Evidence of meeting #10 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was know.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Rights & Democracy
No, no, no, I'm telling you that the staff has the right; personally, my way to manage an organization is to let the staff discuss even my ideas.
Liberal
President, Rights & Democracy
I may be, but I'm sorry, I need to answer your question.
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
I have another question. Mr. Lunney said he was not aware of any other organization that had questioned your moral authority. I'm surprised that Mr. Lunney would say that, being a permanent member of this committee, because the International Federation for Human Rights, representing 155 human rights groups worldwide, called on the government to reconsider their decision to appoint you as the agency's new president.
In fact they said--I'm following up on Dr. Patry's question--that you don't have the moral authority because of your statements that Muslim immigrants risked undermining the cohesion of Quebec society, your opposition to same-sex marriage, and your support for the death penalty.
I would like to know if your views on those matters have changed, because those opinions are not consistent, and can't be reconciled, with Canadian policy on multiculturalism, same-sex marriage, and capital punishment. Have your views changed?
President, Rights & Democracy
Look, I've worked for the democratic party organization. I've worked with people on the left. Audrey McLaughlin was the director of my political parties program. I worked with people on the right. I worked with Islamist parties. I was accepted everywhere. I worked with right-wing parties and left-wing parties around the world.
Liberal
President, Rights & Democracy
I'm not here, as a representative of Rights and Democracy, to discuss or debate my personal ideas, regardless of what they are. I have an obligation to—
Liberal
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
I'm sorry, Mr. Latulippe, but do you think your personal views, as expressed, are--
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
That's all the time we have.
Mr. Dewar, we're going to wrap it up with you. We have to finish at about half past, so you have four or five minutes.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Five, please. Thank you, Chair.
Mr. Latulippe, I want to go back to the money. Maybe it's my Scottish roots. I've calculated, so far, from what you have told me, that it is $381,000; we know that this bill is essentially for the work of Monsieur Gauthier and that it was directed, I think, through Mr. Braun. I guess what I'd like from you is that when you get those contracts, you give them to this committee, because we haven't been able to get them from the people who entered into them. I understand that none of these contracts were tendered, which I find astonishing. You know, how did BLG get their contract without competition?
I wish you to report to this committee, for obvious reasons, not only how much was paid out but how these contracts were entered into and tendered. I would appreciate that information, as soon as you get it, along with the amount of the honorariums paid, because I still find it disturbing.
I'll be frank, I don't care what other boards do. I want to know why this board was paying one of its board members money to advise that interim president. I would like to know, at the end of the day, what the amount of money was--you said $3,200, I think--and what other honorariums there were.
I'm just asking; if you could provide that, that would be great.
President, Rights & Democracy
I can answer you immediately on the matter of the calls—
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Well, you've given me all the numbers already, so I'm just asking, requesting, that when you get more, please send it in. Okay? Is that a fair request?
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
At the end of the day, I can say this: Mr. Latulippe, we have a problem. We have a board that went and fired three of its managers. According to most people we talked to, these were people who had been dedicated to this institute. You've told us that you have confidence in the people you talked to at the institute. You believe in their dedication. We have a chair and a former acting president who went off on a spending binge to go after people, in my opinion, hiring PR firms, hiring private investigation firms, hiring law firms, hiring whomever they could find, it seems. That's no way to run an institute with transparency. I have to say that this has got to stop.
Not only that--I'll come to a question here--you've noted the exemplary work the institute has done in Afghanistan. But here's the problem, Mr. Latulippe: the woman who heads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission was on the board of Rights and Democracy. As you know, she quit. Why? It was because of meddling. So you have a problem. We have a problem.
In my opinion--you might wish to respond to this--the solution to this problem is that we need a new board. If you're going to actually be successful, and you believe in--I trust what you say--the people who work for the institute....
I don't have any confidence in the board. I have no confidence that this chasm between the two, after the spending that's been engaged in, after the trust that has been broken, after a woman who we depend on, who has the Order of Canada.... You know that, right, that Ms. Samar has the Order of Canada, along with Nelson Mandela? She quit the board because of meddling, because of these board members.
I believe the solution, if you're going to be successful, is to replace the board.
President, Rights & Democracy
Mr. Dewar, I'm not responsible for appointments to the board, but I can tell you something: personally, I'm convinced that I can work with this board.
NDP
President, Rights & Democracy
You know, there is a human dimension to this problem.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
--and there's a human solution: to fire the board who is responsible for, really, taking an organization—we all agree it was working well, from the reports that we've had here—and basically sinking it.
President, Rights & Democracy
Mr. Dewar, I'm convinced that if you give it time, we will be able to close the gap and to bring closer the board and the staff toward the future and toward specifically the realization of our strategic plan. They both agree on the substance. On the substance, we are all on the same line.