ongoing concerns with the annual renewal for the Institute Advisory Boards (IABs). They reported that the majority of Scientific Directors were in favor of adopting a biennial renewal model. Reasons cited for adopting a biennial renewal model included,
The Scientific Directors felt that engaging members on committees and ensuring continuity would be facilitated by moving to a biennial renewal process.
The Nominating Committee thanked the Scientific Directors for raising these issues. In subsequent discussions as to the pros and cons of moving from an annual to a biennial process, the committee directed CIHR staff to undertake a comprehensive modeling exercise which would explore the pros and cons of the annual and biennial membership renewal process. The outcomes of this exercise will be discussed at the next Nominating Committee meeting.
Committee members were given an overview of the Governing Council appointment process being undertaken by the Governance Unit in preparation for the drafting of a letter of advice from the President to the Minister of Health. It was explained that a gaps analysis of Council membership is being undertaken which takes into consideration Council vacancies until March 2005. The letter of advice to the Minister will suggest to that the Minister of Health give consideration to recruiting individuals who are able to bring certain areas of expertise to the Council table - as informed by the gaps analysis exercise -as well as suggestions of potential candidates who would meet these criteria.
Committee members were informed that the next meeting will occur in December 2004 in order to address the matters arising from this meeting, as well as to give consideration to appointments required for the Standing Committee for Oversight of Grants and Awards Competitions, which will be completing its second cycle of membership renewal. Recommendations from this December meeting will be considered by the Executive Committee in either December 2004 or January 2005.
The 25th meeting of the Nominating Committee was adjourned at 2:30 pm.
