Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

Tobacco Control in Africa: People, Politics and Politicies

Edited by Jeffrey Drope, this book (with a preface by Jeffrey's sister Jacqui) is a presentation of the ATSA project co-published by Anthem Press and IDRC. Available as hardcover via Amazon for a pricey $99. When clicking on the Amazon look inside function you can see some of the book content while it seems the whole content can be accessed and downloaded for free in a pdf format via the digital library of IDRC. Anthem Press mentions there is an e-book version but we could not find it. A French version is to be published by the Presses de l'Université Laval and IDRC under the title: La lutte contre le tabagisme en Afrique. 

Tobacco Control in Africa: People, Politics and Politicies, a personal opinion

In his foreword, Dr. Akinkugbe talks of a "magnus opus, a monumental work", while for Evan Blecher, it "sets new standards for tobacco control research on the continent".
Written by IDRC's grantees, published (paid for) by IDRC, this is an hymn to IDRC: self-inflated, self-congratulatory, self-serving, it conveniently ignores the many problems and failures linked to the ATSA program. Considering the amounts invested, the final result is incredibly small and of very limited use. A very inconvenient and unacceptable assessment for all those who were/are part of the IDRC system. The book is a PR smokescreen for a very defective and wasteful project.

Where does the tobacco control community stand now about IDRC?

One year ago it looked like IDRC was under a boycott because of the presence at its helm of Barbara McDougall  a former Imperial Tobacco Director. One year later the World Health Organization and the American Cancer Society organize in Johannesburg a meeting to praise IDRC's work. What gives?  Has the conflict of interest that was seemed so shocking disappeared? Is an 11 months suspension an adequate sentence and is IDRC now to be reintegrated fully within the tobacco control community? What independent evaluation has been done and published to explain how IDRC has used the Gates Foundation money? Is IDRC now an acceptable partner to promote tobacco control?

ACS, WHO to hold ATSA consultation meeting in Johannesburg on February 3d : is Barbara McDougall invited?

All is well again with IDRC as ACS and WHO embrace the ATSA work and effectively forgive the McDougall story. Meanwhile the "independent" evaluation of the ATSA program is still not public. Is Barbara McDougall going to attend this meeting? What a short memory. Is such a change of attitude acceptable? What do you think?

This announcement was posted on the site of the African Consortium.

Melodie Tilson (Non Smoker's Rights Association - Canada) about IDRC

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. 

IDRC: What happened to the $3.505.535 (67% of the Gates Foundation money) that were not allocated to African partners? Is such a repartition acceptable?

How did IDRC use the Gates Foundation's money? Why did African entities only receive 33% of the budget? What happened to the 67% that were not allocated to African partners? 

Comment est-ce que le CRDI a dépensé l'argent de la Fondation Gates? Est-il acceptable que seulement 33% des crédits soient allés aux partenaires Africains?

Qu'a fait le CRDI des 3.505.535 $ qui n'ont pas été attribués aux partenaires Africains? Qu'est-il advenu des 67% du budget non attribués aux partenaires Africains? Pourquoi les partenaires Africains n'ont-ils reçu que 33%?

The Globe and Mail does not want to blow smoke on Barbara McDougall

In an editorial the Toronto's newspaper defends IDRC and Barbara McDougall. Not very convincing and frankly cynical at the end. Readers, including Dr. Cordell Neudorf, Chair, Board of Directors, Canadian Public Health Association differ (read below).

In Tobacco Control Journal: IDRC's story as told by Rachel Kitonyo

In the News Analysis section of the June issue of Tobacco Control, Rachel Kitonyo tells the story of IDRC/ATSA as she sees it.

Maybe she could have said the discovery that Barbara McDougall was a board member of Imperial Tobacco was first published on this blog as our Editor was the one who found about this problematic connexion.

A question worth asking IDRC's David Malone's: what did IDRC do with the $3.505.535 that were not allocated to African grantees? Is it a good practice? Is it acceptable?

On December 2007, the Gates Foundation awarded $5.274.477 to IDRC to promote tobacco control in Africa. At the very same time, Barbara McDougall who was a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada was promoted to the position of Chair of the IDRC Board of Governors. Under her chairmanship the African grantees received (according to our calculation) CAD 1.768.942 that is 33.5% of the grant awarded by the Gates Foundation. What happened to the 66.5% that were not allocated to African grantees?

IDRC increasingly ostracized by health groups worldwide according to the Globe and mail

In this article the Globe and mail explains IDRC's representatives have been ostracized from attending a recent tobacco control meeting in Ghana and rejected as sponsor for a conference in Australia and a special issue by the Lancet. IDRC's argument to deny and/or minimize the conflict of interest of its Chair does not appear to be very convincing.

Open Medicine calls for the resignation of former Cabinet Minister Barbara McDougall

In a strongly worded editorial published today in Open Medicine, the editorial team calls for the resignation of former Cabinet Minister Barbara McDougall, who currently chairs the board of governors of the International Development Research Council (IDRC) and was, until March 2010, also a member of the board of directors of Imperial Tobacco.

A very interesting post about admitting a mistake and learning from it or keeping it all under the carpet

This post is about how Foundations should admit mistakes and learn from them. It describes how Bill Gates dealt with the difficulty of eradicating polio and how it is important no to put a failure under the carpet.

Unfortunately this is what happened with the IDRC grant. It is one thing to announce a grant is "terminated" but what's next? and what lessons if any are learned about the management of tobacco control grants in Africa?

IDRC's notice about the continuation of the ATSA project: many questions still pending.

IDRC's notice published on their website explains they "are re-allocating other IDRC funds to this priority area in order to honour its grant agreements with researchers in relation to ATSA".

How much money is IDRC "re-allocating"? What are the grants concerned? Can they all be considered as "research"? The notice does not say. Last but not least, will the African advocates accept to continue to work with IDRC while Barbara McDougall still chairs the Board of Governors? 

Suite et fin du projet ATSA: un message du CRDI qui manque de précision

Le CRDI a posté sur son site un message expliquant qu'il entendait "réaffecter des fonds pour tenir ses engagements" afin de permettre la poursuite des "activités de recherche". Le CRDI ne précise pas le montant de ces crédits et ne fournit pas non plus une liste des projets concernés se contentant d'indiquer: "Les bénéficiaires sont invités à adresser toute question au personnel de RMCT au CRDI." 

The "external review" supposed to assess IDRC's work will not be available before October 2010

We have reported about the "external review" initiated by IDRC about their activities in tobacco control during the last 5 years. We inquired to find out when it would be available to the public. It looks like it will not be before October 2010 and in a very limited version (read below Angela Prokopiak's email). Angela is IDRC's communications director.

The IDRC/Gates Foundation story is also in the New York Times but they don't say Barbara McDougall's affiliation with BAT was discovered by Tobacco Control in Africa's blogger Philippe Boucher

The New York Times mentions "tobacco control activists" but fails to identify Tobacco Control in Africa and Philippe Boucher's role in finding out Barbara McDougall's affiliation with Imperial Tobacco Canada. Here is the link to the March 7 initial posting on this blog that was completed by a posting the same day on Globalink, the advocacy listserve of the International Union Against Cancer (access password protected). The information was also available in French. 

Source: We found the information about the New York Times via the very valuable daily e-newsletter of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The IDRC/Gates Foundation story is also in the Seattle Times

In the Business of giving blog, where Kristi Heim reports about philanthropy. Thank you Kristi.

La réaction de l'Alliance pour le Contrôle du Tabac en Afrique à l'annonce par la Fondation Gates de la rupture de son contrat avec le CRDI

Le communiqué de presse est disponible ici (format pdf). Il n'évoque pas le sort des contrats en cours dont un contrat avec l'Alliance jusqu'en septembre? Que va-t-il advenir de ces contrats? Qui va gérer les sommes non affectées (s'il en reste), qui va se charger de réaliser une évaluation indépendante et complète de la manière dont le CRDI a utilisé les fonds de la Fondation Gates alors qu'à peine 30% ont servi à financer une poignée de projets?

ATCA's reaction to the termination of IDRC grant by the Gates Foundation

Here is the press release (pdf format). ATCA signed a contract with IDRC in september 2009. What is going to happen to this project and all the other grants that are still on going?

IDRC's announcement (by Greg Hallen) about the termination of the grant with the Gates Foundation

Here is the text of Greg Hallen's email. IDRC's website does not mention (yet?) this decision.

It is with sincere regret that I inform you that the African Tobacco Situational Analyses (ATSA) Final Consultation meeting in Dakar is cancelled.  This decision has been made as we have just been informed that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has terminated its grant with IDRC, as a result of the association that the Chair of the IDRC Board of Governors had with a tobacco company.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation terminates its tobacco control grant with IDRC

Here is the statement published by the Gates Foundation on Friday afternoon:

The foundation was recently informed that the chair of the board of our partner, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), has until recently also been a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada, Ltd.  

We are deeply disappointed by this revelation and feel this conflict is unacceptable as we work to support meaningful tobacco control programs in Africa.  Therefore, we are terminating our tobacco control grant to IDRC, effective immediately.  We remain committed to tobacco control work and look forward to continuing to partner with the anti-tobacco community to reduce tobacco use in Africa.

VISA-Mauritius President, Véronique Le Clézio announces VISA will not attend the IDRC meeting in Dakar

Véronique Le Clézio commends ATCA's decision not to attend the meeting and seconds it by announcing the Mauritian NGO will not go to Dakar, stating that  "IDRC, the organizer of this meeting of Dakar has hidden for years the real identity of its Chair Ms McDougall who was CSR at BAT... IDRC is totally disqualified for tobacco control and for any health and poverty reduction agenda."

ATCA (Africa Tobacco Control Alliance) disengages from IDRC meeting in Dakar, calls for a boycott from its members because of IDRC's compromission with tobacco industry.

ATCA's Board has decided on April 6 not to co-host the IDRC meeting planned for April 20/22 in Dakar: ATCA's Board members will not participate and call all their members to boycott the meeting as well.

This information is not posted -yet- on ATCA's website nor on the ATCRI-ATSA site.

ATCA's borad members are: Rachel Kitonyo (Kenya) President, Patricia Lambert (South Africa), Patrick Musavuli (DRC), Yussuf Salooje (South Africa), Mohamed Sidi (Burkina Faso), Issa Ali (Ghana), Francisco Cabo (Mozambique)

Dear ATCA members,

As many of you are aware, the Africa Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) has been cohosting the Africa Tobacco Control Situational Analysis (ATSA) final meeting to be held in Dakar, Senegal between April 20-22, 2010.

During the final stages of planning, however, it was brought to our notice, that the Chair of the IDRC Board, Ms Barbara McDougall is also a Director of Imperial Tobacco Ltd, a Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco Ltd.

This situation poses a conflict of interest for ATCA on the basis of Art 4.1 of the ATCA Constitution, which expressly prohibits ATCA or its members from having any affiliation, whether direct or indirect, with the tobacco industry.

The situation also contravenes Art 5.3 of the FCTC and the guidelines adopted thereunder.

To date, the ATCA Board has taken the following actions to try and deal with the situation:

Consultations with FCA, ATCRI and Canadian NGOs involved in tobacco control.

A formal letter to IDRC drawing their attention to the issue and asking them to resolve it. (This letter was copied to you)

A follow-up phone call with the Head of Programmes at RITC (Greg

Hallen) and the head of the Health Equity Programme under which RITC falls (Michael Clarke).
E-mail and other consultations with ATSA Country team leaders.
A further letter to IDRC dated 1st April 2010 asking for a postponement of the Dakar meeting until the issue is resolved. (This letter was also copied to you.)

Following an email notification to the ATSA group on 2nd April 2010 by IDRC that they would proceed with the meeting, the ATCA Board on Tuesday April 6, 2010, has unanimously adopted the decision N°0002/ATCA/04/10 of April 6, 2010 as follows:

1) THAT ATCA officially withdraws from co-hosting the ATSA final consultation in Dakar, Senegal with all the ATCA Board members> withdrawing from participating in the meeting;
2) THAT in light of the provisions in Article 4.1 of ATCA’s constitution, the Board urges all ATCA members not to participate in the meeting.

We thank all our members for bearing with us as we came to this difficult but necessary decision. We appreciate our members’ efforts in carrying out tobacco control in Africa, and in particular for their efforts to promote the implementation of Article 5.3 of the FCTC.

As your Board, we are committed to promoting the implementation of the FCTC in Africa, supporting you in your efforts to do so and in working with others of a like mind.
Together, the fight continues.

On behalf of the ATCA board,
Ebeh Kodjo Fabrice, Executive Secretary

ACTA (Alliance pour Contrôle du Tabac en Afrique) se désengage de la réunion de Dakar prévue par le CRDI et appelle à son boycott en raison des liens du CRDI avec l'industrie du tabac

Le 6 avril le Conseil d'Administration d'ACTA a décidé de se retirer de l'organisation de la réunion prévue à Dakar les 20/22 avril. Les membres du Conseil d'ATCA n'y participeront pas et ils ont appelé tous leurs adhérents à boycotter la réunion en raison de la compromission du CRDI avec l'industrie du tabac.

Cette information n'est pas encore publiée sur le site d'ACTA.

Barbara McDougall's conflict of interest now on Wikipedia

The Wikipedia notice has been updated:

In December 2007, Barbara McDougall was appointed Chair of the board of Canada's International Development Research Centre

Barbara McDougall also serves on the Board of Directors of Imperial Tobacco Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco. In that capacity, she chairs the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of Imperial Tobacco Canada.^[1] Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett criticized her appointment as Chair of IDRC because of the conflict of interest it creates between her role as director of a tobacco company and chair of an agency that funds tobacco control efforts. ^[2]

[edit]References

1. ^ Imperial Tobacco Canada. "Social report 2006-2007 Let's talk" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-03-16.
2. ^ Carolyn Bennett, MP. "Conservatives put Canada’s tobacco control leadership in disrepute" (html). Retrieved 2010-03-31.

When Barbara McDougall was helping IMASCO (Imperial Tobacco Canada previous identity) to diversify

Found by Stan Shatenstein in the Legacy archives. 

From 1970 to 2000, Imperial Tobacco Canada was actually owned by a holding company, Imasco, with British American Tobacco a minority shareholder (41.5%) until 2000 when it bought the rest of the company. In 1986, Imasco was attempting to acquire a large financial institution, Genstar, in part to diversify its holdings away from tainted tobacco. The then Minister of State (Finance) took the lead for the Conservative government of the day in monitoring the potential deal (which did eventually go through) because, as she stated in the House of Commons on April 17, 1986, "The House is well aware that regulatory efforts to protect the public interest and preserve financial stability in the financial sector raise complex and challenging issues. These include self-dealing, increased concentration of ownership, links between non-financial and financial companies, reduction of competition and conflict of interest."

And, who was that guardian of the public trust, so concerned with conflict of interest and related issues? Yes, none other than Barbara McDougall.

 http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wud67a99/pdf

Another older and incriminating link between IDRC and BAT

Pascal Diethelm has searched the Legacy archives where he has found this incriminating memo of 1996. That puts a much darker and heavier signification on Barbara McDougall's appointment that was certainly valuable for BAT.

When IDRC was inviting African tobacco control advocates in Ottawa but not telling them its newly appointed Chair was Director of BAT's Imperial Tobacco Canada

ATSA Consultation Summary and Meeting Notes
Ottawa - January 15-16 2008

Attending: 

 IDRC: Brent Herbert-Copley, Director, Social and Economic Policy, IDRC  
Rohinton Medhora, Vice-President, Programs, IDRC
Christina Zarowsky, Acting Program Leader, Research for International Tobacco Control (RITC), IDRC

Linda Waverley, Consultant to IDRC

Jacqui Drope, Senior Program Officer, RITC

Who -among them- knew of Barbara McDougall's affiliation with BAT's Imperial Tobacco Canada but did not mention it?

----

The guests who were not told: 

Kathy Cahill, Deputy Director, Integrated Health Solutions Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Kathy Cahill joined the meeting, teleconferencing from Seattle

Michael Eriksen

Ghana—Agyeman Akosa, Executive Director, Healthy Ghana

Niger—Inoussa Saouna, President, SOS Tabagisme (Niger)/Observatoire du TABAC en Afrique Francophone (OTAF)/FCA etc.

Liberal MP criticizes the appointment of Barbara McDougall

OTTAWA – The Harper government appointed a director of Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. as Chair of a Crown corporation charged with building healthier societies in the developing world, a conflict of interest that has harmed Canada’s reputation for tobacco control, Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett said today.

Qui participera à la réunion de Dakar corganisée par ACTA et le CRDI? Le CRDI devrait-il en être exclu?

Des militants Africains réclament l'exclusion du CRDI de l'organisation de la réunion de Dakar le mois prochain en raison des liens de sa Présidente, Barbara McDougall avec BAT/Imperial Tobacco Canada.

Ils plaident pour que le financement de la réunion soit assuré par d'autres organisations ayant reçu des fonds de la Fondation Gates (comme ACTA ou l'OMS) et que le CDRI soit contraint de rendre les fonds non encore dépensés et de ne plus assurer la gestion du programme qui ne lui aurait pas été confiée si l'appartenance de sa Présidente au CA d'Imperial Tobacco avait été connue de la Fondation Gates.

Quelle est sur ce sujet la position des autres partenaires d'ATCA comme la Société Norvégienne du Cancer, CTFK, FCA? et des autres invités de marque comme l'OMS, le CDC, la Fondation Gates, etc.

La lecture des statuts d'ACTA semble claire avec l'article 4.6 d consacré aux Principes et valeurs précisant en point d: Aucun lien quel qu'il en soit  avec l'industrie du tabac.

Ce principe sera-t-il respecté?

Who will attend the meeting co-organized by ATCA and IDRC in Dakar next month? Should IDRC be excluded?

Some African advocates have asked for IDRC to be excluded from the organization of the Dakar's meeting because of Barbara McDougall's involvement with BAT's Imperial Tobacco Canada and the fact that IDRC concealed this information that would very probably have prevented their contract with the Gates Foundation.

They insist that money should not be an obstacle as the Gates Foundation has recently largely funded ATCA/ACS along with WHO to promote tobacco control in Africa. They also consider that IDRC should give back the money not yet spent and transfer the management of the program to another group without links to the tobacco industry.

It would be interesting to know how ATCA and the other partners think about this situation: the Norwegian Cancer Society, CTFK and FCA are listed as partners on the web page announcing the meeting.. What about other key guests like the Gates Foundation, ACS, Bloomberg,  CDC, World Bank, DFID, WHO... Do they care attending a meeting organized by a group whose Chair is part of the Tobacco Industry? 

ATCA's Constitution is clear on that point: its article 4.6 Principles and values states: d. No linkages whatsoever with the tobacco industry. 

Will this principle be implemented? 

Barbara McDougall as Chair of Imperial Tobacco Canada Corporate Social Responsibility Committee

From the ITC social report 2006-2007 (pdf, page 10) and Barbara here as Chair of IDRC.

A letter from the Canadian Coalition for Action on Tobacco

Read it here. What's next? No need to worry as after March 31, Barbara is no longer a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada?

What will happen to the ATSA consultation meeting in Dakar (April 20/22)?

This meeting is jointly organized by IDRC and ATCA. Can ATCA continue to partner with IDRC? What will happen to the meeting? Note the restrictions posted about eventual links to the tobacco industry (the form is at the bottom of the page or reproduced here). Also listed as partners are the Norwegian Cancer Society, CTFK and FCA. Do they also endorse Barbara McDougall's dual role as Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada and IDRC's Chair?

ATCRI's position about Barbara McDougall: an inacceptable conflict of interest

In this March 14 letter to IDRC's President, David Maolone, ATCRI's Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi concludes with the same formula as FCA:

" ATCRI is currently implementing joint projects with the IDRC's program RITC. While we value this relationship, ATCRI has a strict policy of not knowingly contracting with any person or ogranization with ties to the tobacco industry.

We again seek immediate action on this inacceptable conflict of interest."

What's next? 

ATCRI presents its projects with IDRC on a new website but it says nothing about IDRC's connection to BAT despite March 14 letter

The new website is atsa.atcri.org. Here is the March 14 dated letter sent by ATCRI's Board to protest Barbara McDougall's link with BAT/ITC.

A defiant IDRC stands behind the appointment of Barbara McDougall

IDRC has responded via the following email to a Canadian tobacco control advocate (Errol E. Povah) who asked about their position concerning the link of Barbara McDougall with Imperial Tobacco Canada. What do you think?

-----Original Message-----

From: Angela Prokopiak [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: March 16, 2010 8:53 AM
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: Reply to your letter

Dear Mr. Povah,

 

I am writing in response to your email of March 11 that was sent to the [email protected] address. I would like to acknowledge and respond to your concern about the Chairman of the International Development Research Centre’s Board of Governors also being a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada.

The root of IDRC's "problem": the lack of transparency and what to do about it.

Why was Barbara McDougall's obvious conflict of interest not disclosed earlier? Because the information was voluntarily "omitted" then replaced by a vague formula by IDRC. The tobacco control community and the media should have been more vigilant, should have checked deeper than the official press releases that concealed a very inconvenient truth but first of all IDRC and the Canadian Government should have been fully transparent.

ATCA's letter to IDRC's President, Chair and Members of the Board

Dear ATCA members,

The announcement of the news that the Hon. Barbara McDougall is currently both Chair of the Board of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada came when ATCA board members are travelling to the INB-4 meeting and we couldn't have time to react sooner. We are very sorry for the delay. On behalf of the board, I would like to thanks Phillippe for this important information.

Please see bellow the letter sent to IDRC yesterday. We will follow up and inform you.

FCA's letter to IDRC's President, Chair and Board Members

The FCA takes very seriously the fact that Barbara Mc Dougall, a Director of Imperial Tobacco in Canada, is on the Board of IDRC.  The FCA has sent a formal letter to the President International of IDRC and the Board of IDRC. 

The text of the letter is pasted below.

The position of Greg Hallen, IDRC's Tobacco Control Program leader (posted on Globalink's African Forum Discussions on Thursday March 11)

Subject: Chair of the IDRC Board of Directors and Imperial Tobacco Canada

Dear Colleagues,

 

As the Program Leader for Research for International Tobacco Control (RITC), IDRC's tobacco control program, I would like to acknowledge and respond to the concerns that have been expressed through a number of channels about the Chair of IDRC's Board of Governors also being a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada and Chair of ITC's Corporate Social Responsibility Committee.

Article 5.3 of the FCTC on the protection of public policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry

Another nail in the coffin of Barbara McDougall as Chair of IDRC and Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada: the Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC. International obligations the Canadian Government should respect.

A little unintended humor: The Declaration Regarding Tobacco Industry Relationships requested from guests at the IDRC conference in Dakar

IDRC is very strict concerning the potential conflict of interests of the guests to the conference it organizes April 20/22 in Dakar. That would certainly prevent Barbara McDougall, actual Chair of IDRC (and Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada) to attend. Read the declaration (pdf format) or below.

Nigerian Tobacco Control Advocate Eze Eluchie calls for a boycott of the upcoming tobacco control conference in Dakar (sponsored by IDRC) if Barbara McDougall does not resign as Chair of IDRC

Eze Eluchie explains why he thinks tobacco control advocates should boycott the upcoming meeting in Dakar, sponsored by IDRC if Barbara McDougall (a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada) remains as Chair  and member of the Board of IDRC. He calls for her immediate resignation.

In view of the conflict of interests occasioned by the presence of Ms. Barbara McDougall on the Board of Governors of IDRC at a time when the said IDRC is planning a meeting for African Tobacco Control advocates in collaboration with ATCA, I call upon Ms. Barbara McDougall to immediately resign her membership of the Board of Governors of the IDRC

IDRC's conflict of interest policy: does it apply to Barbara McDougall? to the rest of IDRC's staff?

Here is IDRC's conflict of interest policy. It makes for interesting reading:

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists in any situation where employees' ability to fulfill their official duties and responsibilities could be adversely affected by their private interests or personal considerations. This goes beyond a financial or economic interest to include any personal interest that arises from business dealings, social ties, or other personal considerations.

As employees of the Centre, we conduct ourselves and perform our duties in a manner that reflects the values, principles, standards, and best interests of IDRC, and in a transparent way that enhances public confidence and trust in the integrity of the Centre.

We act in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny and foster public confidence.

We strive to avoid situations that place us in an actual, potential, or apparent conflict of interest and report on all such conflicts, in accordance with the Centre's governing policies. We regularly review IDRC's conflicts of interest policies to ensure compliance and raise any concerns we may have directly with our fellow employees, supervisor, or if unadvisable or inappropriate, the next level of supervision.

And further:

When faced with a difficult business decision that is not addressed in this Code, a few questions may help us determine the appropriate course of action:

Is it ethical?

Is it legal?

Is the decision defensible in the eyes of the public?

What would a reasonable person think about our decision/action?

Does it have the potential to reflect negatively on DRC or us?

Would we be embarrassed if others knew we took this action?

Is there an alternative course that may not pose the same ethical conflict/dilemma

If still in doubt about a situation or whether it is consistent with IDRC's high ethical standards, we must seek help and guidance from our supervisor, or if inappropriate or otherwise unadvisable to do so, the next level of supervision, or such other office that may be designated from time to time.

We, members of management and staff alike, are all responsible for ensuring that we read, understand, and uphold the values, principles and standards outlined in the Code and in the supporting Centre policies. To be effective, the Code must be integral to everything we do.

Avenue of Resolution

Concerns about this Code and its application should first be discussed with management. When unable to raise the concern with a direct supervisor, we are to consult the next higher level of authority or, ultimately, such other office that may be designated from time to time.

In all cases, reporting requirements related to the disclosure of wrongdoings and the protections afforded to those employees who, acting in good faith and without being frivolous or vexatious, have made an allegation of wrongdoing, will be consistent with the requirements of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.

Failure to Comply

The Code forms part of our conditions of employment at IDRC. We are expected to operate within and uphold the highest standard of conduct. We understand that any failure to do so will be viewed as falling short of IDRC's acceptable standards of conduct as defined in the Management Policy Manual, Section 4.28 - Discipline, and may therefore lead to disciplinary action.

Barbara McDougall, Chair of the Board of Governors of IDRC is also a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada. Is that acceptable?

On January 30 2007, the Foreign Minister of Canada announces the nomination of Barbara McDougall to the IDRC Board of Governors. The official press release mentions she belongs to the Board of "several Canadian corporations", names a few but not Imperial Tobacco Canada: this is strange as the site of the Toronto's Law Firm Aird & Berlis where Barbara McDougall is an Advisor used to mention Imperial Tobacco in her bio (this mention has since been erased). Imperial Tobacco Canada is since 2000 a wholly owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT).

Barbara McDougall Présidente du Conseil des Gouverneurs du CRDI est aussi Directeur d'Imperial Tobacco Canada. Est-ce acceptable?

Le 30 janvier 2007, le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères du Canada annonce la nomination de Barbara McDougall au Conseil des Gouverneurs du CRDI. Le communiqué de presse officiel mentionne qu'elle appartient au Conseil d'Administration de différentes sociétés, en cite quelques unes mais ne mentionne pas Imperial Tobacco Canada: une curieuse omission alors qu'Imperial Tobacco Canada figure sur la bio de Barabara MacDougall sur le site du cabinet d'avocats de Toronto Aird & Berlis (seulement en anglais).