rightsanddemocracymovement.org

cc. Hon. Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs

22 January 2010

Mr. Prime Minister,

The Crisis at Rights and Democracy

We, concerned members of Canada's academic and legal communities, write to urge you to ensure that your Government takes action to correct the situation at Rights and Democracy. We believe that a prompt and effective response is essential in order to allow this vital organization to fulfill the role envisaged for it by Parliament.

As you know, Rights and Democracy has been profoundly shaken. Within the space of a week, a divisive board meeting has seen the non-renewal of one board member's mandate and the resignation of two others. Only hours later, the organization's President, Rémy Beauregard, died unexpectedly. The organization's staff then launched an appeal for the resignation of the chair and two other members of the board.

These developments are the apparent culmination of tensions that have developed as new members have joined the organization's board of directors (an autonomous body composed of 10 government-appointed and three international members). The organization's staff is reportedly of the unanimous view that three of the appointed members put inappropriate pressure on the deceased president, and failed to act in the best interests of the organization. We are troubled by reports of a range of pressures being brought to bear on the organization in order to align its work with current governmental policy with respect to the Middle East, women's and indigenous rights, and UN bodies.

Such a situation cannot be allowed to persist. Rights and Democracy plays an important role in promoting human rights and democracy around the world. Established under a law of Parliament in 1988, the organization is tasked with "the promotion, development and strengthening of democratic and human rights institutions and programs that give effect to the rights and freedoms enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights." Notwithstanding perennial debates on emphasis and approach, the promotion of fundamental rights and freedoms has been the subject of a broad social and political consensus in Canada since before the organization's founding. Apart from its inherent value, support for a rights-based international system is seen by many as contributing to
Canada's interests and enhancing a positive perception of Canada abroad.

Several of the undersigned have had direct experience with Rights and Democracy and can speak to its professionalism, its effectiveness, and its commitment to a non-partisan approach – qualities recently affirmed by the Five-Year Review of the organization, tabled in Parliament in 2009. Beyond its immediate impact – on fundamental freedoms, women's rights, indigenous peoples, or the reform of democratic institutions in Africa, Latin America, Afghanistan, Haiti and elsewhere – the organization's work underscores
Canada's role in the global community's 60-year effort to ensure decent conditions of life, human rights and democracy in the world.

What is at issue with respect to the board of Rights and Democracy is not whether a given member was appointed by the present as opposed to by a previous government. After all, Mr. Beauregard, like Mr. Akhavan (one of the board members who resigned in protest), was appointed by the same government as the members cited by staff in their statement. Moreover, it is common ground that the board is to determine the organization's direction without being bound by the government's preferences, in line with its founding law, under which the organization's reports are reviewed by Parliament.
What is essential is that board members individually and collectively respect the mission and non-partisan character of the organization, as defined by Parliament. Chosen on the basis of their experience and expertise, board members are then required to act professionally, in good faith and in the best interests of the organization in the exercise of their functions. In addition – and notwithstanding its wide discretion in whom it appoints – the Government is obliged to choose board members with the aptitudes, skills and judgment needed for maintaining a working atmosphere favorable to the fulfillment of the organization's mandate among both staff and board members.

In the present case, the unprecedented appeal by staff underscores the depth of discontent with some of the existing board among those charged with carrying out its decisions. Indeed, reports go so far as to raise questions of the professionalism and appropriateness of some conduct. In this context we recommend – if resignations are not forthcoming on their own – that the composition of the board be re-examined with a view to forming an appropriately diverse and balanced body able to ensure the stability of the organization, to promote the pursuit of its mandate as established by Parliament, and to reestablish the confidence of its staff.

In alphabetical order:

Sharryn J. Aiken, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University
Rémi Bachand, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Reem Bahdi, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor
Natasha Bakht, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of Ottawa
Jean-Guy Belley, Sir William C. Macdonald Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill
University
Stéphanie Bernstein, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Michelle Bonner, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria
Pierre Bosset, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Susan B. Boyd, Professor, Chair in Feminist Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia
Gaëlle Breton-Le Goff, Associate Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Bruce Broomhall, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Eugénie Brouillet, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Laval University
Stephen Brown, Associate Professor, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Karen Busby, Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba
Doris Buss, Associate Professor, Law Department, Carleton University
Michael Byers, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of British
Columbia
Maxwell A. Cameron, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia
Rachel Chagnon, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Anjali Choksi, Lawyer, Hutchins Caron & Associates, Montreal
John Currie, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of Ottawa
Hugo Cyr, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Robert M. David, Part-Time Professor, School of International Development and Global Studies, Ottawa University; School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University
Margaret Denike, Assistant Professor, Coordinator of the Human Rights Program, Carleton University
Marie-Eve Desrosiers, Assistant Professor, School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa
Mathieu Devinat, Associate Professor, Faculy of Law, University of Sherbrooke
Richard Devlin, Professor, Schulich School of Law and University Research Professor, Dalhousie University
Geneviève Dufour, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke
Bernard Duhaime, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Isabelle Duplessis, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Montreal
Richard Elliott, Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Mohammad Fadel, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
David Fewer, Director, Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Laurence Léa Fontaine, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Pierre Foucher, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Pascale Fournier, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Gaële Gidrol-Mistral, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Dominique Goubau, Professor, Faculty of Law, Laval University
Julius H. Grey, Lawyer, Grey Casgrain, Montreal
Rachel Grondin, Professor, Faculty of Law (Civil Law), University of Ottawa
Élise Groulx, Lawyer, President, International Defence Attorneys Association, Montreal
Sakej Henderson, Research Director, Native Law Centre of Canada,University of
Saskatchewan
International Defence Attorneys Association, Montreal
Pierre Issalys, Professor, Faculty of Law, Laval University
Martha Jackman, Professor, Faculty of Law (Common law), University of Ottawa
Diana Juricevic, Acting Director International Human Rights Program, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Fetze Kamdem, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Civil Law), University of Ottawa
Alana Klein, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Fannie Lafontaine, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Laval University
André Laliberté, Associate Professor, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Louis-Philippe Lampron, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Laval University
François Larocque, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of Ottawa
Sébastien Lebel-Grenier, Law and Professor of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University
of Sherbrooke
Yves Le Bouthillier, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of Ottawa
Lucie Lemonde, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Katherine Lippel, Professor, Faculty o Law (Civil Law), University of Ottawa
A. Wayne MacKay, Professor of Law, Shulich School of Law, Dalhousie University
Patrick Macklem, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Audrey Macklin, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Finn Makela, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke
Ravi Malhotra, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of
Ottawa
Pacifique Manirakiza, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of Ottawa
Debbie Mankovitz, Lawyer, Grey Casgrain, Montreal
Allan Manson, Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University
Egla Martinez, Assistant Professor, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Human Rights Program, Carleton University
Heather McLeod-Kilmurray, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law),
University of Ottawa
Frédéric Megret, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Liette Moreault, Lawyer and Librarian, Law Library, University of Quebec at Montreal
Ruth Murbach, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Val Napoleon, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta
Vrinda Narain, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Philip Oxhorn, Associate Professor and Founding Director, Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Charles-Maxime Panaccio, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Civil Law), University of Ottawa
Stephen Park, Director, Law Library, University of Quebec at Montreal
Elisabeth Patterson, Lawyer, Hutchins Caron & Associates, Montreal
Suzanne Philips-Nootens, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke
Pablo Policzer, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Latin American Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Calgary
René Provost, Director, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism and Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Saeed Rahnema, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, York University
Dénise Réaume, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
André Riendeau, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Darryl Robinson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University
David Robitaille, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Civil Law), University of Ottawa
François Roch, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Annie Rochette, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Stéphanie Rousseau, Professor, Department of Sociology, Laval University
Bruce Ryder , Assistant Dean, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Anne Saris, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Craig Scott, Professor of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, and Director, Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security
Penelope Simons, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of Ottawa
Bill Skidmore, Instructor, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies (Human Rights Program), Carleton University
Susan Spronk, Assistant Professor, School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa
Joanne St. Lewis, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Common Law), University of Ottawa
Nicolaos Strapatsas, Adjunct Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of British Columbia
François Tanguay-Renaud, Assistant Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School
Sophie Thériault, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Mark Toufayan, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law (Civil Law), University of Ottawa
Luc B. Tremblay, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Montreal
University of Ottawa Human Rights Research and Education Centre
Shauna Van Praagh, Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Jean-Pierre Villagi, Professor, Department of Law, University of Quebec at Montreal
John D. Whyte, Professor, College of Law, University of Saskatchewan
Claire Young, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia