In 2004, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) initiated a project to develop Aboriginal specific health research guidelines to ensure adequate protections for Aboriginal research participants. The health research guidelines are intended to contribute to the separate but related process of revising the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS). CIHR continues to collaborate with and support the larger initiative of the three funding councils (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) and the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) to produce a revision of section 6 of the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS).
CIHR's Aboriginal Ethics Working Group (AEWG) was established in March 2004 as part of this broad national endeavour to develop research ethics guidelines for Aboriginal people. The AEWG is representative of Aboriginal interests and disciplines necessary to provide advice and support for the development of ethics guidelines for health research. The AEWG met over the course of 2004 for in-depth analysis and deliberation of Aboriginal and research issues. A series of background papers were commissioned to inform the deliberations of the AEWG. The drafting of research ethics guidelines occurred over the winter and early spring. The guidelines are now available for regional and national consultation.
A comprehensive nation-wide strategy for consultation with Aboriginal communities, researchers and institutions has been built on the CIHR-IAPH National ACADRE Network. These broad consultations and vetting within the Aboriginal and research communities were initiated in April 2005 and occured over the spring and the summer. Feedback from the consultations will form the basis for revisions to the guidelines. Plans for broader consultation with the research community through CIHR and its partner are being developed.
The ultimate result will be the development of health research ethics guidelines that will respond to the pressing needs of the Aboriginal community and the ACADRE centres,, and help CIHR and its Institute for Aboriginal Peoples Health meet its fundamental obligation of accountability to Canadians. The resulting ethics guidelines for health research will contribute to the work of the National Consortium to eventually revise section 6 of the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Research involving Aboriginal People.
