e-5067 (Ethical issues)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• The rights and welfare of animals and humans need to be protected in research;
• The Tri-Agency requires animal research facilities at eligible institutions be certified by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). No such requirement exists for human research;
• CCAC certification provides independent, objective third-party oversight and accountability assessments of animal research signifying that animal research is only conducted when necessary and in accordance with the highest standards of ethics and care;
• The Government of Canada commissioned experts to evaluate a system of human research oversight and accountability in line with the CCAC certification program for animal research (2005-2008);
• The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology called upon the federal government to develop human research National Standards of Canada (NSCs) that can be ensured through an accreditation program (2011);
• The Human Research Standards Organization (HRSO) developed NSCs for human research conduct and ethical review based on policies (e.g. Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2)) and other relevant normative documents (2018);
• Using HRSO’s NSCs, Human Research Accreditation Canada (HRA Canada, non-government, non-profit) created a national human research accreditation program modelled after CCAC (2018); and
• HRA Canada’s accreditation provides independent, objective, third-party oversight and accountability assessments of human research conduct and ethical review, signifying that these activities are conducted ethically and rigorously.