This email from Melodie Tilson of the Non Smoker's Rights Association provides an update about the way IDRC dealt with Barbara McDougall's conflict of interest and the demands from the international tobacco control community that she resigns her position as IDRC's Chair.
Dear colleagues:
First of all I would like to thank all of you who responded to the request for help and wrote letters to the IDRC Board of Directors calling for the resignation of the Chair, Barbara McDougall, because she had until March 31 of this year also served on the board of Imperial Tobacco Canada.
I am pleased to report that IDRC Board members were inundated with hundreds of letters from tobacco control and international development organizations as well as concerned individuals. Many of you received email replies from the President, David Malone, prior to the Board meeting last week and shared them with this listserv.
Malone's frustration with the barrage of letters calling for McDougall's resignation is evident in his characterization of the "mass mailing" as "harassment." Just prior to the Board meeting, on June 21, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published a strongly-worded editorial denouncing Canada's "perceived lack of leadership in global tobacco control" and urging McDougall to step down.
The issue was discussed at the IDRC Board meeting last week. Both the Board and Barbara McDougall herself issued statements following their deliberations.
I am disheartened to report that McDougall remains as Chair of IDRC despite our collective best efforts. In their statements both the Board and McDougall expressed "regret" at the "perceptions of conflict of interest" in this case, either failing to understand or acknowledge the real conflict in a one-time tobacco industry apologist sitting on the board of an international development agency that works in tobacco control.
As well, both the Board and McDougall reaffirmed their "sincere desire" to work with their partners to fight poverty and pursue tobacco control in developing countries, without accepting responsibility for the continued repercussions of the conflict of interest they created..
McDougall's chairmanship of the IDRC has clearly put a black mark on tobacco control in Canada and Canada's reputation in the global tobacco control arena. The Canadian tobacco control community, however, does not believe that continued pressure on the IDRC or the Canadian government will yield a different outcome re McDougall. Moreover, McDougall's chairmanship of IDRC is only one example of Canada's breach of the letter and/or spirit of the Article 5.3 Guidelines. Thus we intend to use the McDougall debacle to press hard in the coming months for implementation of Article 5.3 Guidelines across the federal and provincial governments.
We look forward to working with our global colleagues to determine precisely what measures governments need to put in place to be in full compliance with 5.3 Guidelines and to raise awareness among governments of the importance of doing so at the earliest possible opportunity.
Best wishes,
Melodie Tilson
Director of Policy
Non-Smokers' Rights Association
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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