Apply Now

Our Journey

The development of the Community Research Ethics Office (CREO) was based on a community-identified need to support community-based research in the Waterloo region in Ontario.

Since 2011, CREO has been responding to the needs of community researchers across Canada. The primary goal of CREO has stayed the same – to provide researchers and evaluators with access to ethics reviews that meet the ethical standards of the TCPS2 while also honouring participatory research methodologies that advance the pursuit of social justice. These goals are typically met through community-based research projects, needs assessments, program evaluations, and other forms of participatory research.

We respond to requests from not-for-profits, foundations, governments, the private sector, and other institutions and individual researchers who work with community organizations and do not have access to institutionally based Research Ethics Boards. We adhere to the principles of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans TCPS 2 (2022) and follow its precepts in our work.

A brief timeline of CREO’s development:

2008
January
Preliminary Meeting
The Centre for Community Based Research (CCBR) hosted an open community meeting with over 45 participants from local community organizations to discuss the vision and need for ethical reviews of community-based research in the Waterloo Region. A cross-stakeholder working group was subsequently struck to explore next steps and conduct a local scan of current community-based research.
2008
November
Feasibility Study
CCBR led a 13-month formal needs assessment and feasibility study in collaboration with the Wellesley Institute. Over70 participants provided input, including academics, members of community organizations, and researchers.
2010
February
Study Results Shared
A community forum was held where the findings of the needs assessment were shared.One of the key recommendations was to consider providing accessible consultation support and formal ethics review processes for community-based research projects.
2011
CREO Formed
CREO was formed via a collaborative agreement between CCBR and the newly formed Community Research Ethics Board (CREB) with seed funding from the Trillium Foundation.
2012
Mandate Expanded
CREO’s mandate was expanded to include applications across Canada
2015
Incorporated as a Non-Profit
CREO formalized its existence by becoming an incorporated not for profit, officially called the Community Research Ethics Office (Canada) Corp.
2018 - 2023
Significant Growth

CREO underwent significant growth and development as it began reviewing increasing numbers of ethics applications on an annual basis

2022
Secondary Reviewers Added

CREO expanded beyond its narrow Board of Directors membership to create a pool of secondary reviewers to help respond to the growing demand for its services

2024
New Application Process
CREO introduced a new application screening process and form to better support applicants and further streamline the review process