Research governance in NunatuKavut: engagement, expectations and evolution

Some of the world’s most southern Inuit populations live along central and the southeastern coast of Labrador in the territory of NunatuKavut and are represented by the NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC). Southern Inuit and NCC staff have been actively collaborating with researchers and research ethics boards since 2006 on research ethics and the governance of research in NunatuKavut. As self-determining peoples, Southern Inuit, like many Indigenous communities, are reclaiming control of research through a number of highly effective community consent contracts and ethical review processes and protocols. These community-driven research agreements have both shaped, and been shaped by, academic writings on the issue of collective consent to research. This case report describes the evolution of NCC research governance from 2006 to 2018, emphasising the ethics and engagement that is required to conduct research with Southern Inuit or within the territory of NunatuKavut.