Emerging out of a country-wide desire to create a community of learning around this subject, as well as a network to share information and support, the Canadian Association of Action Research in Education (CAARE) - Association canadienne de la recherche-action en éducation (ACRAÉ) was established in June 2014. Specifically, it was brought about when the Canadian Journal of Action Research collaborated with the Canadian Association for Teacher Education (CATE) to host a pre-conference on the theme of Action Research at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education annual conference in St. Catharines’ Brock University. After keynote addresses from Jack Whitehead (Cumbria University), Steve Jordan (McGill), Ruth Dawson (ETFO) and Zoe Donoahue (Institute of Child Studies), the group of sixty came to the decision that a new association had to be created to promote the use of action research across the country.
By June 2015, CAARE-ACRAÉ became a fully functioning Special Interest Group of CATE. This included its ratified constitution, its first annual conference, and the election of the first slate of executive members.