Three senior managers at the federal government’s human rights agency who were suspended for publicly declaring their lack of confidence in three Conservative appointees to their organization’s board of directors earlier this year have been fired.

The news was confirmed by lawyer Julius Grey, who is representing the three, on Tuesday.

Montreal-based Rights & Democracy was founded by the Conservative government under Brian Mulroney to encourage democracy and monitor human rights around the world. (CBC)Rights & Democracy, created under Brian Mulroney's Conservative government to encourage democracy and monitor human rights around the world, has been in turmoil since the Harper government appointed new board members last year.

The new members challenged grants being made to three human rights organizations known to be critical of Israel's human rights record.

Federal opposition politicians and the family of former president Rémy Beauregard, who died in January, are calling for an independent inquiry into the organization.

Since Beauregard's death, almost every staff member of Rights & Democracy has signed a letter stating non-confidence in the interim president and two board members.

The organization’s director of communications, Charles Vallerand, director of resources and administration Marie-France Cloutier, and director of policy, planning and programs Razmik Panossian were suspended without pay in January after they submitted a letter to the media expressing their concerns.

Grey said the three plan to contest their dismissals.

"I don’t want to go into the details," said Grey. "But it is my opinion, having read the notice, that it is completely illegal," he said.

The interim president of the organization, Jacques Gauthier, declined to comment on the situation. A spokesman called the issue "a private matter."

Nomination of president contested

Meanwhile, opposition to the federal government’s choice to replace Beauregard as president of Rights & Democracy continues to grow.

A leading Muslim group is adding its voice to those opposing the federal government’s choice to lead the Montreal-based human rights organization Rights & Democracy.

Groups are taking issue with the views of Gérard Latulippe, who has been nominated to serve as president of Rights & Democracy, contained in a document provided to a Quebec government commission studying the question of accommodations for religious and cultural minority groups. Latulippe's document "promotes a false fear of Islam," said Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of Canada's Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Those views are inappropriate in a publicly-funded organization such as Rights & Democracy, said Gardee.

"They are not really reflective of the values that are enshrined in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms," he said.

Immigrants from Muslim communities don’t integrate as easily as Americans or Haitians, Latulippe told the Bouchard-Taylor Commission in the 38-page document, adding that Quebec’s immigration policies are leading to an "unnecessary risk of fostering terrorism from within."The nomination of Gérard Latulippe, shown here in an archive photo, is being contested by opposition parties as well as Canada's Council on American-Islamic Relations. (CBC)

The document, submitted in 2007, also mentions accommodations made for the Hassidic community and the Sikh community.

Latulippe’s nomination as president of the organization last month by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has been criticized by all of the opposition parties who accuse the Conservative government of politicizing an internationally recognized human rights organization.

Those concerns were reiterated by NDP MP Paul Dewar on Tuesday.

"If Mr. Cannon wants to rehabilitate Rights & Democracy, he'll listen to the opposition parties when they say 'sorry, but Mr. Latulippe's not the guy to be president,'" Dewar said.

Latulippe was the resident director of the National Democratic Institute in Haiti. He served with Cannon as a Liberal in the Quebec legislature and lost his bid for a federal seat in 2000 while representing the now defunct Canadian Alliance.

Cannon declined to comment on the situation. He is expected to make a final decision on Latulippe’s future shortly, his office said Tuesday.