McGill and the Military: Quebec University Hides Ties in Somali Psych. Study

McGill researchers concealed military ties from human subjects in violation of ethics rules

by Demilitarize McGill

Researchers funded by the Canadian military at McGill's psychology department lied to Somali Canadian research subjects about the military's involvement in a 2012 study, in a serious breach of research ethics. This disclosure is among several contained in a summary of findings newly published by Demilitarize McGill, a campus group opposed to military research.

In 2012 Professor Donald Taylor and graduate student Michael King of McGill reported to the "Socio-Cognitive Systems Section" of Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) on military-funded research investigating young Somali Canadians and their ostensible propensity to support terrorism.

[View the report here]

Though provisions of the Tri-Council Policy Statement, which governs research ethics across Canada, require informed consent to include a "statement of the research purpose in plain language" as well as "the identity of the funder or sponsor," McGill researchers communicated neither the military purpose nor the military financing of the research to subjects, according to the consent form included in the report.

The disclosure comes as McGill prepares to begin a research policy review process, which Principal Suzanne Fortier has offered as an answer to mounting student opposition to military research. According to Demilitarize McGill member Mona Luxion, "never has it been more clear that the route to restricting military research on campus is not through a policy review.

McGill can't even meet the minimal ethics standards they've set for themselves. The disregard for research ethics shown by Prof. Taylor and the University shows that when research policy makes things inconvenient for military researchers at McGill, they will simply find a way around it, or ignore it."

Demilitarize McGill contends that the research itself "functions as a justification for the Canadian state's racial profiling and the targeting of migrants and people of color by its police and intelligence agencies [and while] claiming to 'give a voice to Somali Canadians,' ... lends an academic veneer of legitimacy to racist surveillance and policing practices."

"Conducting research on people which asks them to reveal highly personal details about their feelings and beliefs, their religion, their identity, without telling them that the research is designed to increase the state's capabilities to surveil them, is indefensible," says Demilitarize McGill member Kevin Paul.

The theme of the Demilitarize McGill document is "McGill’s Complicity in Racialized State Violence and the Repression of Social Struggles." Other findings include research by a computer science professor, Derek Ruths, tied to DRDC, CSIS, the RCMP, and the CIA, on social network analysis and control theory.

In a 2014 paper, Prof. Ruths wrote that his research is applicable to controlling social unrest. Demilitarize McGill also points to the domestic policing applications of McGill's drone research, writing that "the governments McGill partners with on military drone [R&D] are beginning to deploy drones domestically against protests, and its corporate partners are marketing drones for the same purpose."

Demilitarize McGill began carrying out blockades of military research labs at McGill last winter. The group plans to hold an open meeting in mid-September, where students will be invited to discuss issues surrounding military research and get involved in organizing opposition.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 August 2014

Media contacts:

Kevin Paul

Isaac Stethem