Rights and Democracy, Montreal, Canada Palestinian human rights, Harper appoints Israel lobby member, Aurel Braun, death of Remy Beauregard, president of Rights and Democracy

Background: Rights and Democracy is a human rights organization set up by the Mulroney government in the 1980s to promote human rights causes around the world. The Harper government has installed its Zionist watchdogs who have hijacked the organization, lost the support of its entire staff and violated the basic rights of the now deceased president of the organization, Remy Beauregard in order to advance Israeli interests.

It has been almost a month since the Rights & Democracy story was first brought to public attention by the Quebec media but the coverage continues in full force. It is as if this story has become the catalyst that has exposed the how dangerous the Harper Zio-Cons and the Zionist truly are for Canadian democracy. Following are a number of these opinion pieces by Canadian journalists, some of them including reader comments indicating that Canadians no longer have any doubt that Harper is indeed very scary.

Now, I'm told, the Harper government will be adding a bold new element. It will speak to the shameful truth that a surprisingly large number of Canadian organizations have been functioning without enough Jews on staff. Some actually seem to have none at all. That is about to change.

The first penalty for those who fail to meet this new test of True Canadianism Strong and Free has, in fact, already been handed out. It began in Montreal with an international human rights group known as Rights and Democracy. It emerges, to the shock of most Canadians and the outrage of much of the Third World, that Rights and Democracy failed to have a single person of the Jewish persuasion on its staff.

Every government uses public spending to advance its goals and promote its world view. But none of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's predecessors punished foreign aid groups that spoke out on public issues. None demanded conformity to the ruling party's ideology.

Muzzling NGOs and meddling in arms-length organizations like Rights and Democracy will only diminish Canada's role on the world stage

But in Ottawa, the governing Conservatives evidently got it into their heads that this was a rogue agency that had to be brought to heel. According to various media reports, particularly offensive to the Conservatives were grants to groups that are critical of Israel. So they began appointing board members that reflect the government's pro-Israel view, including Braun. It was a hostile takeover of sorts.

Beauregard was responding now, in June, because it had taken three months for him to get his hands on the evaluation. Braun, Gauthier and Tepper had sent it to the federal government without showing it to Beauregard. They had fought his attempts to get a copy of his own job evaluation for months, incurring hefty legal bills. Finally, Beauregard submitted a request to the Foreign Affairs Department for his personal information under the Privacy Act. Braun, Tepper and Gauthier were shocked when Beauregard showed up with a copy of their handiwork and started reading his response.

The Harper government is being accused of trying to gag legitimate criticism of Israel, amid a bitter dispute over alleged Conservative interference with a government-funded rights agency.

Dozens of foreign non-governmental organizations that work in the field of human rights have written an open letter denouncing actions by Tory appointees on the board of Montreal-based Rights and Democracy.

And a former president of the arms-length agency, former Liberal cabinet minister Warren Allmand, is accusing the government of “a deliberate attempt ... to dampen and control public dissent and accountability.”

This is a very bold report by the CBC. In it, Wendy Mesley talks about Harper's cuts to Kairos and UNRWA and the Rights and Democracy controversy. At approximately 5 minutes into the report she interviews Frank Dimant of B'nai Brith who praises Harper for not trying to be an honest broker, not trying to weigh both sides and compares Palestinians to Nazis. The clip is followed by reader comments that clearly indicate that most Canadians do not share Stephen Harper or Frank Dimant's views.

The Harper government is being accused of trying to gag legitimate criticism of Israel amid a bitter dispute over alleged Conservative interference with a government-funded rights agency.