| Topic: | Faculty, Staff, Students: Conduct and Responsibilities |
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| Approval Authority: | Senate |
| Approval Date: | 26 January 2023 |
| Effective Date: | 1 July 2023 |
1. Purpose
1.1. It is the policy of York University to ensure the ethical conduct of research involving human participants and to comply in full with the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Research Involving Human Participants (2022) as it may be amended from time to time. The University has two separate and distinct policies that govern its research involving Human Participants:
- The Senate Policy on Research Involving Human Participants
- The Senate Policy on Indigenous Research Involving Human Participants
1.2 In recognition of distinct Indigenous knowledges and approaches to research that may involve Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) and to ensure that appropriate sensitivity to cultural and community rights, roles and responsibilities is applied to all research projects conducted under the auspices of York University, the Policy on Indigenous Research Involving Human Participants and an autonomous research ethics review board have been established to govern the review of all research involving Indigenous Peoples. Since the establishment of research ethics boards (REBs) across Canada, the research ethics process has become a required but transactional relationship in which researchers merely submit a protocol for review, revisions, and approval; most REBs have limited engagement in the actual research process. Given the need to foreground the voice and needs of Indigenous communities[1]
An individual may belong to multiple communities, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous (e.g., as a member of a local Métis community, a graduate students’ society and a coalition in support of Indigenous rights). An individual may acknowledge being of First Nations, Inuit or Métis descent but not identify with any particular community. How individuals define which of their community relationships are most relevant will likely depend on the nature of the research project being proposed.
Within Indigenous research, the Indigenous Research Ethics Board (IREB) at York will be available to engage with researchers throughout the entire research process, including meeting with and providing advice with regards to emerging issues at the intersection of indigenous research and ethics compliance. (The IREB will be supported by the Office of Research Ethics)
1.3 The IREB serves the York research community in at least the following ways:
a. by contributing to the education of its members and the broader York community about research ethics;
b. by acknowledging and promoting the inclusion of expertise from traditional knowledge keepers;
c. by acknowledging and promoting the aim that research should have positive impacts, and repair and reconnect community relationships;
d. by creating relational accountability of research by establishing relationships between the communities in which they serve and York University;
e. by acknowledging the interdependence of humans and the natural world and spirit world, and the responsibility that all people have to those relationships;
f. by engaging with researchers and applying an indigenous lens to questions of research ethics as they may arise throughout the entire research process
g. by conducting independent, multi-disciplinary review of research proposals that meet all national requirements; and
h. by overseeing the ethics review processes delegated to and conducted by Faculty, Department, School, and Graduate Program review bodies.
2. Scope and Application
2.1. Research Involving Indigenous Peoples
a. The policy shall apply to all Indigenous research involving human participants including their lands, materials, human remains, cadavers, tissues, biological fluids, embryos, and fetuses and researchers in all Faculties and the University Libraries conducting such research. The policy is intended to protect Indigenous Peoples and communities, the researcher and/or principal investigator, individual participants, and the University jointly and collectively; it seeks to protect all parties to the research endeavour.
b. The following Policies, Procedures and resources support the Senate Policy on IREB: Research Involving Indigenous People for access to ethics review processes, Researcher Toolkit, IREB protocol forms, IREB ICF and guidelines as they relate to research involving Indigenous Peoples. These resources are accessible on the Office of Research Ethics website.
2.2. Confidentiality
All information provided by Principal Investigators and other researchers is confidential and shall be retained in the Office of Research Ethics on that basis to the fullest extent possible by law.
2.3. Research Not Covered by This Policy and Procedures
Any research activity for which this policy is silent (such as clinical trials, research involving human biological materials and/or human genetic research), the relevant sections of the current Tri Council Policy Statement (TCPS) shall be relied upon for guidance. Alternatively, researchers may consult with the Office of Research Ethics for advice and direction
3. Definitions
3.1 For the purpose of this policy and its associated procedures, and in accordance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement (2022):
a. ‘research’ is defined as any undertaking intended to extend knowledge through a disciplined or systematic investigation and it includes pilot or preliminary research that involves human participants;
b. Indigenous Peoples includes First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples located within Canada. In this context, the term “Indigenous Peoples” typically refers to persons of Indian, Inuit or Métis descent, regardless of where they reside and whether their names appear on an official register. Self-identification is a fundamental criterion for defining Indigenous Peoples. The term “Indigenous” does not reflect the distinctions among First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, who have their own histories, cultures and languages, so an attempt has been made to limit use of the term in this Policy to instances where a global term is appropriate. Indian peoples commonly identify themselves by distinct nation names such as Mi’kmaq, Dene or Haida, and as First Nations;
c. ‘human participants’ are persons who provide data or information to the researcher, who are not acting in their professional capacity, but as subjects in the public domain;
d. ‘researcher’ and/or ‘Principal Investigator’ includes:
i. any research affiliated with York University who conducts or advances the creation or dissemination of new knowledge with, for, or about Indigenous persons in a capacity that accesses University students staff, faculty or any other human participants;
ii. any other person who conducts or advances research and is connected with the University; this includes people affiliated with universities receiving research funds from York;
iii. any person who conducts research using University resources (whether research space, materials, equipment, or human resources).
e. The term “member” when used in this Policy and its accompanying procedures includes Indigenous Elders, Indigenous community members, faculty, emeritus faculty, contract faculty, staff, administrators, students, visiting or adjunct scholars, fellows and chairs, and any research associates or assistants, whether paid or unpaid.
4. Policy and Guidelines
4.1 Policy Statement
It is the policy of York University to ensure the ethical conduct of Indigenous research involving human participants and to comply in full with the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Research Involving Human Participants (2022) as the Tri-Council policy may be amended from time to time.
4.2 Principles and University Commitments
Researchers are obligated to strive for ethical conduct at all times in relation to their research. This IREB policy underscores the importance of a distinctly Indigenous ethics process that reviews all research with, by, for and about Indigenous Peoples at York. The Senate of York University affirms that all researchers must respect the safety, welfare, and dignity of human participants in their research and treat them fairly, and not as a means to an end. The University values and protects the academic freedom of its researchers. The ethics review process shall not unfairly censor researchers in the conduct of their research. However, academic freedom is conditional on all researchers respecting the rights and well-being of human participants. The IREB allows for Indigenous approaches, knowledges, and histories to bear on these ethical review processes.
This policy acknowledges the need for ongoing change and refinement of applicable policies to be accountable to Indigenous knowledges, languages, and Peoples, as well as changes in research ethics, methods, and contexts. Ethical guidelines shall be respected and revised as necessary. Continued awareness and debate of the topic in the research community is essential.
The University’s principal reference for ethics review is the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS), with which the University has agreed to comply pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (September 2002) between the University and the three funding agencies that make up the Tri-Council.
5. Roles and Responsibilities
5.1 Review by the University’s Indigenous Research Ethics Board applies to all Indigenous research as defined above; for all other research, York’s research ethics board, known as the Human Participants Review Committee (the HPRC)
Similar to the HPRC, the IREB is a sub-committee of the Academic Policy, Planning and Research Committee (APPRC) of Senate. The IREB is charged with reviewing the ethical acceptability of all Indigenous research involving human participants conducted by members of the University, and with carrying out the procedures within its jurisdiction or under its auspices. All research involving human participants conducted by faculty, staff or students, regardless of where the research is conducted, is subject to review and approval by the relevant research ethics board (REB) in accordance with the most recent Tri-Council Policy Statement prior to the commencement of any research activities. The IREB composition, mandate, and operations shall conform to the specifications set out in the procedures that accompany this policy.
5.2 IREB shall report at least annually to the Academic Policy, Planning and Research Committee of Senate. APPRC shall, in turn, transmit reports to Senate and make them accessible.
5.3 The primary responsibility of the IREB is to ensure, through the review and approval of research ethics protocols, that researchers respect the safety, welfare, dignity, rights and diversity of human experience and participants in their research and treat them equally and fairly and not as a means to an
5.4 The IREB shall discharge the following specific duties:
a. engage with researchers by providing advice and guidance as it speaks to the submission of a research ethics protocol by applying an indigenous lens to questions of research ethics as they may arise throughout the entire research process;
b. conduct ethics reviews within the context of the University's responsibility to ensure that the research meets high scientific and scholarly standards. All research involving Indigenous Peoples - student, staff, faculty or external researchers - shall fall under the purview of the IREB for the purposes of review and approval. Only the IREB has the authority to review Indigenous research involving human participants;
c. terminate any research that it considers to be threatening or causing distress to the participants, deviates from the approved Protocol, or has not been approved by the appropriate body;
d. provide Faculties and Libraries with the resources necessary to enable them to become familiar with and adhere to this Senate Policy;
e. act as an advisory body for the University, educating the community on ethics in research and providing guidance on the ethics review policy, processes and procedures;
f. provide resources (outreach and education) to the Faculties and Libraries so as to enable them to provide the necessary education and advice to research assistants and students about the relevant aspects of ethics in Indigenous research and the need to treat participants ethically and
6. Review
This policy will be reviewed by the Office of Research Ethics one year after implementation, and then every five years going forward. During the review, the policy will remain in full force and effect.
7. Procedures
Has associated Procedures.
8. Funding for IREB Operations
8.1 Through both financial and in-kind support from the Office of Research Ethics and the Associate Vice-President Research, the IREB shall have the requisite financial and administrative support (including the funding of at least three traditional knowledge keepers) to ensure that it has both the autonomy and resources to fulfill its responsibilities.
[1] Indigenous Communities – describes a group of people with a shared identity or interest that has the capacity to act or express itself as a collective. In this Policy, a community may include members from multiple cultural groups. A community may be territorial, organizational, or a community of interest. “Territorial communities” have governing bodies exercising local or regional jurisdiction (e.g., members of First Nations who reside on reserve lands). “Organizational communities” have explicit mandates and formal leadership (e.g., a regional Inuit association or a friendship centre serving an urban Indigenous community). In both territorial and organizational communities, membership is defined and the community has designated leaders. “Communities of interest” may be formed by individuals or organizations who come together for a common purpose or undertaking, such as a commitment to conserving a First Nations language. Communities of interest are informal communities whose boundaries and leadership may be fluid and less well- defined. They may exist temporarily or over the long term, within or outside of territorial or organizational communities.
| Legislative History: | Approved by Senate Academic Policy, Planning and Research Committee (APPRC) 2023/01/19; Approved by Senate 2023/01/26 |
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| Date of Next Review: | 2028 |
| Related Policies, Procedures and Guidelines: |