The role of the Parliamentary Poet Laureate is to help enhance the understanding of and appreciation for poetry in Canada. Many other countries have a poet laureate.

A person selected to be Poet Laureate has made a significant contribution to Canada’s literary community through their poetry, which can be any genre of written or spoken poetry. Poets who are Canadian residents of any province or territory, from all backgrounds and life experiences, are invited to submit their application.

Poets can reside anywhere in Canada, but they must be available to participate in parliamentary events, as required, and be available to travel on occasion throughout Canada to promote poetry. Travel costs are covered by the Library of Parliament.

Poets laureate must meet the eligibility and selection criteria. To ensure that Canada’s official languages are equitably represented, appointments to the position alternate between a poet who works primarily in English and a poet who works primarily in French.

Consult the nomination process page for more details.

The Canada Council for the Arts reviews and evaluates each nomination, then provides relevant information to the selection committee for their consideration and deliberation. The selection committee members include:

• the Commissioner of Official Languages;
• the Librarian and Archivist of Canada;
• the Chair, Canada Council for the Arts; and
• the Parliamentary Librarian as chair.

The selection committee then presents a list of three nominees to the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who make the final selection.

The Poet may create works in either or both official languages; other languages may also be integrated into their works. These works are published here on this website in both official languages. The Library of Parliament covers the costs of translation or adaptation.

The Poet owns the copyrights of the works they create during their term. The Library of Parliament holds a licence to reproduce, publish or otherwise use the works created as part of the Poet’s roles and responsibilities.

The Poet receives an annual stipend of $20,000, in addition to a budget for travel, programming and administrative expenses.

The Library of Parliament is the steward of the Parliamentary Poet Laureate Program and supports the Poet throughout their term.

Although the Poet is an officer of the Library of Parliament, they are not an employee; rather, they hold their office as an independent contractor of the Library.

As the steward of the Parliamentary Poet Laureate Program, the Library of Parliament provides programming support to the Poet. The Library:

• advises and guides the Poet in their activities, initiatives or projects as they fulfill their term. As an officer of the Library of Parliament, the Poet receives guidance from the Library to help ensure that the work they undertake during their term does not conflict with the Library’s approach to impartiality (i.e., providing services without regard to political or institutional affiliation, opinions or beliefs), and inclusion (i.e., valuing diverse perspectives and fostering a non-discriminatory and inclusive environment);
• administers and manages the Program budget, including approving expenses;
• facilitates access to the Library resources that the Poet requires during their term.

Although the Poet has broad discretion to determine which activities they will take part in while fulfilling their term, they must carry out their duties in a non-partisan manner.

Explore the works of former poets laureate on our website.

The Poet may engage in other activities or occupations during their term, as long as these do not conflict with or impair their ability to carry out their role as Poet Laureate.