CIHR Interim External Anti-Racism Advisory Committee: Guidance on Engagement with Communities Marginalized by Racism and Development of a CIHR Anti-Racism Action Plan
Terms of Reference

Mandate

The mandate of the interim CIHR Anti-Racism External Advisory Committee is to provide CIHR's Vice President-Research, Learning Health Systems (VP-R, LHS) with guidance on:

Co-Chairs and Membership

Co-Chairs

The committee will be co-chaired by a health researcher from a community marginalized by racism and CIHR's Associate Vice-President, Research Programs – Strategy, who will sit as an ex-officio member.

Membership

Observers

Agency and Institute staff with a tangible work requirement that aligns with a specific item may attend meetings with approval from the Co-Chairs. The Director General of Strategic Partnerships and International Relations; CIHR’s SD co-champion for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; CIHR’s SD co-champion for the Indigenous Health Research Action Plan; and a member of the Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health Institute Advisory Board will be standing observers for all meetings.

Roles and Responsibilities

Roles and Responsibilities of the Committee

Roles and Responsibilities of the Co-Chairs

Roles and Responsibilities of Members

Meetings

Meeting will be conducted at least monthly by teleconference, or as deemed necessary at the call of the Co-Chairs.

Reporting

The CIHR Co-Chairs of the Anti-Racism Action Plan Advisory Committee will serve as a representative to governance bodies and other groups at the request of the VP-R, LHS.

Action and decision items will be recorded during meetings and will be circulated to members and saved in the appropriate folders within five business days of meetings.

Quorum

A majority of its members (50% +1). The Committee will make its recommendations based on consensus wherever possible. Where consensus is not possible, the Co-Chairs will ask the members to show their support for the item being discussed using an 8-point scale (i.e., Gradients of Agreement – see Appendix A).

Authority

The External Anti-Racism Advisory Committee is established under the authority of the VP-R, LHS.

Evaluation

The Terms of Reference are effective starting August 4, 2021, and will be ongoing until the action plan to address systemic racism in CIHR's programs, policies and processes has been approved (tentatively planned for early 2022). The Terms of Reference will be reviewed quarterly until the governance structure for the strategic plan is finalized, and every six months afterwards (if applicable) until the committee is disbanded.

Official Languages

All members will be encouraged to participate in the meetings in the official language of their choice. Briefing material and records of decision will be produced in one of the official languages, the agendas will be bilingual.

Code of Conduct

Meetings will be conducted in accordance with the CIHR Code of Conduct.

Confidentiality

Advisory Committee members must adhere to the following requirements:

  1. Committee deliberations are confidential, meaning that the committee members should not discuss or in any other way divulge to third persons comments made during meetings and committee's advice to CIHR until such a time when CIHR makes that information public;
  2. Members should also protect the confidence of the information contained in documentation they receive from CIHR, and not use it for their own benefit or for the benefit of others;
  3. All enquiries or representations received by the committee members about the work of the committee must be referred to CIHR.

Conflict of Interest Prevention and Management

In accordance with the CIHR Policy on Conflict of Interest Prevention and Management for Scientific Directors, Members of Governing Council and Advisory Bodies, committee members have a duty to bring an independent judgment to bear on all CIHR issues they are asked to consider and therefore, to avoid situations where their personal interests may prevent them from discharging this duty with integrity.

To minimize the risk of COI, committee members who are non-CIHR employees should:

When in doubt about the required disclosure, committee members should seek advice of the committee Co-Chairs. The Co-Chairs and the members have full support of the CIHR COI Officer for COI-related advice and assistance via Declaration@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

Secretarial Support

The Science Policy Branch will provide secretarial support for this committee.

Appendix A

Gradients of Agreement 8-point Scale

When necessary, the Co-Chairs are asked to inquire of the support for a particular item using the scale below. The Co-Chairs will then discuss briefly and, based on what they see, they will determine if the commitment level is strong enough to determine a resolution or if they need to continue the discussion.

Type of Support Gradient
Enthusiastic Support
  1. Whole-hearted Endorsement - “I really like it!”
  2. Agreement with a Minor Point of Contention - “Not perfect, but it's good enough.”
Lukewarm Support
  1. Support with Reservations - “I can live with it.”
  2. Abstain - “This issue does not affect me.”
  3. More Discussion Needed - “I don't understand the issues well enough yet.”
Meager Support
  1. Don't Like But Will Support - “It's not great, but I don't want to hold up the group.”
  2. Serious Disagreement - “I am not on board with this - don't count on me.”
Strong Objection
  1. Veto - “I block this proposal.”

Sources: What is the Gradients of Agreement technique? Lucid MeetingsFootnote 1; Tips and Tools for PEPFAR Teams: The Gradients of Agreement, USAIDFootnote 2

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