Three managers at fractious arms-length agency Rights & Democracy have been fired in a continuing civil war between board members and staff.
The firings wiped out the department heads who ran the agency under late president Rémy Beauregard. They were accused of leading a staff revolt against members of the board.
The move essentially leaves Rights & Democracy, a 22-year-old institution with an international reputation, without a management team.
Opposition parties are objecting to the Harper government's candidate to be its new president, former Canadian Alliance candidate Gérard Latulippe.
The agency's interim president, Jacques Gauthier, confirmed that communications director Charles Vallerand, policy director Razmik Panossian and administration director Marie-France Cloutier were fired on Monday after a month-long suspension.
"I can't go into the details. It's something that concerns the employees only," he said.
Montreal lawyer Julius Grey, who represents the three employees, told The Canadian Press they were fired for insubordination and he expects to file a legal action soon.
The battle within Rights & Democracy has burst into public view since Mr. Beauregard died on Jan. 7 after a tense board meeting.
Staffers and critics complained that board members brought Mideast politics into the agency, harassing Mr. Beauregard over three small grants he approved for rights agencies in the Middle East that some board members viewed as biased against Israel. Board members said staffers went rogue, refusing to be accountable to them.
Most of the agency's staffers signed a letter calling for three board members, chairman Aurel Braun, Mr. Gauthier and Elliot Tepper, to be fired.
Instead, they made Mr. Gauthier, a Toronto lawyer, the agency's interim president.
Mr. Gauthier met on Monday with an official from a private security firm, SIRCO Investigation and Protection. He said SIRCO was involved in an investigation "relating to the three employees" who were fired.
That investigation has been completed, but SIRCO is still investigating the theft of an employee's computer.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has backed the board.
Mr. Latulippe has come under fire from the opposition as too partisan, and Mr. Cannon is expected to decide this week if he will break tradition by imposing a unilateral choice.
Mr. Latulippe, resident director in Haiti for the National Democratic Institute, served as a Quebec Liberal MNA alongside Mr. Cannon in the 1980s and was a Canadian Alliance candidate in 2000.
With a report from Canadian Press