Panel Members

Dr. Jim Frideres

Dr. Jim Frideres began his academic career at the University of Manitoba after immigrating to Canada in 1971. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the University of Calgary where he rose through the administrative ranks to eventually become Associate Dean of Social Sciences and Associate vice-president (academic). His three-decade sojourn into the study of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada has culminated in his current position of the Director of the International Indigenous Studies program. In addition to his many popular and scholarly articles, Dr. Frideres has written one of the standard textbooks on Aboriginal People used in classrooms across North America. Ethics in the field and in the context of Aboriginal communities is just one of the areas that he has spent considerable time researching.

Dr. Frideres’ interest in ethics is long-standing and over his career he has carried out research in many international contexts, including India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Australia, and has investigated the ethical guidelines applicable to researchers in these venues. He has taught at a number of diverse universities--Dalhousie University, University of Hawaii, University of Hanoi, McQuarie University--where he investigated how ethics applied to the classroom setting. In addition, he was a private consultant for over a decade and has conducted research in the private sector. This comparative perspective has allowed him to assess some of the “best practices” that are in effect to ensure the high standards of ethical treatment of participants in social science research. He continues his active research career with funds from SSHRC and other sources and is now focused on a major pan-Canadian research project that involves assessing immigrant youths’ mental and physical health.