In the wake of controversial appointments to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the province’s chief human rights commissioner is calling on Attorney General Doug Downey to sign an agreement reaffirming the commission’s independence.

In addition, Renu Mandhane notes in a Feb. 7 letter that Downey “failed to consult” with her in advance of the January appointments of two part-time commissioners and has, “despite multiple requests,” not met with her since becoming attorney general in June 2019.

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

Reached by the Star, Mandhane said the letter, posted to the commission’s web site, speaks for itself.

The Star sent a list of questions to Downey Wednesday morning and did not receive a response.

Last month, Premier Doug Ford quietly appointed a Toronto police officer and a professor with Progressive Conservative links to sit on the commission.

Neither Const. Randall Arsenault nor Violetta Igneski, a McMaster University associate professor in philosophy, were among a list of 330 applications submitted to Mandhane for vetting.

The part-time appointments come amidst the commission’s ongoing inquiry into allegations of racial profiling and discrimination against the Toronto Police Service, raising questions around conflict of interest.

Mandhane told the Star last month she had come up with a shortlist of about 30 candidates late last year under a process she believed had been agreed to by the Ministry of the Attorney General.

When the picks were made public by the Star, Downey’s office said in a statement that Arsenault and Igneski were named “to support and advance the commission’s mandate to provide leadership for the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights, and builds partnerships across the human rights system.

“The appointments were made in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code,” the statement said.

Since coming into power, the Ford government had allowed all of the part-time commissioner positions to lapse, leaving only Mandhane in place as full-time chief commissioner. Her five-year term expires in the fall.

The two appointments were immediately criticized, including by Toronto-based Black Legal Action Centre, a provincially-funded legal aid clinic. In an open letter, the clinic said the appointment process and the premier’s handpicked candidates raise questions about the commission’s integrity and ability to combat racism.

“Indeed, this seems to be one more step in Ford’s gutting of the human rights system in Ontario,” the clinic said in the letter.

In her letter to Downey, Mandhane points out that under the province’s Agencies and Appointments Directive a change in minister requires the new minister to sign a letter of affirmation, which is then attached to an existing memorandum of understanding between the commission and the government.

The memorandum, wrote Mandhane, is “an important assurance of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) ‘capacity to function independently and impartially.’

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“Because the OHRC’s autonomy from government and independence are not explicitly guaranteed by the Ontario Human Rights Code, the government must take other concrete steps to guarantee the independence and autonomy” of the commission, she wrote.

Both of the recent commissioner appointments have Progressive Conservative ties. In September 2018, Arsenault posted a picture on Instagram of himself and his partner in uniform with the premier at that year’s Ford Fest in Vaughan.

In the caption, the officer 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 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 sign off on research and reports.

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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