Expression of Interest For Indian Residential School Memorial Jury Member
The purpose of the IRSM project is to establish a permanent, respectful, educational, and reconciliatory space that honors the survivors and victims of the Indian Residential School system, and this competition seeks innovative and respectful designs that will create a lasting tribute to these survivors and victims.
The IRSM is an important project to help advance The City along the path towards reconciliation through the acknowledgement of truth, and this memorial aspires to have a positive impact lasting no less than seven generations into the future. The project is currently moving into the Design Competition phase, where four shortlisted teams are preparing to submit their concepts for the memorial.
This expression of interest is to develop a list of potential jury members to make the decision on the selected concept to move forward into Design and Construction. The jury and award process are critical in supporting design competitions to ensure they are fair and equitable and meet high professional and ethical standards.
The jury will review all concepts submitted by the shortlisted proponents. The jury’s review will be based on the evaluation criteria developed for the competition. Jury members will be responsible for selecting the winning submission that most completely satisfies the needs of the project, and the interests of the public as expressed during engagement, summarized in the What We Heard Report and data that will be captured through concept exhibition.
The jury will consist of industry professionals consisting of a variety of experts with professional and local knowledge, as well as Elders from the Indigenous community. The jury is required to properly evaluate the submissions and fairly adjudicate the award. A professional advisor will oversee the adjudication and explain the selection decision in a jury report issued to the City.
The objective of the Jury is to come to consensus to select the best design. Through group discussion and agreement, the winning conceptual design will be chosen.
Elected jury members are composed of industry professionals and Elders from the Indigenous community, with demonstrated experience and knowledge specific to the project. Members must not have any connection with the shortlisted proponents or any financial or indirect interest in the outcome.
Role of the Jury will include:
• Written instructions will be provided to all jurors in advance of the deliberations, instructions will include confirmation by each juror that the rules of anonymity and all submissions and other relevant information is strictly confidential and not be disclosed outside of the deliberation process. Jurors will also be required to sign a confidentiality
agreement, including confirmation they have no potential conflicts of interest.
• The City’s competition team, or the professional advisor engaged by The City, will provide the jury with the review and evaluation criteria as documented in the competition brief.
• The jury members will be instructed to review all submissions prior to formal adjudication as a group. The jury as a group will meet in person over a period of two (2) days to review each submission including any comments from the technical review and other information provided to the jury. The jury will decide on the methodology for review and discussion of the merits of all submissions.
• The jurors will share their opinions on the merits and other observations on how each submission has responded to the evaluation criteria. All evaluations and discussions are to be accurately recorded.
• The jury will identify 1st place, and one honorable mention at the jury’s discretion. The jury’s decision will be documented in written form signed by all jury members.
• The final reporting including the winning entry, completed evaluations, and any other recommendations will be delivered in a sealed envelope to The City’s competition team.
• The jury’s report is to be provided to all competitors within two (2) weeks from the time the winning entry is announced.
• The jury’s deliberations are confidential. No jury members or other participants in the selection process, such as the professional advisor or any other individual who had been identified at the outset, are permitted to disclose details of the jury discussions beyond the published results.
• The decision of the jury is binding on The City’s competition team.
• The City’s competition team will publicly announce the jury’s decision.
Jury Honorarium:
• Jury members will be given a $2,000.00 honorarium to compensate for their service. This is an all-inclusive amount that includes preliminary concept review time and two (2) days deliberation.
• Jury members will also be given a travel, dependent on travel and distance
Jury (tentative) dates:
• The IRSM Jury will meet (tentatively) on May 22nd and May 23rd, 2025, in person, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• All Expressions of Interest will be due on April 17th, 2025, at 16:00:59 Calgary Time.