INSTA-MICRO-RECAP: Well, you know it's likely to be a tense meeting when the first witness up confesses that, although she and her current (and former) colleagues are glad to be there, they're also afraid that they may face reprisals for agreeing to testify.

After nearly an hours' worth of opening statements from current and former R&D employees, during which several described, in some detail,  the "small gestures" by certain board members that "weakened and destabilized" Remy Beauregard in the year before his death, and which they fear have done the same to the organization itself, the trio called for the immediate release of the most recent audit -- commissioned more than a month ago by interim president Jacques Gauthier for reasons of "accountability" and "responsibility."

From the opposition side of the table, the questions ranged from the general -- what went wrong at R&D, and what, if anything, can the committee do to fix it? -- to the existential: What, Bob Rae wondered, did they really expect would happen after all but two employees signed an open letter calling for the resignation of board chairman Aurel Braun? Meanwhile, the government members sounded more like attorneys at deposition, quizzing the former employees about past actions and incidents with remarkable specificity, while complaining - repeatedly - that the committee shouldn't be involved in such micromanagement of an arms'-length agency.

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As noted in Orders of the Day, I'll be heading to the Wilds of West Block to liveblog the Foreign Affairs committee as they convene their very first official hearing into the situation at Rights and Democracy. The meeting kicks off at 11am, so check back for full coverage. 

UPDATE: For those of you reading this liveblog after the fact, you're in luck -- I've posted two of the documents referenced by the witnesses: an "inventory of incident" between R&D staff members and members of the board of directors between February 2009 and March 2010, and a copy of an email sent to staff by the management committee immediately following the funeral of Remy Beauregard. That should make it a little bit easier to follow the testimony: 

Tags: blackberry jungle, committee liveblogging, foreign affairs, r&dwatch, rights and democracy