Individual provinces may also have specific research security requirements in addition to those mandated by the federal government. It is the responsibility of researchers who have joint projects with other academics to be aware of and fulfill these requirements.
Ontario guidelines
Applicants to federal research funding programs, including those administered by the Tri-agencies and the Canada Foundation for Innovation must adhere to the Government of Canada Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC) as well as any provincial guidelines in effect. The Government of Ontario has their own set of research security requirements for all applications to research funding programs under the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, including:
- Ontario Research Fund-Research Excellence (ORF-RE)
- Ontario Research Fund-Genomics (ORF-Genomics)
- Ontario Research Fund-Large Infrastructure Fund (ORF-LIF)
- Ontario Research Fund-Small Infrastructure Fund (ORF-SIF)
- Ontario Research Fund-College Fund (ORF-CF)
- Ontario Research Fund-Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund (ORF-BRIF)
- Early Researcher Awards (ERA)
Co-applicants on grants where funding is requested from the programs listed above are required to comply with the Ontario regulations even if the co-applicant does not reside in the province. Key features of the Ontario research security guidelines include:
- The collaboration period covers two (2) years prior to the date of the grant application.
- The definition of scientific collaboration includes, but is not limited to, co-authorship, co-publication, co-hosting of international conferences, joint research, or joint funding recipients. The definition also includes other relationships such as memorandum of understanding (MOU), partnership, joint venture, joint funding, joint degree/exchange program, graduate student supervision, visiting scholar, or foreign funded talent programs whereby individuals participated in any associated activities listed above.
- Ontario evaluates research risk using the federal government’s STRAC policy, but also from other sources, such as lists provided by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and the U.S. Department of Defense.
- Researchers outside of Ontario still need to comply if the grant has a funding component from the agencies listed above.
If you are an applicant or co-applicant on a grant with colleagues from Ontario, please contact research.security [at] mcgill.ca (the McGill Research Security & Compliance team.)
Other provinces
Alberta and Quebec are in the process of establishing their own requirements, but nothing has been announced. Other provinces have yet to make their own policies. Check this page for updates.