Indigenous Research and Ethics Review

The collection of research data may not proceed until research ethics approval has been given. However, you do not require research ethics approval in order to engage with potential partners about proposed research, nor to collaborate on the design phase of research.  

The BREB will be looking for approval of the research project from appropriate Indigenous partner representatives. Approvers could be recognized representatives of Indigenous peoples which have political/economic/cultural interests in the research topic or the place where research is taking place. Approvers might also be urban Indigenous youth groups, Indigenous associations, cooperatives, community centres, or an advisory committee brought together for the purpose of overseeing the research and its goals.  Although the ways of confirming approval may vary - and may be formal or informal - evidence of engagement and approval will need to be provided in the ethics application. Attachments such as the following can be used: 

• a signed research agreement 
• an email or letter from an authorized community representative 
• Band Council Resolution 
• MOU (memorandums of understanding) 
• letters of support 

If you are delayed in obtaining confirmation of support, your ethics application will be given conditional approval until the required documentation is provided. If your research involves multiple sites that each require a separate approval, you may want to submit your ethics application or proviso response after the first partner approval has been received. Subsequent confirmations of approval can be submitted through post-approval amendments (PAAs) to your ethics application. 

Understanding and respecting protocols  

1. The PI (principal investigator or research lead) is responsible for ensuring that the research team is appropriately educated about the Indigenous partner or community with whom they are collaborating. Training (in Cultural Safety, for example) should be provided to new research team members.  
2. Become informed about community protocols before connecting with a community and before finalizing your research plan. The BREB expects that researchers will incorporate existing protocols into their ethics application. 
   • Some Indigenous partners will have formal research ethics processes and protocols that researchers will need to follow in order to ensure ethical engagement.   
   • Protocols may be in place for how to approach Elders and/or Knowledge Keepers. 
   •  Some activities that may seem largely administrative might hold greater significance within a community, e.g., sending letters of invitation, recruiting or consenting participants. 
3. Per OCAP® and other Indigenous data governance standards, ensure that the principles of ownership, control, access and possession are explicitly supported in your research design and procedures. Before submitting your ethics application, ensure there is a common understanding about the ownership and custodianship of resulting data, reports, etc. UBC’s Scholarly Integrity Policy (SC6, Article 2.1.4) requires that UBC Faculty store their research data in a UBC facility for 5 years after publication.  However, UBC BREB understands that some community MOUs or research agreements may not allow for this and data must be kept in community.  When this is the case, ensure there is a clear process for how to request access to the data should it be needed and, if acceptable, store a copy at UBC. 
4. Ensure that a culturally appropriate knowledge translation plan is in place, for giving back to the community. 

Where to find more information 

1. Visit the Indigenous Research Services Initiative/IRSI website for helpful resources and links, including financial guidelines.  
2. Indigenous community websites and other social media outlets may provide information about their preferred methods of interaction. 
3. Ask for help from colleagues and others who have experience in your subject area or in the communities with whom you are seeking to engage.  
4. If you are having trouble making a connection with your intended Indigenous partners/collaborators, be mindful that they may not have the capacity to take on additional work or to support your research project.  
5. If you have not yet done so, we recommend that you review the recently updated TCPS2 Chapter 9.

A fillable (and shareable) Word version of the ethics application is available.

Once you have appropriately engaged with the communities and people involved in your research and there is agreement about the purpose, methods, and proposed deliverables of the project or program, you can submit your ethics application via RISe. Keep in mind: 

1. Ensure that the ethics application demonstrates how the research team has engaged with the community, for example by describing the community's preferences and practices for recruitment, consent processes and data collection.  
2. Describe the research team’s position in relation to the community or populations you are engaging with, e.g., are members of the research team Indigenous? How does the research team’s background, experiences or affiliations influence the approach being taken?  What role will community members or leaders play in the research team? 
3. If you are collecting research data while finalizing the goals, design, and methods (emergent design), acknowledge this on page 5. Include a statement (Box 5.1.B) that you will submit an amendment once more details have been solidified with the community/collaborators. At that time, you will be able to attach recruitment, consent, and scripts that have been co-developed with the community (or approved by them). This provides clarity to the BREB that more detail will be submitted before the next phase of the research commences.  

Regarding the questions in section 4.5 of the ethics application, reviewers will look at the research context in order to confirm whether, in their view, research with Indigenous peoples should be considered above minimal risk and in need of full board review. Research involving Indigenous participants or subject matter will not automatically be considered higher risk unless there are specific factors within the research context that warrant above minimal risk review. Researchers are encouraged to describe the historical or current circumstances that may have disadvantaged the research community or cause participant vulnerability. Mitigating factors, such as strong cultural supports and mental health services in community, should also be described so that BREB reviewers have a full picture of the risk dynamics of a specific research project.

The BREB encourages researchers to use a trauma-informed approach in their research and to take their direction from the communities they are working with when designing research interactions and resolving issues. Where a researcher is not working within a specific community (e.g., in urban settings), Indigenous community centres or groups can be consulted. Please do not hesitate to reach out to BREB staff to discuss risk considerations in your project.   

Although we recognize that the questions in Section 7.G will not be framed appropriately for every research scenario, they provide space for including valuable information that will help reviewers understand your project. Please feel free to interpret the questions in the context of your own research. This is where you can discuss how relationships with communities were developed, the unique characteristics of your community engagement, and other details about your research project that may not fit into other areas of the application.   

Provisos should be considered as prompts for further discussion rather than as a set of strict instructions for making changes. If you disagree with a proviso, or feel that your intent has been misunderstood, we encourage you to let us know why in your provisos response document.  

The BREB team brings their knowledge of research ethics and academic research activities into their ethics review responsibilities, but we are not experts in all research contexts, nor in all fields of research. Reviewers appreciate that researchers/community members bring their own specialized knowledge and expertise. The proviso response is an important opportunity for researchers to have a dialogue with reviewers about their research.

Amendments are required for any changes to your research project, including: 

1. Modifications to data collection, recruitment, or consenting methods, including those requested by the community or sponsors.  
2. Addition of new communities or research locations 
3. Changes in inclusion criteria (who can participate)
4. Changes to research questions and scope 
5. Receipt of new funding 
6. Addition of research team members 

Applications require annual renewal as long as data is being collected, even if no changes to the application have been made. Once all data collection has been completed, you are required to submit a final post-approval amendment (PAA) to close your ethics application. This does not signify nor does it require that your relationship with the community ends. It does mean that no further data will be collected under the ethics application.