Ethics

By understanding research processes and taking charge of reviewing the plans of researchers coming to the community, northern Indigenous communities can take control of how research is conducted in their communities. Researchers working in northern Indigenous communities must respect Indigenous culture and Traditional Knowledge, including abiding by the standards, ethics and traditional protocols set out by each of the communities they work with. In collaboration with others, AICBR drafted an ethics guide entitled, "Doing Good Health Research in Northern Indigenous Communities: A guide to Research Review". The purpose of this resource is to assist communities in ensuring that research is conducted ethically and according to community values. The booklet may be used as a resource for both northern Indigenous communities and outside researchers coming to work in the North.

Some other key federal research standards that underpin good research procedures are the OCAP® Principles, which stands for, Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession and Chapter 9 of the most up-to-date Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2), which outlines the guidelines for ethical conduct of research involving Indigenous peoples in Canada.  The OCAP® principles are a set of ethical standards that outline how First Nations data should be collected, protected, used, or shared. For more on OCAP®, please visit: http://fnigc.ca/ocapr.html.