Preamble
The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, hereinafter called “the Conseil”, is responsible for promoting and supporting the development of the arts and literature. It has adopted certain values that give meaning to its mission and affect its overall initiatives aimed at the artistic and literary communities.

The recognition by peers of artistic merit and the rigour and openness of procedures respecting the allocation of financial assistance are among the values that underpin the Conseil’s initiatives. In this respect, it is important that the individuals selected to sit on juries and advisory committees or to act as assessors recognize these values in order to maintain the confidence of professional artists, arts organizations and individual Quebecers in the Conseil’s grant allocation process.

“Committee” in this Code designates the advisory committees and the selection committees stipulated in the Politique régissant les jurys, les comités et les appréciateurs.


Article 1
The Conseil carries out a mission in the public interest through the services that it offers to professional artists, arts organizations and individual Quebecers and because such services are funded by society as a whole. For this reason, the Conseil must fulfil its mission not only efficiently but also in accordance with the public interest.


Article 2
Jury or advisory committee members or assessors, hereinafter called “members”, must perform their duties with professionalism.

Member must rely upon their knowledge, skills and experience in order to achieve the desired results. They are responsible for their recommendations and gestures and for the judicious use of the resources and information made available to them.

Members must be neutral and objective. They must make their recommendations in accordance with the applicable rules and treat everyone fairly. They must fulfil their duties impartially and avoid all forms of discrimination.

Members must conduct themselves fairly and honestly and avoid situations in which they might become indebted to individuals who could unduly influence them in the accomplishment of their duties.

Members must perform their duties in accordance with the policy directions and decisions adopted by the Conseil.

Members must show consideration for everyone with whom they interact in the course of performing their duties. They must display courtesy, listen attentively to others and display discretion in respect of the individuals with whom they have dealings while fulfilling their mandates, including other jury or advisory committee members.

Article 3
This Code is intended to maintain and strengthen the confidence of professional artists, arts organizations and individual Quebecers in the Conseil’s integrity and impartiality, foster openness and enhance the accountability of individuals selected to sit on juries and advisory committees or to act as assessors.

Moreover, the Code seeks to specify the values, ethical standards and rules of professional conduct applicable to individuals selected by the Conseil to sit on juries and advisory committees or to act as assessors.

It indicates their duties and obligations, especially in respect of the protection, disclosure and use of confidential information or conflicts of interest. 


Article 4
Members undertake to assume in good faith, impartially and diligently all of the responsibilities incumbent upon a member of a jury or an advisory committee or an assessor selected to evaluate performances, events, exhibitions, works, specific projects or applications for travel grants.


Article 5
Members must be included in the Conseil’s bank of resource persons in order to be selected to sit on a jury or advisory committee or to act as an assessor.

However, a member who submits a grant application individually or as part of an artists’ group may not serve as a jury member for this registration period, regardless of the discipline.

Article 6
Individuals who agree to sit on a jury or advisory committee or to act as an assessor undertake to respect the confidential nature of the task assigned to them. Moreover, their acceptance means that they must disclose any conflict of interest in respect of any applicant to the program or concerning the applications submitted.


Article 7
Jury or advisory committee members and assessors undertake to comply with the rules governing ethics and confidentiality stipulated in this Code. Members are bound to display discretion in respect of information that comes to their attention in the course of performing their duties and are bound at all times to respect the confidential nature of the information thus received.

In case of doubt, members must always act in keeping with the spirit of the values, ethical standards and rules of professional conduct set out in the Code.


Article 8
Individuals selected by the Conseil to sit on a jury or advisory committee or to act as an assessor undertake to:

1. fully take into account the objectives, conditions and procedures described in information documents pertaining to the application or file that they are asked to evaluate in their capacity as a member of a jury or advisory committee or as an assessor;

2. respect the confidential nature of the jury’s or the committee’s deliberations and recommendations and to avoid disclosing or using for any purpose whatsoever any confidential information or document provided by the Conseil, an artist or an organization in respect of an application for financial assistance submitted to the Conseil;

3. neither disclose their participation as a member of a jury or an advisory committee or as an assessor nor the names of other members until such time as the Conseil makes public such names;

4. avoid discussing with any artist or organization the grant application submitted prior to, during or after the jury’s or the committee’s deliberations or the artist’s mandate as an assessor and refer to the Conseil any artist, organization or individual wishing to obtain information on an application for assistance, on the recommendation of the jury or advisory committee on which the member sat or the evaluation comments or opinion that the member signed.

Article 9
Members may not participate in deliberations or recommendations concerning applications for financial assistance in which they have a direct or indirect interest. They undertake to disclose to the Conseil any direct or indirect conflict of interest, to refrain from influencing the jury’s or the advisory committee’s recommendations in such a situation, to leave the meeting room of the jury or the advisory committee while it evaluates or deliberates, and to refrain from voting or taking part in any recommendation or discussion concerning any application in respect of which the member is in a conflict of interest. Any declaration of conflict of interest must be recorded in the report of grant application evaluation committees.


Article 10
A conflict of interest is deemed to be any real, apparent or potential situation that may compromise the independence and impartiality necessary for the performance of a member’s duties and the pursuit of the Conseil’s objectives, or through which a jury or advisory committee member or an assessor uses or seeks to use the attributes of his position to obtain an unwarranted benefit or to obtain for a third party an unwarranted benefit.

A direct interest is deemed to exist when a member of a jury or an advisory committee or an assessor submits an application for financial assistance personally or through an arts organization, an artists’ group or a promoter.

Moreover, a direct interest is deemed to exist when a jury or an advisory committee member or an assessor has in the course of the two preceding years been a member or the board of directors or an employee of the arts organization submitting an application for financial assistance.

An indirect interest is deemed to exist when an application for financial assistance is submitted by a member of the family of a jury or an advisory committee member or an assessor or by a professional artist, an artists’ group, a promoter or an arts organization in respect of which the member has or is likely to have business relations concerning the application for financial assistance under study.

An arts organization is deemed to be any non-profit organization eligible for a program offered by the Conseil. 

The members of the immediate family of a jury or an advisory committee member or an assessor are deemed to be the member’s spouse, the person with whom the member has cohabitated in a conjugal relationship for more than one year, the member’s children, father, mother, brothers, sisters and any other dependant. 


Article 11
Members may not use for their own purposes the confidential or privileged information communicated or transmitted to them. Once their mandates have expired, members have a duty to avoid turning to their advantage their participation.

Upon the conclusion of their mandates, members must return to the Conseil all of the documents sent to them that are not in the public domain.


Article 12
A jury member, committee member or an assessor must formally undertake to comply with this Code by signing the confidentiality undertaking form in Appendix I of the Code, which the member or assessor will receive from the Conseil along with a copy of this Code. The completed, signed form must be submitted to the program manager concerned before the documentation is sent to the member or assessor. 

He must also indicate his direct or indirect interest, as defined in article 10, before the work conference or mandate begins and submit to the program manager concerned the completed, signed declaration of interest form in Appendix II of this Code.

These forms are kept on file.


Article 13
The participation or mandates of members who fail to submit the completed form prior to the commencement of their mandates will be cancelled. Moreover, members must submit in writing to the secretary of the committee an updated declaration whenever a change occurs in the course of their mandates. Should members fail to comply with the Code of ethics and professional conduct, the Conseil may terminate their mandates and may withdraw their names from the bank of resource persons.

This form is provided as an example. The actual form to be filled and signed will be sent by the Conseil to the individuals hired to serve as jury or committee members or assessors.


CONFIDENTIALITY UNDERTAKING FORM
FOR MEMBERS OF JURIES, ADVISORY COMMITTEES AND SELECTION COMMITTEES AND ASSESSORS


Name of member : _____________________________________________________________


Description of the mandate : _____________________________________________________


All external jury or committee members or assessors of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec must undertake to respect the confidential nature of the information and documents received in conjunction with their mandates and to comply with the Code of ethics and professional conduct governing jury and committee members and assessors of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

I, the undersigned, __________________________________ , acknowledge that I have been appointed by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec to sit on the aforementioned jury, advisory committee or selection committee and that I have accepted this mandate.

In my capacity as member of this jury, advisory committee or selection committee, I acknowledge that I am likely to receive confidential information and documents concerning the Conseil and the artists and arts organizations that fall under its jurisdiction.

I acknowledge that the disclosure of such confidential information and documents might contravene the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information, be prejudicial to the Conseil and contrary to the Conseil’s interests and to the interests of artists and arts organizations.

I hereby declare that I have read the Code of ethics and professional conduct governing jury and committee members and assessors of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and that I fully understand its meaning and scope. I adhere to the principles and values set forth in the Code. I undertake to assume all of the duties and obligations stipulated therein.

This form is provided as an example. The actual form to be filled and signed will be sent by the Conseil to the individuals hired to serve as jury or committee members or assessors.


DECLARATION OF INTEREST FORM
FOR THE MEMBERS OF JURIES, ADVISORY COMMITTEES AND SELECTION COMMITTEES AND ASSESSORS OF PERFORMANCES, EVENTS, EXHIBITIONS, ART WORKS, SPECIFIC PROJECTS OR TRAVEL GRANT APPLICATIONS.


All members of juries, advisory committees and selection committees and all assessors must undertake to declare any direct or indirect interest, as defined in article 10 of the Code.

0 I hereby declare that I have received a copy of the Code of ethics and professional conduct governing jury and committee members and assessors of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, that I have read it in its entirety and specifically Article 10 of Chapter III – Duties and Obligations.

Please check off the appropriate box.

For members of juries, advisory committees or a selection committees:

I hereby declare that I do not have a direct or indirect interest, as defined in Article 10 of the Code, in respect of the registration period for which I am a member of a jury, an advisory committee or a selection committee or in respect of an artist, an artists’ group, an arts organization or a promoter whose performance, event, exhibition, work, specific project or travel grant application I am evaluating.

For assessors:

I hereby declare that I do not have a direct or indirect interest, as defined in Article 10 of the Code, in respect of an artist, an artists’ group, an arts organization or a promoter whose performance, event, exhibition, work, specific project or travel grant application I am evaluating.

OR

I hereby declare that I have a direct or indirect interest, as defined in Article 10 of the Code, and have indicated below such interest (please use an additional sheet, if need be) :