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

Marginal note:Prohibitions relating to artists’ associations

51 No certified artists’ association or person acting on behalf of such an association shall

• (a) bargain for the purpose of entering into a scale agreement, or enter into a scale agreement with a producer in respect of a sector, if the association or person knows or, in the Board’s opinion, ought to know that another artists’ association is certified in respect of that sector;

• (b) bargain for the purposes of entering into a scale agreement, or enter into a scale agreement in respect of a sector, with a producer that the association knows or, in the Board’s opinion, ought to know is represented by an association of producers that has filed its membership list under subsection 24(2);

• (c) require a producer to terminate the contract of an artist engaged by the producer because the artist has been expelled or suspended from membership in the association for a reason other than a failure to pay the periodic dues, assessments and initiation fees uniformly required to be paid by all members of the association as a condition of acquiring or retaining membership;

• (d) take disciplinary action against or impose any form of penalty on an artist by applying the standards of discipline of the association to that artist in a discriminatory manner;

• (e) expel or suspend an artist from membership in the association, or take disciplinary action or impose any penalty against the artist, for refusal to perform an act that is contrary to this Part;

• (f) discriminate unfairly against an artist with respect to becoming or continuing as a member of the association or being expelled from it, if the parties have included in a scale agreement a provision that requires membership in a specified artists’ association as a condition of engagement, or that grants a preference in engagement to such members; or

• (g) intimidate, coerce or impose a financial or other penalty on an artist, because the artist

  • (i) has testified or participated in a proceeding under this Part, or may do so,

  • (ii) has made or is about to make a disclosure that may be required in a proceeding under this Part, or

  • (iii) has made an application or filed a complaint under this Part.

Marginal note:Intimidation or coercion prohibited

52 No person shall seek by intimidation or coercion to compel any person or association to become or refrain from becoming or to cease to be a member of an artists’ association or an association of producers.

Marginal note:Complaints to Board

• 53 (1) Any person or organization may make a complaint in writing to the Board that

  • (a) a producer, a person acting on behalf of a producer, an artists’ association, a person acting on behalf of an artists’ association, or an artist has contravened or failed to comply with section 32, 35, 50 or 51; or

  • (b) a person has failed to comply with section 52.

• Marginal note:Time for making complaint

  (2) The complaint shall be made to the Board within six months after the day on which the complainant knew or, in the Board’s opinion, ought to have known of the action or circumstances giving rise to the complaint.

• Marginal note:Inadmissible complaints

  (3) The Board shall hear the complaint unless the Board is of the opinion that it

  • (a) is moot, or is frivolous, vexatious or in bad faith; or

  • (b) is not within the Board’s jurisdiction, or could be referred by the complainant to an arbitrator or arbitration board, under a scale agreement.

• Marginal note:Board’s duty and power

  (4) If the Board is of the opinion that the complaint must be heard, it may appoint a member who was never seized of the matter, or an employee of the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada, to assist the parties to settle it and, if the matter is not settled within a period that the Board considers reasonable in the circumstances, or if the Board decides not to appoint a person to assist the parties to settle it, the Board shall hear and determine the complaint.

• Marginal note:Burden of proof

  (5) A written complaint that a producer or any person acting on behalf of a producer failed to comply with section 50 is itself evidence that the failure actually occurred and, if any party to the complaint proceeding alleges that the failure did not occur, the burden of proof thereof is on that party.

Marginal note:Board may make orders

• 54 (1) If the Board determines that a party to a complaint failed to comply with section 32, 35, 50, 51 or 52, the Board may order the party to comply with or to cease contravening that section and may

  • (a) in respect of a failure to comply with paragraph 32(b), order a producer to pay the artist compensation not exceeding the amount of remuneration that would, but for that failure, have been paid to the artist, in the Board’s opinion, under the scale agreement or the artist’s contract;

  • (b) in respect of a failure to comply with section 35, require an artists’ association to pursue the rights and remedies of any artist affected by that failure, or to assist the artist to pursue any rights and remedies that, in the Board’s opinion, it was the duty of the association to pursue;

  • (c) in respect of a failure to comply with paragraph 50(a), (c) or (e), order a producer

    • (i) to engage or to continue to engage, if possible, an artist who has been dealt with in a manner prohibited by that paragraph,

    • (ii) to pay to any artist affected by that failure compensation not exceeding the amount of remuneration that would, but for that failure, have been paid to that artist, in the Board’s opinion, under the scale agreement or the contract, and

    • (iii) to rescind any disciplinary action taken against any artist affected by that failure, and pay the artist compensation not exceeding the amount, in the Board’s opinion, of any financial or other penalty provided for in the scale agreement or the contract and imposed on the artist by the producer;

  • (d) in respect of a failure to comply with paragraph 50(d), order a producer to rescind any action taken against any artist affected by that failure, and pay the artist compensation not exceeding the amount, in the Board’s opinion, of any financial or other penalty provided for in the scale agreement or the contract and imposed on the artist by the producer;

  • (e) in respect of a failure to comply with paragraph 51(d), order an artists’ association to reinstate or admit the artist as a member; and

  • (f) in respect of a failure to comply with paragraph 51(d), (e), (f) or (g), order an artists’ association to rescind any disciplinary action taken against any artist affected by that failure, and pay the artist compensation not exceeding the amount, in the Board’s opinion, of the artist’s actual loss or of any financial or other penalty.

• Marginal note:Other orders

  (2) In order to ensure that the purpose of this Part is achieved, the Board may, in addition to or in lieu of any other order authorized under subsection (1), order a producer or an artists’ association to do or refrain from doing anything that it is equitable to require of them, so as to counteract or remedy the contravention of or non-compliance with a provision referred to in that subsection.

Co-production Agreements

Marginal note:Co-production agreement

• 55 (1) Where a producer enters into a co-production agreement, the producer shall ensure that the agreement designates the person who will actually engage the artists for the co-production.

• Marginal note:Application of Part to co-production

  (2) This Part does not apply in respect of a co-production unless the person designated pursuant to subsection (1) is a producer within the meaning of this Part.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

56 On the Minister’s recommendation after consultation with the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing anything that may be prescribed under any provision of this Part, and any other regulations that the Governor in Council considers necessary to carry out the provisions of this Part, other than regulations that may be made by the Board under section 16.

Offences and Punishment

Marginal note:Offence and penalty

• 57 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), every person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of this Part other than sections 32, 50 and 51 is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every artist, artists’ association or producer that contravenes section 46 is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine

  • (a) not exceeding two thousand dollars, in the case of an artist;

  • (b) not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, in the case of an officer, employee, director, agent or advisor of a certified artists’ association or director, agent or advisor of a producer; or

  • (c) not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, in the case of a producer or a certified artists’ association.

• Marginal note:Further offences

  (3) Every person who

  • (a) being required to attend to give evidence pursuant to paragraph 17(a), fails to attend accordingly,

  • (b) being compelled to produce, pursuant to paragraph 17(a), any document or thing in the person’s possession or under the person’s control, fails to produce the document or thing,

  • (c) refuses to be sworn or to affirm, as the case may be, after being required to be sworn or affirmed pursuant to paragraph 17(a), or

  • (d) refuses to answer any proper question put to them under paragraph 17(a) by the Board or one of its members or by an arbitrator or an arbitration board

  is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding four hundred dollars.

Marginal note:Prosecutions

• 58 (1) A prosecution for an offence under this Part may be brought against and in the name of an association of producers or an artists’ association.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) For the purpose of a prosecution under subsection (1),

  • (a) an artists’ association or an association of producers is deemed to be a person; and

  • (b) any act or thing done or omitted to be done by an officer or agent of an artists’ association or an association of producers within the scope of the officer or agent’s authority is deemed to be an act or thing done or omitted to be done by the association.

• Marginal note:Imprisonment precluded

  (3) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Part, no imprisonment may be imposed as punishment for default of payment of any fine imposed as punishment.

Marginal note:Board’s consent before prosecution

59 No prosecution may be instituted in respect of an offence under this Part without the consent in writing of the Board.

Evidence

Marginal note:Documents as evidence

• 60 (1) Any document purporting to contain or to be a copy of a determination of the Board and to be signed by one of its members is admissible in evidence in any court without proof of the signature or official character of the member or any further proof.

• Marginal note:Certificate of Minister is evidence

  (2) A certificate, purporting to be signed by the Minister or an official of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, stating that any document referred to in this Part was or was not received or given by the Minister pursuant to this Part and, if received or given, stating the date that it was received or given, is admissible in evidence in any court without proof of the signature or official character of the Minister or official, or any further proof.

61 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 562]

Miscellaneous

Marginal note:Defect in form or irregularity

62 No proceeding under this Part is invalid by reason only of a defect in form or a technical irregularity.

Marginal note:Remuneration and expenses

63 Every person not employed in the federal public administration who, at the request of the Minister, performs functions under this Part in any capacity, other than as an arbitrator or arbitration board chairperson, shall be paid the remuneration and expenses prescribed by regulation.

Marginal note:Witness fees and expenses

64 A person who is summoned by the Board and attends as a witness in any proceeding taken under this Part is entitled to be paid the allowance for expenses and the witness fees that are in force with respect to witnesses in civil suits in the superior court of the province in which the proceeding is taken.

Marginal note:Persons not required to give evidence

• 65 (1) No member of the Board or person appointed by the Board or the Minister under this Part is required to give evidence in any civil action, suit or other proceeding, respecting information obtained in the discharge of their duties under this Part.

• Marginal note:Chief Administrator and employees not required to give evidence

  (2) Neither the Chief Administrator nor an employee of the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada shall be required to give evidence in any civil action, suit or other proceeding respecting information obtained in the discharge of their duties in providing services to the Board.

66 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 563]

67 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 563]

Consequential Amendments

68 to 70 [Amendments]

Coming into Force

Marginal note:Coming into force

Footnote ^*71 This Act or any provision thereof shall come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

• Return to footnote ^*[Note: Section 1 and Part I in force May 14, 1993, see SI/93-75; sections 10 to 13, 15 and 16 in force June 11, 1993, see SI/93-92; sections 5 to 9, 14 and 17 to 70 in force May 9, 1995, see SI/95-61.]