The Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics ("The Panel") was formed in 2001 by three of the research funding agencies of the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

CIHR The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; ; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada. CIHR supports ...

NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...

and

SSHRC The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; , CRSH), often colloquially pronounced 'shirk' (), is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humani ...

("The Agencies"). The Panel "develops, interprets and implements the ''Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans''" (TCPS), as updated in 2014, and the ''Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research'' (RCR Framework), which was updated in 2016, and again in 2021. The ''Tri-Agency Research Integrity Policy'' also dictates the conduct of federally-funded researchers. The Panel "is composed of 12 members drawn from across

anada Anada (; ) is a rural locality (a selo) in Khidibsky Selsoviet, Tlyaratinsky District, Republic of Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, ...

to represent a wide spectrum of expertise and experience in the ethics of human research." (HSR)

TCPS

The Panel's main function is to tend to the ''Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans'' (TCPS), originally conceived in 2001. This publication was updated in 2010 and again in 2018 to become known as the ''TCPS2''. Because the individual Agencies represent the pinnacle of research success with the best pay in Canada, their statement on ethics is an embodiment of soft power:

Discussions

In May 2018, some

epidemiologists Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases. It is a cornerstone o ...

at the

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), formerly Ottawa Health Research Institute, is a non-profit academic health research institute located in the city of Ottawa. It was formed in 2001 following the merger of three Ottawa hospitals. The Ot ...

were concerned that

research ethics board An institutional review board (IRB), also known as an independent ethics committee (IEC), ethical review board (ERB), or research ethics board (REB), is a committee at an institution that applies research ethics by reviewing the methods proposed ...

s (REBs) which are typically located at the institution level, were needed to approve

human subject research Human subject research is systematic, scientific investigation that can be either interventional (a "trial") or observational (no "test article") and involves human beings as research subjects, commonly known as test subjects. Human subject r ...

(HSR), but HSR studies were increasingly conducted across many institutions, and this can delay the studies as the approval process requires each named researcher to obtain approval from his or her REB. These particular researchers recommended that a national REB be instituted for researcher convenience. In September 2018, the

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

REB was required to approve a study performed in the nation of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

because some researchers who were employed at McGill desired to participate in a study of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

care in that nation, and due to the requirements of the TCPS a waiver of provider informed consent was sought from the McGill REB.

References

{{authority control Government of Canada Ethics organizations Health Canada Federal departments and agencies of Canada Funding bodies of Canada Scientific organizations based in Canada Higher education in Canada Education finance in Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 2001 establishments in Canada Government agencies established in 2001