Posted: Thursday, 13 May 2010

Rights & Democracy is an independent non-partisan Canadian institution created by Parliament in 1988 to defend and promote universal human rights and to support the development of democratic institutions and practices around the world. Its independence is now under attack by a series of government appointments to the Board of Directors that is threatening the non-partisan mandate of this world recognized institution.

The struggle for control of Rights & Democracy by the government appointees on the Board of Directors has spilled into the public realm. News reports of staff being dismissed, bullied and threatened by new board members, and the death of the internationally-respected Director Rémy Beauregard have led to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade to hold hearings into what is happening at Rights & Democracy.

Sign the petition to add your voice to those who see the government’s interference in the mandate of Rights & Democracy as a sad statement on the state of human rights and democracy in Canada today.