Attorney General Doug Downey insists the Ontario Human Rights Commission will remain independent in the wake of concerns over recent Progressive Conservative patronage appointments.

“There’s no doubt they do excellent work and we’re making sure the board has a variety of talent — high-quality, very qualified people,” Downey told reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday. “My office continues to work with (chief commissioner Renu Mandhane) to make sure we’re doing exactly that.”

Asked if he would meet with Mandhane to discuss her concerns that he “failed to consult” with her before last month’s controversial appointments to the commission, Downey insisted everything is fine.

“My office has been meeting with her office. I’m not aware that she’s asked me to have a sit-down meeting. I’m certainly happy to do that,” the attorney general said.

On Feb. 7, Mandhane noted in a letter to Downey that “despite multiple requests,” he has not met with her since becoming attorney general last June.

Mandhane also said she was concerned that Downey’s failure to affirm an agreement signed by his predecessor, Caroline Mulroney, might compromise the commission’s “autonomy and independence from government and could result in Ontario failing to meet established international standards for human rights institutions.”

Asked Thursday whether the commission should be an independent office, Downey said, “It has to be. I don’t think there’s any question about that.”

As first revealed by the Star, Premier Doug Ford quietly appointed an active-duty Toronto police officer and a professor with Progressive Conservative links to sit on the commission last month.

The appointments were made despite the fact that neither Const. Randall Arsenault nor Violetta Igneski, a McMaster University associate professor in philosophy, were among 330 applications submitted to Mandhane for vetting.

The part-time appointments pay up to $10,000 a year. They were made amid the commission’s ongoing inquiry into allegations of racial profiling and discrimination against the Toronto Police Service, raising question of conflict of interest.

In September 2018, Arsenault posted a picture on Instagram of himself and his partner in their uniforms with Ford at the annual Ford Fest picnic in Vaughan. In the caption, he wrote that police officers “have been taking photos with politicians in all levels of government and all political parties for quite some time now. I was proud to stand beside our Premier Doug Ford.”

Igneski’s sister, Jasmine, held senior posts in the Tory governments of premier Mike Harris and prime minister Stephen Harper.

The commission has the power to conduct inquiries and litigate. Its commissioners make decisions on which issues to take on, and signs off on research and reports.

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Following the two recent appointments, the Toronto-based Black Legal Action Centre criticized Ford and the process in an open letter, and called into question the commission’s ability to remain independent and fight racism.

“Indeed, this seems to be one more step in Ford’s gutting of the human rights system in Ontario,” the provincially funded legal aid clinic said, calling the appointments “further evidence of his complete disregard for a merit-based process with respect to the public service” in the province.

Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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