Rights & Democracy welcomes Rémy M. Beauregard as its new President

Mr. Beauregard has led a distinguished career in the promotion and protection of human rights in Canada and internationally. Among his many accomplishments, he has served as the Executive Director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and has worked with United Nations agencies and civil society organizations for the establishment of national human rights institutions in numerous developing countries. He also assisted with the creation of the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies and served as its first Executive Secretary. 

Mr. Beauregard will replace Jean-Paul Hubert, who has served as interim President since December 3, 2007 while the Government of Canada conducted an open call for candidates.

“The Board of Directors and staff look forward to working with Mr. Beauregard and benefiting from his extensive experience in managing and strengthening human rights agencies in Canada and overseas” said Janice Stein, Chairperson of Rights & Democracy’s Board of Directors. “We also welcome the fact that Mr. Beauregard has worked in a number of Rights & Democracy’s priority countries and with a number of our institutional partners. We wish him every success for his important mandate.”

The President of Rights & Democracy is an Order-in-Council appointment of the Government of Canada. Mr. Beauregard will begin his five year term on July 7^th.

Rémy M. Beauregard (BA [History], University of Ottawa,1969; MA [Public Administration], École nationale d’administration publique, 1984) held senior positions in the Ontario public service from 1986 to 2001. In 1994, he was appointed Executive Director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, a position he held until his retirement from the Ontario public service. He also established the permanent secretariat of the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies and became its first executive secretary.

At the international level, Mr. Beauregard has worked as an adviser on governance and public service. He advised the Legal and Constitutional Commission of Rwanda on planning for the 2003 referendum on Rwanda’s new constitution. He also provided advice on the development of legislation for a national human rights institution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From 2003 to 2006, he was International Institutional Development Advisor to the Uganda Human Rights Commission. In 2005, Mr. Beauregard developed the Policies and Procedures Manual of Trinidad and Tobago’s Integrity Commission. He worked with War Child Canada in 2006 to implement and manage the Northern Uganda Legal Defence Project for children affected by conflict. In 2007, he provided public ethics training to officials of the provinces of Beijing and Hebei.

Rémy M. Beauregard has been Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Sudbury’s Laurentian University since 2001.