Forum Question: There were many examples where non-Indigenous researchers conducted
exploitative, non-consensual, unethical and disturbing research on Indigenous people,
including children. What factors allowed/promoted this unethical research to happen? What
is being done to prevent this type of unethical research being done again? Please explain
your answer using evidence/examples from the readings for this week.
As indicated in the syllabus, you are required to participate in an online discussion with your
peers. You are assigned to Group A, B, or C and you will only post in your groups assigned
discussions.
Discussion Forum Requirements:
● You are required to complete at least two posts per discussion forum to get your full
marks for that week (5%).
● Your posts should be no more than 200 words each and at least one post should
include references.
● Your first post should respond to the instructor’s question for that week (see below)
and your second post should respond to a classmate’s post.
● Posts should be ongoing, substantive and thoughtful. If your two posts are
back-to-back and/or you complete both posts right before the 11:55 PM deadline, you
will receive only partial marks. We want to encourage engagement with your
classmates and be respectful of the time and effort we all put into the discussion.
● Discussion forums must show evidence of critical thought and provide evidence from
course material to support you answer (from lectures, readings, videos, etc.). You
must cite your sources in APA format and back up your statements with course
materials.
● Responding does not automatically award you with full marks. Your responses
should be in the form of a discussion, encouraging deeper thought and
understanding of the topic.
Reference
1. Tennet, Z. (2021). The dark history of Canada’s Food Guide: How experiments on
Indigenous children shaped nutrition policy. CBC Radio.*Review the web article and
listen to the Unreserved segment that is 15:32 minutes long.
2. Hayward, A, Sjoblom, E., Sinclair, S. and Jamie Cidro. (2021). A New Era of Indigenous
Research: Community-based Indigenous Research Ethics Protocols in Canada.
Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics.
Reponse to SM
In this week’s reading “The dark history of Canada’s Food Guide: How experiments on
Indigenous children shaped nutrition policy”, historian Ian Mosby described the justification
for allowing unethical research to be conducted on Indigenous people, stating that “a
justification for these experiments, explained Mosby, was a theory going around among
scientists and bureaucrats that the so-called “Indian problem” might have been caused by
malnutrition and not due to what they saw as ‘racial traits’” (Tennant, 2021). Researcher
Lionell Pett, along with the Federal government, allowed the non-consensual research to be
conducted with the goal of understanding and settling “a whole series of internal debates
among nutrition professionals and bureaucrats about Canada’s Food Guide and about what
a healthy and nutritionally adequate diet looked like” (Tennant, 2021). Pett and the Federal
government understood that in order to create the Canadian food guide, they needed already
hungry “subjects” to determine what foods and additional nutrients are required to make the
average Canadian “healthy”, and unfortunately, “some federal bureaucrats and scientists saw
the pervasive malnutrition and hunger experienced by Indigenous people as an opportunity
to test their scientific theories” (Tennant, 2021).
In order to prevent this type of unethical, non-consenting research from being conducted
again, “contemporary research ethics boards have been established” (Wajuntah, 2021).
Indigenous communities often critique these ethics boards, as they “claim standards and
protocols are in place to protect universities and researchers, not actual participants”
(Wajuntah, 2021). Contemporary ethics boards also often do not take into account the
negative history of Indigenous health history (Wajuntah, 2021). In order to combat this,
Indigenous researchers and communities have developed a framework for ethical research,
one that is “community-driven, self-determined, action-oriented, culturally responsive, [and]
that upholds Indigenous sovereignty of data and information” (Wajuntah, 2021). One
important framework that outlines ethical research within Indigenous communities is the
OCAP model, which outlines the importance of ownership, control, access, and possession
(Wajuntah, 2021).
References
Tennant, Z. (2021 April 19). The dark history of Canada’s Food Guide: How experiments on
Indigenous children shaped nutrition policy. CBC News.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/how-food-in-canada-is-tied-to-land-language-communi
ty-and-colonization-1.5989764/the-dark-history-of-canada-s-food-guide-how-experiments-onindigenous-children-shaped-nutrition-policy-1.5989785
Wajuntah, C. (2021). INHS Week 13 [Video]. YouTube.
