Friday, February 19, 2010

The Sad Last Days of a Human Rights Campaigner














Last week Paul Wells wrote about Rémy Beauregard's losing battle with a pack of Con appointees who took control of Rights and Democracy.

For the longest time this wholesale transformation at Rights and Democracy seemed like it would escape public attention. Then came the astonishing events of January.

That’s when Rémy Beauregard died in his sleep after another deeply acrimonious meeting of the Rights and Democracy board, at which Braun’s faction for the first time held a voting majority.

Today in La Presse, Agnes Gruda adds a small but poignant detail.

Déjà, la veille de la réunion du 7 janvier, Rémy Beauregard avait perdu une bataille : sa rencontre avec un comité chargé d'évaluer son travail avait mal tourné. Démoli, il avait pleuré toute la nuit, selon ce que sa femme a confié à plusieurs proches. La nuit suivante, il a été terrassé par une crise cardiaque.

Already, the day before the meeting of the 7th of January, Rémy Beauregard had lost a battle: his meeting with a committee evaluating his work had turned out badly. Devastated, he wept all night, according to what his wife told several close friends. The following night, he was brought down by a heart attack.


Can you believe that? Can you believe how those nasty bullies treated that decent human rights campaigner?

The new masters of Rights and Democracy will have to live with that, but I want a public inquiry. I want to know who in the PMO orchestrated this sad and sordid affair.

I want to know why from Rights and Democracy to the Con assault on KAIROS, it's ALWAYS about Israel.

Beauregard’s written response to the performance evaluation, obtained by Maclean’s and revealed here for the first time, makes clear the extent to which this extraordinary controversy at Rights and Democracy was about the stance the organization, and by extension the government of Canada, should take with regard to Israel.

I want to know why a powerful group of Christianist theocons in the PMO thinks it can get away with shaping our foreign policy to conform with Old Testament prophesy.

And I'd like the police to assist that public inquiry by finding out who stole the computers.

Yup. Paul Wells and others like our own Dr Dawg have been doing an excellent job of shining a light on this murky, ghastly story.
But we need a public inquiry.

Because when a group of religious fanatics in government try to turn a democracy into a theocracy. And a Canadian Prime Minister doesn't do anything to stop this, because he's one of them, the truth can't wait.

Because that truth could DESTROY the Cons.


And of course because poor Rémy Beauregard deserves one.

And I hate BULLIES...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But the Cons have never cared about human values. The Conscience of the Nation is nowhere, nothing. It is biz as usual which we will see March 3rd. Deals have been made, and then the deals will be stabbed thru the heart. And Canadians will continue with biz as usual. *sigh*

Simon said...

hi Toe...Lordy. And I thought February in Canada was depressing enough. :)
I do hope you're wrong though, because if Canadians don't finally wake up and understand what's going on, they will deserve the country they get...

crf said...

It's hard to take it when bullies come in and begin defacing your life's work. All the effort to build up a credible organisation can still be easily wrecked by unknowledgable and unprofressional people.

Tragic situations like this one are the norm in many countries in the world: countries which advance slowly, which are as likely to take two steps back as one step forward. Nothing is stopping Canada from turning into one of those countries, except the collective will of its people. Canadians need to begin caring, because there is no other power to stop our country from sliding further. It's up to us. No other power. Us. We cannot abdicate our responsibility.