The Deschamps Report

This month marks 30 years since the publication of the Deschamps Report (Report on Control Mechanisms for Clinical Research in Quebec).

The Deschamps Report was commissioned by the Quebec government following a significant ethical scandal in Quebec’s biomedical research sector—the “Affaire Poisson”. (Read more about this scandal and the significance of the Deschamps Report in my upcoming book → https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/ethics-on-trial-protecting-humans-in-canadas-broken-research-system/9781459755970.html )

The Deschamps report provided a comprehensive evaluation of the ethical, legal, and operational frameworks governing clinical research. Most notably, it emphasized that research participant protection is a shared responsibility—a central theme that marked a significant evolution in our approach to ethical human research. It reframed human research participant protection not as a checklist or a gatekeeping function, but as a shared moral and structural commitment, requiring coordination, vigilance, and ethical integrity throughout the research lifecycle and across the entire research enterprise.

To our colleague Pierre Deschamps—thank you for reshaping the conversation. Your report’s insights continue to inform how we think about trust, transparency, and our shared duty to uphold human dignity in research. Your contribution remains profoundly relevant and has truly stood the test of time. Merci! ❤️

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