Three directors will remain with the foundation on an interim basis to ensure its obligations are met.
In a statement posted on the foundation's website, President and CEO Pascale Fournier and the board jointly announced their decision to step aside, citing the pressure they faced in recent weeks. The statement explained that "the circumstances created by the politicization of the foundation had made it impossible to continue with the status quo," leading to the resignations.
Three directors will remain with the foundation on an interim basis to ensure its obligations are met.
The foundation, which was founded in 2002, came under scrutiny after a report in the Globe and Mail detailed a $200,000 donation from Chinese philanthropists Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng that was allegedly part of a 2014 plot by Beijing to influence newly-minted Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.
Last month, Fournier issued a statement saying the foundation had returned the donation, as ethics and integrity are among the core values of the independent, non-partisan charity.
Confidential national security sources cited by the Globe and Mail revealed that the two businessmen made a $1 million donation in honour of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau in 2016, with $200,000 going to the foundation and an $800,000 pledge to the University of Montreal, where the father of Canada's current prime minister studied law.
The university confirmed that it had received $550,000 to create scholarships on behalf of the two donors, with the remaining $250,000 pledge not being received by the school. The university has not yet announced whether it will return the donation.
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