In a Good Way: Principles Guiding Indigenous Research Ethics

Emily Carr University Research Ethics Board (ECU-REB) supports respectful Indigenous research practices. We acknowledge that unethical research practices and cultural appropriation have caused direct harm to Indigenous people and communities, and distrust of university-based research.

We want to move forward to create something better, and we want Indigenous research to be conducted in a good way. Indigenous research ethics reviews at Emily Carr are done respectfully, honouring the complexity and diversity of Nation-specific protocols, ways of knowing, being, and making.

Inspired by Coast Salish potlatch, the ECU-REB invites those impacted by research to be heard. It honours ethics review and guidance from Indigenous communities, collectives and organizations. Research conducted on Indigenous knowledge, territories, topics, and with Indigenous people and communities may involve rights holders, accountabilities, risks, and benefits that are specific to communities, territories, and traditions.

The board is committed to Indigenous research expertise in all reviews involving Indigenous content or peoples. The ECU-REB follows guidance provided by First Nations Governance Council’s (FNIGC) OCAP® principles for data management (ownership, control, access, and possession), BC Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Final Report, trauma-informed research guidelines, as well as the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2) Chapter 9 “Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada”, among others.

The ECU-REB acknowledges and thanks the committee of members who took on the drafting and revisions to this statement. They included, Dr. Mimi Gellman, Aaron Nelson-Moody (Squamish), Nick Conbere, Martin Rose, Ana Diab, and Coordinator, Lois Klassen. (2022)