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Your editorial The Right To Appoint (Jan. 15) misconstrues the nature of the problem with Rights & Democracy's board of directors. As a federal institution that reports to Parliament, the centre is by law independent and non-partisan. All board members, including our late president, Rémy M. Beauregard, were appointed by the current government; the serious debates at the board reported in the media testify to the plurality of opinions.

But this is not the issue. The employees of the centre have lost confidence in and are requesting the resignation of three board members for their actions against our president. The current problems between the staff and the directors in question are not partisan in nature. Rather, they are the result of numerous events, including last week's resignations of Sima Samar from Afghanistan and McGill Law professor Payam Akhavan from the board.

These incidents have led the employees to conclude that the board members in question have not been acting in the best interests of the centre.

Mr. Beauregard's sudden death has deepened the commitment of all the centre's employees to their important work promoting human rights and democracy in priority countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Burma, China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.

, director of Communications, Rights & Democracy

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