Kind of a sensationalist headline, but the tl;dr is that Canada lacks a federal retraction and other misconduct in biomedical research body - unlike the US, which has one (for now).
By contrast, the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, a federal body which oversees misconduct in federally funded biomedical research, publicly lists all confirmed cases.
In 2010, the Council of Canadian Academies — an independent body that supports science-based policy — recommended the government create a Canadian Council for Research Integrity, a national office similar to the U.S. Office of Research Integrity. Canada never moved ahead with the proposal, and has no current plans to do so.
I have been advocating for a Canadian office of research integrity for 25 years and multiple federal governments, met with many MPs. Short story: no one gives a shit, because no one in Ottawa takes research seriously and never has.
Canada is a haven of fraudsters in science. Not hard to spot. When a lab publishes a manuscript every 11 days for 30 years and gets every award and millions on funding, there is a fundamental problem.
CDN researchers get away with things that would lose their jobs, funding, and remove institutional funding in the US (see Duke having to return $200M).
The agencies punt integrity to institutions, who have a clear conflict of interest. This results in >300 active investigations, 85 alone at UHN, that have an average resolution time of 15 years, I.e. kick the ball forward until the researcher retires.
…only now?
