Thank you, Mr. Rae.
Rights and Democracy had three very distinguished international members. Mr. Riveras Franck of Bolivia, as I mentioned, was consulted by Minister Kent and Minister Fletcher on democracy promotion in the Americas. Ms Sima Samar is a recipient of the Order of Canada, one of the only people, other than Nelson Mandela... Ms Soyata Maïga is the African human rights commissioner on womens' issues. To make these kinds of defamatory accusations against them I think speaks to the attitudes, frankly speaking, of the board and exactly what they did to Rémy Beauregard and anyone who stood in their way.
What's interesting is the idea that because a student intern was sent to Bamako, Mali, to assist Ms Soyata Maïga, that was the way Rémy bought her vote. That's just astonishing, to suggest that Sima Samar, who received $8 million for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission from CIDA over the years, was being bought by Mr. Beauregard. The same accusation appeared strategically yesterday in Canwest, where I'm accused of having requested a nomination to a UN position, which is absolutely baseless. I have the e-mail right before you where I asked for the advice of Mr. Beauregard in relation to a commission of inquiry for war crimes in Sri Lanka, which was not established by the UN, which this government promoted, and which members of this government wanted me to participate in. I asked for his advice about a possible nomination. But if the greatest accusation they can come up with against me is that I wanted to help the victims of mass murder in Sri Lanka, well, I stand guilty as charged.
We have to remember that they have hired a private investigative firm and spent tens of thousands of dollars to go through thousands of Rémy Beauregard's e-mails, and this is the best accusation they can come up with. I think they're not getting good value for their money.