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Government rights group spent $500K on outside help: documents

Tue - 22 Jun 10

Graeme Hamilton, National Post · Monday, Jun. 21, 2010

MONTREAL — The board members who have decided to shake up Rights and Democracy say their mission is to bring "accountability and transparency" to the organization, which receives about $11-million a year in federal funding.

Yet their commitment to the responsible spending of money intended for developing countries has resulted in more than $500,000 being paid to Montreal lawyers, auditors, private investigators and public-relations professionals in the first three months of this year. And the redaction of board minutes obtained by the National Post through an access-to-information request suggests their transparency has its limits.

More info +

Office Politics - National Post, Graeme Hamilton

Tue - 22 Jun 10

Graeme Hamilton, National Post · Tuesday, Jun. 22, 2010

With programs in troubled countries around the world, Rights and Democracy prides itself on its ability to provide urgent human rights help. But one day in 2007, it was a different kind of rights emergency that confronted the federally funded agency.

An article had been published that morning in the National Post, detailing the spending and travel of the organization's globe-trotting president, Jean-Louis Roy; a senior manager, Marie-France Cloutier, suspected an employee of providing embarrassing information to the newspaper and immediately sought legal advice on how far she could go in rooting out the suspect. The employee in question could be guilty of "disloyalty, malice and bad faith" if he had leaked information, a lawyer advised in a memo recently obtained by the National Post. Rights and Democracy would be within its rights to pore over his work computer.

Last Updated on Tue - 22 Jun 10 More info +

Voices - Voix

Thu - 17 Jun 10

Since 2006 the Government of Canada has systematically undermined democratic institutions and practices, and has eroded the protection of free speech, and other fundamental human rights.

It has deliberately set out to silence the voices of organizations or individuals who raise concerns about government policies or disagree with government positions.