Canadian University Institutional Review Boards (IRB) assess action research proposals based on the ethical protection of participants, the methodology, and any potential implications for human participants involved in the qualitative study. There are more disadvantages than advantages through this ethical review process.This positional paper analyzes complex issues including: the implications that are intertwined with ethics in qualitative action research with human participants when assessed by IRBs; the challenges associated with autoethnography in terms of whether IRBs can ethically assess research proposals properly; and recommendations for the future review of qualitative action research within Canadian universities.