"Rights & Democracy" latest Harper victim / No

[Oscar]

"Rights & Democracy" latest Harper victim / No-Prorogation groups must continue to rally and seek alternatives !

From: "Janet M Eaton" <jmeaton@ns.sympatico.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 10:23 PM

Dear All:

Prorogation was the tip of the iceberg of Harper's dismantling of democracy in this country. Prorogation should be viewed within context of Harpers on-going destructive agenda which is documented to a limited extent by the media and moreso by some national NGOs among others.

The latest issue which has occurred with the " Rights and Democracy" agency is a further example of the harm Harper is doing to this country, our democratic traditions, and our international reputation.

Let's look at some of his attacks on democracy that proceeded proroguing:
(a) gagging of MP´s (b) gagging of senior bureaucrats, (c) muzzling the media - cancelling press conferences in the parliamentary press gallery, (d) shutting down essential 'access to information' registry and database, (e) cancelling funding for all manner of civil society groups (social justice, anti-poverty, environmental, feminist ) that recommend sound policy options for a principle-centred society (f) threatening to cut funding for political parties (g) Conservative Party chairpersons walking out on and thereby shutting down parliamentary committees, (g) Harper's manual of "dirty tricks" for his MPs on how to block the function of Parliamentary committees, (h) consulting with corporate sector and not rest of civil society groups as with the National Advisory Council on Competitiveness (NACC) and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) (i) producing aggressive attack ads on the opposition between election periods etc. j) failing to implement legislation passed by Parliament with which he disagrees k) ongoing interference in so-called independent agencies such as the RCMP review, the firing of Linda Keen from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and now this Rights and Democracy incursion.

According to Ed Broadbent, Founding president of Rights and Democracy, formally known as the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, this agency that promotes democracy internationally and in Canada, is the latest victim of the Harper government's drive to stamp extreme conservative views on everything it can. He calls recent developments there an "extraordinarily serious scandal."

"You have a government that has put people there not for their commitment to make independent judgments about human rights but to have a specific political agenda. There has been an incredibly vicious assassination of the integrity of an institution established to be independent of the government of the day," said Broadbent.

So we see that along w ith all that has gone before and continues to unfold, prorogation is part of a pattern of abuse of power wherein Harper has shown his disdain for Parliamentary process, for good governance and for responsible, accountable and transparent democratic process.

These are major reasons why the Canadians Citizen's Against Prorogation must be continued. All groups that rallied across the country should consider forming ongoing citizen's assemblies to work towards the reform of dysfunctional parliamentary and electoral process. In Wolfville, Nova Scotia we have formed a citizen's assembly to keep this disturbing issue and ominous behavior of a prime minister to out of touch with reality from further detroying all we hold dear on the front burner until the next election.
See following overview of Wolfville's intentions [insert below]

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-4246 ... nment.html

all the best,
janet

===============

Rights and Democracy shake-up an "extraordinarily serious scandal" -
Broadbent

http://www.publicvalues.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00570

Public appointments process is used to pursue ultra-conservative political agenda.

by Ish Theilheimer

OTTAWA, February 1, 2010, PublicValues.ca:

Rights and Democracy, the agency that promotes democracy internationally and in Canada, is the latest victim of the Harper government's drive to stamp extreme conservative views on everything it can, says its founding president.

Ed Broadbent, founding president of the Montreal-based organization formally known as the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, calls recent developments there an "extraordinarily serious scandal."

Troubles there became public in early January. Rights and Democracy's president, Rémy Beauregard, died of a heart attack immediately after a turbulent board meeting in which he and the Centre's staff were viciously attacked by recent political appointees over grants to organizations working on social justice issues in the Middle East. Harper's recent appointees charged the grants were going to anti-Israeli organizations with terrorist connections, despite extensive vetting with Canadian and international authorities.

"You have a government that has put people there not for their commitment to make independent judgments about human rights but to have a specific political agenda."

"This is a situation in which the government is using the appointment process to pursue a very specific political agenda that has resulted in an attack on the very integrity of Rights and Democracy," Broadbent told PublicValues.ca in a phone interview. Until now, the organization has always had political appointments, he said, "but it has never been subject to direct political influence."

Broadbent specifically requested people with political experience from all political parties to staff the organization. "I wanted people with political experience. The mandate was human rights and democratic development. There's nothing wrong with that. But never once did any cast a vote that had any political connection."

Now, he says, "you have a government that has put people there not for their commitment to make independent judgments about human rights but to have a specific political agenda, specifically about the Middle East. It's incredible."

The entire 47-member staff of Rights and Democracy has demanded that three board members, all recent political appointees, resign. They include David Matas, a lawyer with the pro-Israel B'nai Brith Canada; evangelist Michael Van Pelt of the think tank Cardus, and Jacques Gauthier, "who spent 20 years working on a doctoral thesis in which he argues that Jerusalem belongs to the Jews by international law" according to Paul Wells of Macleans, the reporter who has followed this story best and most closely.

"There has been an incredibly vicious assassination of the integrity of an institution established to be independent of the government of the day," said Broadbent. "It an attack on the internal work of the Centre's staff that has immense international credibility."

"What this does is it reflects on the ongoing interference of this government in so-called independent agencies." He cited the RCMP review, the firing of Linda Keen from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and the recent attacks on diplomat Richard Colvin over detainee abuse as further examples. "This government either repudiates advice and attacks personally the people who give it, or they don't reappoint people who demonstrated ability and commitment to human rights and democracy."

Broadbent is alarmed by the ban that Gauthier, now President of Rights and Democracy, has put on staff talking to media, the confiscation of cell phones from top staff, and the suspicious disappearance, in a reported "break-in", of three laptop computers from top staff's offices, all located in an 11th floor office building.

"It's pretty appalling for an organization dedicated to human rights," he said.

Some news articles of interest include:

How the Harperites ambushed the rights agency, Haroon Siddiqui, Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/
757981--how-the-harperites-ambushed-the-rights-agency

Rights and Democracy: Did the right hand know what the right hand was
doing?, by Paul Wells, Macleans
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/31/righ ... democracy-
did-the-right-hand-know-what-the-right-hand-was-doing/

Rights and Democracy rips itself apart, Paul Wells, Macleans
Posted: February 01, 2010

Public Values (PublicValues.ca) is a project of the Golden Lake
Institute and the online publication StraightGoods.ca

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Wolfville hosts cross-Canada rally all about good government

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-4246 ... nment.html

by Wendy Elliott/The Advertiser
View all articles from Wendy Elliott/The Advertiser
Article online since January 26th 2010, 4:16

Dozens of locals turned out to add their voice in Wolfville to anti-proroguement rallies across Canada January 23. M.Slipp View all pictures Wolfville hosts cross-Canada rally all about good government

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

Almost 100 people gathered inside a Wolfville hall January 23 to express their concerns about the Harper government´s prorogation of Parliament.

Billed as a public discussion and "speak out for democracy," the session was designed to allow all citizens, sitting in a circle, to share their concerns and offer suggestions for change.

Co-organizer Janet Eaton said the protest wasn´t just about proroguation, but to set in context "what´s been happening for the last four years."

Eighteen-year-old university student Jennifer Parlee said, "young Canadians know what democracy is and the country wants it."

She stated the government had descended to petty and personal political ploys.

"Some politicians need to put their differences aside and make the country better," she added.

Ninety-three-year-old Mary Ganong said she´d lived through many governments, and remembers especially the Duplessis regime in Quebec.

"We need to meet more often and let them know how we feel," she added.

Evoking padlocks against unions and police goons, she said, Harper´s tactics are requiring Canadians to get up on their hind legs and scream lest they lose their rights.

MORE:

http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-4246 ... nment.html