Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics

The Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics ("The Panel") was formed in 2001 by the three research funding agencies of the Government of Canada: CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC ("The Agencies"). The Panel "develops, interprets and implements the "Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans"" (TCPS).
The Panel "is composed of 12 members drawn from across [Canada] to represent a wide spectrum of expertise and experience in the ethics of human research." (HSR)
TCPS.
The Panel's main function is to tend to the "Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans", originally conceived in 2001, is given the moniker "TCPS". This publication was updated in 2010 and again in 2018 to become known as the "TCPS2". Because the individual Agencies represent the pinnacle of research success with the best pay in Canada, their statement on ethics is an embodiment of soft power:
Discussions.
In May 2018, some epidemiologists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute were concerned that research ethics boards (REBs) which are typically located at the institution level, were needed to approve HSR studies, but HSR studies were increasingly conducted across many institutions, and this can delay the studies as the approval process requires each named researcher to obtain approval from his or her REB. These particular researchers recommended that a national REB be instituted for researcher convenience.
In September 2018, the McGill University REB was required to approve a study performed in the nation of India because some researchers who were employed at McGill desired to participate in a study of tuberculosis care in that nation, and due to the requirements of the TCPS a waiver of provider informed consent was sought from the McGill REB.