Status of the Artist Act (S.C. 1992, c. 33)

Criteria for Application

Marginal note:Criteria for application by Board

18 The Board shall take into account

• (a) in deciding any question under this Part, the applicable principles of labour law; and

• (b) in determining whether an independent contractor is a professional for the purposes of paragraph 6(2)(b), whether the independent contractor

  • (i) is paid for the display or presentation of that independent contractor’s work before an audience, and is recognized to be an artist by other artists,

  • (ii) is in the process of becoming an artist according to the practice of the artistic community, or

  • (iii) is a member of an artists’ association.

Proceedings

Marginal note:Informal proceedings

• 19 (1) In any proceeding before it under this Part, the Board

  • (a) shall proceed as informally and expeditiously as the circumstances and considerations of fairness permit;

  • (b) is not bound by legal or technical rules of evidence; and

  • (c) may receive and decide on any evidence adduced that the Board believes to be credible.

• Marginal note:Consultation

  (2) In order to ensure that the purpose of this Part is achieved, the members of the Board may, in respect of any matter before it, consult with other members or with employees of the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada.

• Marginal note:Right to appear

  (3) Any interested person may intervene in a proceeding before the Board with its permission, and anyone appearing before the Board may be represented by counsel or an agent or mandatary.

• Marginal note:Notice of facts

  (4) The Board may take notice of facts that may be judicially noticed and, subject to subsection (5), of any other generally recognized facts and any information that is within its specialized knowledge.

• Marginal note:Notification of intention

  (5) The Board shall notify the parties and any intervenor in the proceeding before it of its intention to take notice of any facts or information, other than facts that may be judicially noticed, and afford them an opportunity to make representations in that regard.

• Marginal note:Report on evidence

  (6) The Chairperson of the Board may direct any member to receive evidence relating to a matter before the Board, to make a report on it to the Board, and to provide a copy of the report to all parties and any intervenor in the proceeding.

• Marginal note:Conclusions

  (7) After granting all parties and intervenors an opportunity to make representations on any report made under subsection (6), the Board may make a determination on the basis of the report or hold any further hearings that it considers necessary in the circumstances.

Marginal note:Review of determination or order

• 20 (1) The Board may uphold, rescind or amend any determination or order made by it under this Part, and may rehear any application before making a decision.

• Marginal note:Interim decision

  (2) When it is necessary to decide one or more issues in order to dispose finally of an application or complaint the Board may, if it is satisfied that it can do so without prejudice to the rights of any party or intervenor in the proceeding, decide or make an order respecting one or more of those issues, and reserve its jurisdiction to decide the remaining issues.

Review and Enforcement of Determinations and Orders

Marginal note:Determination or order — no review by court

• 21 (1) Subject to this Part, every determination or order of the Board is final and shall not be questioned or reviewed in any court, except in accordance with the Federal Courts Act on the grounds referred to in paragraph 18.1(4)(a), (b) or (e) of that Act.

• Marginal note:No review by certiorari, etc.

  (2) Except as permitted by subsection (1), no determination, order or proceeding made or carried on, or purporting to be made or carried on, by the Board under this Part shall be questioned, reviewed, prohibited or restrained on any ground, including the ground that the Board did not have jurisdiction or exceeded or lost its jurisdiction, or be made the subject of any proceeding in or any process of any court on any such ground, whether by way of injunction, certiorari, prohibition, quo warranto, revision, evocation or otherwise.

Marginal note:Filing in Federal Court

• 22 (1) On application in writing by any party or of its own motion, the Board shall file a copy of a determination or order, exclusive of the reasons for it, in the Federal Court unless, in the Board’s opinion, there is no indication of failure or likelihood of failure to comply with it, or there is no useful purpose to be served by filing it.

• Marginal note:Registration

  (2) If the Board specifies in writing that it is filing a copy of a determination or order under subsection (1), the Federal Court shall accept it for filing and shall register it without further application or other proceeding.

• Marginal note:Effect of registration

  (3) After registration under subsection (2), a determination or order has the force and effect of a judgment of the Federal Court, and any person or organization may take proceedings on it as if it were a judgment obtained in that Court.

Certification of Artists’ Associations

Prerequisites for Certification

Marginal note:By-laws required

• 23 (1) No artists’ association may be certified unless it adopts by-laws that

  • (a) establish membership requirements for artists;

  • (b) give its regular members the right to take part and vote in the meetings of the association and to participate in a ratification vote on any scale agreement that affects them; and

  • (c) provide its members with the right of access to a copy of a financial statement of the affairs of the association to the end of the previous fiscal year, certified to be a true copy by the authorized officer of the association.

• Marginal note:Prohibited by-laws

  (2) No by-laws of the association may have the effect of discriminating unfairly against an artist so as to prevent the artist from becoming or continuing as a member of the association.

Associations of Producers

Marginal note:Formation

• 24 (1) Producers may form an association for the purpose of bargaining and entering into scale agreements under this Act.

• Marginal note:Filing membership list

  (2) In addition to any other information that the Board may require, an association of producers shall file its membership list with the Board, keep the list up to date and send a copy of it to every certified artists’ association to which it has issued, or from which it has received, a notice to bargain under section 31.

• Marginal note:Effect of filing membership list

  (3) After filing its membership list, an association of producers has the exclusive right to bargain on behalf of its members for the purpose of entering into or amending a scale agreement.

Certification Procedure

Marginal note:Application

• 25 (1) An artists’ association may, if duly authorized by its members, apply to the Board in writing for certification in respect of one or more sectors

  • (a) at any time, in respect of a sector for which no artists’ association is certified and no other application for certification is pending before the Board;

  • (b) in the three months immediately before the date that the certification or a renewed certification is to expire, if at least one scale agreement is in force in respect of the sector; or

  • (c) after one year, or any shorter period that the Board fixes on application, after the date of the certification or of a renewed certification, if no scale agreement is in force in respect of the sector.

• Marginal note:Accompanying documents

  (2) An application for certification must include the membership list of the artists’ association, a certified copy of its by-laws and any other information required by the Board.

• Marginal note:Public notice of application

  (3) The Board shall give public notice of any application for certification in respect of any sector without delay, indicating any period in which another application may be made by any other artists’ association, despite subsection (1), for certification in respect of that sector or any part of it.

• Marginal note:When application may not be made

  (4) No application for certification in respect of a sector may be made, except with the Board’s consent, after the expiry of the period indicated in any public notice given under subsection (3).

Determination of Sector and Representativeness of an Association

Marginal note:Determination of sector

• 26 (1) After the application period referred to in subsection 25(3) has expired, the Board shall determine the sector or sectors that are suitable for bargaining, taking into account

  • (a) the common interests of the artists in respect of whom the application was made;

  • (b) the history of professional relations among those artists, their associations and producers concerning bargaining, scale agreements and any other agreements respecting the terms of engagement of artists; and

  • (c) any geographic and linguistic criteria that the Board considers relevant.

• Marginal note:Right to intervene

  (2) Despite subsection 19(3), only the artists in respect of whom the application was made, artists’ associations and producers may intervene as of right on the issue of determining the sector that is suitable for bargaining.

• Marginal note:Notice of determination

  (3) The Board shall give the artists’ association concerned and any intervenors notice of its determination under subsection (1) without delay, and that determination is deemed to be interlocutory, despite section 21.

Marginal note:Association’s representativity

• 27 (1) After determining the sector under subsection 26(1), the Board shall determine the representativity of the artists’ association, as of the date of filing of the application for certification or as of any other date that the Board considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Right to intervene

  (2) Despite subsection 19(3), only artists in respect of whom the application was made and artists’ associations may intervene as of right on the issue of determining the representativity of an artists’ association.

Certification

Marginal note:Certification

• 28 (1) If the Board is satisfied that an artists’ association that has applied for certification in respect of a sector is the most representative of artists in that sector, the Board shall certify the association.

• Marginal note:Certification period

  (2) Certification is valid for a period of three years after the date that the Board issues the certificate and, subject to subsection (3), is automatically renewed for additional three year periods.

• Marginal note:Extension of period of certification

  (3) Where, in the three months immediately before the date that the certification or renewed certification of an artists’ association is to expire, an application for certification in respect of the same or substantially the same sector, or an application for revocation of certification, is filed, the period of validity of the association’s certification is extended until the date that the application is accepted or rejected and, where it is rejected, renewal of the association’s certification takes effect from that date.

• Marginal note:Register

  (4) The Board shall keep a register of all issued certificates and of their dates of issue.

• Marginal note:Effects of certification

  (5) After certification of an artists’ association in respect of a sector,

  • (a) the association has exclusive authority to bargain on behalf of artists in the sector;

  • (b) the certification of any association that previously represented artists in the sector is revoked in so far as it relates to them; and

  • (c) the association is substituted as a party to any scale agreement that affects artists in the sector, to the extent that it relates to them, in place of the association named in the scale agreement or its successor.