The Conservative government will not shut down Rights & Democracy, despite speculation to that effect in recent weeks, according to a source.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon pledged a week ago to intervene at the arm's-length agency, which is funded with more than $10-million in public money, but still has not made clear his plans. He is expected to do so as early as Monday.
A government source said the minister will continue to support the Montreal-based group, which promotes human rights and democracy abroad.
The agency's interim president, Jacques Gauthier, said the government is spending time and energy interviewing prospective candidates for the presidency and appears intent on seeing the agency stabilized.
“I have not been given any instructions to shut down Rights & Democracy. That's not my mandate. I'm there on an interim basis to stabilize the situation while the government finds the right future president,” Mr. Gauthier said.
The agency, created by Brian Mulroney's government in 1988, has been a source of negative headlines for the Conservatives since its former president, Rémy Beauregard, died after a heated board meeting in January.
At that meeting, two board members, allies of Mr. Beauregard, resigned in disgust, criticizing a group of newly appointed board members who had seized majority control. The new majority was critical of grants awarded by Mr. Beauregard to human-rights agencies in the Middle East that it felt were anti-Israel.
Interviews to select a new president are under way, and opposition parties will be consulted once a successor to Mr. Beauregard has been chosen.
On Friday, Mr. Gauthier also announced the hiring of a forensic auditor to examine the agency's books for the last five years. (The agency is already audited annually by Foreign Affairs and the Auditor-General.) He said although there is no direct evidence of financial impropriety on the part of any individual, “financial reviews have turned up transactions that require the attention of forensic auditors.”
“The difficulties we've faced over the last months were about a lack of transparency and accountability in certain areas, certain projects,” Mr. Gauthier said. “Every year for years, $300,000 or $400,000 was dispersed under these discretionary funds. Numerous questions were raised about the way these funds were spent on the basis of individual decisions by employees of Rights & Democracy, and concerns about whether or not when the money was transferred overseas it was in fact spent the way it should have been spent.”
Three employees have already been suspended pending an investigation of their work, a move that followed a rebellion among the agency's employees last month. Nearly all signed a letter stating they had lost confidence in the board and calling on the chair and his two deputies to resign.
The board also voted this week to close the Geneva office of Rights & Democracy. Opposition parties have called for a parliamentary inquiry, saying the agency, once a source of pride, has become a source of embarrassment for Canada.
