Updated (6/11/2019)

Memorial University’s Office of the Vice President (Research) is undertaking a new policy to update the university’s ethics processes for Indigenous research.

Pre-policy consultations with faculty, staff, graduate students, external stakeholders, and rightsholders on best practices, capacities, cases, and concerns were completed in the spring 2019. If you have additional input, please email avp.research@mun.ca. These consultations, as well as best practices outlined in academic and community literature, are being compiled by the VPR office’s new policy analyst, Nic Kuzmochka.

In addition to falling under the Office of the Vice-President (Research), the purview of this policy project now also reports to the President’s Advisory Committee on Aboriginal Affairs (PACAA). Based on recommendations from PACAA, the new policy will be drafted by a working group of three people: Dr. Max Liboiron (Michif), Associate Vice President (Indigenous Research) in St. John’s; Kelly Anne Butler (Mi’kmaw), Student Affairs Officer-Aboriginal Affairs at Grenfell Campus; and Michele Wood (Inuk), community member in Labrador. The process for the policy creation is following Memorial’s policy procedures, including another round of consultations on the written policy draft. We anticipate the draft will be ready for consultation in the fall 2019. If you or your group would like to have a targeted consultation, please email n.kuzmochka@mun.ca.

The anticipated deliverables for this process include: A What We’ve Heard document reflecting consultations; a policy draft and then a completed policy; and a best practices guide for valuable knowledge and input that exceeds the jurisdiction of the policy but is still important for researchers, building on those we have listed on our FAQ page. All documents will be available on this website when they are available.

Updates on this process will be posted here. If you have questions, please email avp.research@mun.ca.