Foreign Affairs committee  Well, they prepared the evaluations, but they would show them to me. I never tried to change them. I just let them go.

Foreign Affairs committee  They were discussed by the entire board. It wasn't done by a small committee of the board. The small committee might have prepared the initial documents. I can remember very well that I was asked to leave the room when they discussed my evaluation. I left the room and I was lat

Foreign Affairs committee  No, no.

Foreign Affairs committee  As I pointed out, there was never an attempt by the chair... I had three chairs. One was Maureen O'Neil. The next one was Lois Wilson. The next one was Kathleen Mahoney. They were strong personalities, and each one of them brought the evaluation, when the time came, to the full b

Foreign Affairs committee  That's not correct. We're saying if you disagree with the mandate... We had Conservatives, we had NDP on the board. They respected the mandate of the organization, which is that you act in accordance with the International Bill of Human Rights. That's your governing imperative. Y

Foreign Affairs committee  I would say, yes, much of it is.

Foreign Affairs committee  On your first point, the fact that the leaders of the opposition parties were consulted doesn't mean they approved. I don't know what their reaction was when they were consulted. I'm not sure how they responded to the Prime Minister when he approached each one of them. It's true

Foreign Affairs committee  You know, he was a Liberal candidate, but that says nothing about his bias with respect to the state of Israel. He has this extreme bias. For example, in the Durban 1 conference, he walked out before the government conference even started, whereas Irwin Cotler stayed and fought

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me answer that. You posed a question to the previous witnesses in which you asked, isn't the board supposed to make the policy for the organization? That's right, but the policy they make has to respect the governance imperative I referred to, which is total respect for the

Foreign Affairs committee  With regard to the first part of your question, there appears to be a similar pattern in a number of organizations, not only at Rights and Democracy. I myself am associated with Kairos with respect to aboriginal issues. That organization, along with Alternatives in Montreal, has

Foreign Affairs committee  I have already made recommendations in that regard.

Foreign Affairs committee  In the statute right now it says that the minister is supposed to consult with the opposition parties with respect to all appointments to the board. That's been done over the years. I doubt whether the opposition parties--and I say this with respect--often paid as much attention

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I want to first thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today, respecting this important issue. As you know, I served as president of Rights and Democracy from 1997 to 2002. Furthermore, I was a member of Parliament in 1988, when t