Stephen Harper’s homegrown human rights problem
Stephen Harper is in trouble for being ham-fisted with Parliament and several public institutions. He has also caused a ruckus by penalizing those who dare criticize Israel.
Fused together, those two traits can be combustible enough. Adding a third element, catering to his party’s conservative ideologues, the Prime Minister has created a major crisis at Canada’s leading international human rights agency.
The entire staff has rebelled at Rights and Democracy, the Montreal-based institution that backs Canada’s foreign policy by supporting the rule of law in such troubled spots as Haiti and Afghanistan.
Forty-five of 47 staffers, both management and union, are demanding the firing of the Harper-appointed chair of the board, Aurel Braun, plus his vice-chair and another director…[more]
