OTTAWA - Three senior managers at a government-funded rights agency rocked by allegations of Conservative meddling have been suspended, including one of its longest-serving employees.
A well-placed source within the organization told The Canadian Press that Marie-France Cloutier, Razmik Panossian and Charles Vallerand were suspended with pay from Rights and Democracy late Friday, pending an internal investigation.
The three were among the staff that had earlier declared non-confidence in the Conservative-appointed chairman and two other appointees on the board.
Cloutier, the resource and administrative director, has been with the organization since 1990, working alongside first president and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent.
The independent agency has been in turmoil for the last year, but the problems came to a head earlier this month when president Remy Beauregard died of a heart attack following a tense board meeting.
Beauregard, himself appointed by the Tories, had been in a struggle with three other board members over the direction of the agency, specifically on policy and funding decisions related to the Middle East.
The board members were upset that the organization had approved funding to a Palestinian rights organization called Al-Haq, and had raised the issue in a review of Beauregard's performance sent to the Privy Council Office in Ottawa.
At the time of his death, Beauregard was disputing the details of that review, which he said was conducted without his proper input. In a written response to that review, obtained by The Canadian Press, Beauregard said he was being used as a "scapegoat" for an attack on the reputation of the organization.
On the subject of Al-Haq, Beauregard said the group was backed by major rights organizations such as Amnesty International, and that Canadian diplomats had consulted in the past with its executive director. It has also received funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in the past.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was asked Monday if bodies funded by the government are now being expected to espouse a certain ideological view with regard to Israel. Kenney had said publicly that the government withdrew funding to aid group Kairos for supporting boycotts of Israel -- something that church-based organization vehemently denied.
"Every agency of the government has to be accountable to taxpayers and I think that's an important principle," Kenney told reporters.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon asked a senior bureaucrat to interview members of the agency's staff, but said through an aide there was "no investigation into this matter." Former presidents Broadbent and Warren Allmand, a former Liberal MP, have called publicly for an investigation.
"This is an internal matter at an arm's length agency, and I trust that it will be resolved as soon as possible," said Cannon.
Beauregard's supporters on the board wrote to the Privy Council Office, underlining that the board had actually delivered a positive review of Beauregard's work during a March meeting.
Staff declared non-confidence in those board members who had criticized Beauregard's performance. One of those members, Jacques Gauthier, was named interim president of the organization last week, and a media gag order issued.
Still, Cloutier, Panossian and Vallerand published a letter in newspapers Friday defending Beauregard's legacy.
"In all cases, and especially in politically sensitive areas like the Middle East, Beauregard's senior public servant instincts dictated that every precaution be taken to ensure Rights and Democracy's work was beyond reproach," they wrote.
A call to Rights and Democracy Monday was not immediately returned.
The Liberals have accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government of trying to sabotage the organization from within. NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar called Monday for a parliamentary committee to investigate the troubles at Rights and Democracy.
"We ask that the board itself cease and desist with all its activities until Parliament has a chance to look at this," Dewar said.
