Barbara Hall | |
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| Chief Commissioner of theOntario Human Rights Commission | |
| In office November 28, 2005 – February 27, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Keith Norton |
| Succeeded by | Ruth Goba (interim) |
| 61stMayor of Toronto | |
| In office December 1, 1994 – December 31, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | June Rowlands |
| Succeeded by | Mel Lastman |
| City Councillor, Ward 7 | |
| In office December 1, 1985 – November 30, 1994 | |
| Preceded by | David Reville Joanne Campbell |
| Succeeded by | Pam McConnell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1946 (age 78–79) Ottawa,Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | Independent (1994-present) |
| Other political affiliations | New Democrat (until 1994) |
| Occupation |
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Barbara HallCM (born 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 61stmayor of Toronto from 1994 to 1997, the last mayor of Toronto prior toamalgamation. Hall served as the chief commissioner of theOntario Human Rights Commission from 2005 to 2015.
In 2014, Cawthra Square Park in Toronto'sChurch and Wellesley neighbourhood was renamed Barbara Hall Park in her honour.[1] She was inducted as aMember of the Order of Canada in 2015.[2]
Hall attended theUniversity of Victoria inBritish Columbia but left without abachelor's degree. She then became a community activist, moving toNova Scotia to work withblack families in rural areas.[3] Hall worked as one of the first members of theCompany of Young Canadians in the small community ofThree Mile Plains,Nova Scotia.
In 1967, at the age of 20, she worked for Toronto youth programs and co-founded an alternative school. She served for a time as aprobation officer inCleveland,Ohio. She returned to Canada and studied law atOsgoode Hall Law School ofYork University and in 1980 was admitted to theLaw Society of Upper Canada.
To earn money during her studies, Hall waited table atthe Second City.[4]
Hall campaigned for theLegislative Assembly of Ontario in the1985 provincial election as a candidate of theNew Democratic Party inSt. David. She finished third againstLiberalAttorney-GeneralIan Scott.
She was elected toToronto City Council in the1985 municipal election. That election marked a change in the structure of city council; prior to 1985, each ward elected two representatives to city council, and the one who had garnered more votes would also serve onMetro Toronto Council, but in the 1985 election each ward now directly elected a single representative to each body. Hall succeededDavid Reville, who had departed municipal politics after winning a seat in the provincial election, andJoanne Campbell, who had run for and won election to the Metro Council.
Hall was electedMayor of Toronto in1994, defeating incumbentJune Rowlands. Although she ran as an independent and was backed by supporters from different parties, she was widely regarded as an unofficial candidate of theNew Democratic Party (NDP). Hall's victory was considered an upset, given the low popularity ofBob Rae's provincial NDP government at the time. She was the first mayor of Toronto to be a member of the NDP sinceWilliam Dennison. As mayor, she presided over a period of economic growth for the city, represented by large construction projects likeThe Air Canada Centre and improvements to downtown residential neighbourhoods such asCabbagetown andChurch-Wellesley. She was the first Toronto Mayor to march in the city'sPride Parade, supported affordable housing initiatives, and helped introduce violence against women as a national political issue in Canada.[5]
In1997, a new provincial government underMike Harris amalgamated the City of Toronto withScarborough,York,East York,North York, andEtobicoke. The new "megacity" was also called Toronto. Hall opposed the amalgamation, but nonetheless ran for mayor of the new municipality. Although she won the majority of the vote inold Toronto, York and East York, she lost to outgoing North York mayorMel Lastman, who had a very strong base of support in North York as well as in Etobicoke and Scarborough. Hall started the campaign well behind Lastman in public opinion polls, but she improved her support enough to place a close second.
Hall ran for mayor again in2003 and on this occasion was strongly backed by supporters of theOntario Liberal Party. She was widely considered an unofficial Liberal candidate whileDavid Miller, an NDP city councillor, was considered an unofficial NDP candidate andJohn Tory was an unofficialProgressive Conservative candidate. Despite being the front-runner at the campaign's start and garnering strong support from the city's ethnic press, Hall wound up a distant third behind the winner, Miller, and runner-up John Tory.
Hall subsequently served on theOntario government's "Health Results Team" as lead of community relations. Hall was appointed to this position by Health MinisterGeorge Smitherman, who had worked in Hall's office while she was mayor.
In November 2005, Hall was appointed the Chief Commissioner of theOntario Human Rights Commission (OHRC).[6]
In December 2007, the OHRC released a preliminary report looking into bullying of Canadian-Asians fishing illegally onLake Simcoe. Hall wrote that violence and harassment of Canadian-Asian anglers "remind us that racism and racial discrimination exist in Ontario."[3][7] Hall added that "We're looking for communities across Ontario to have an open dialogue and take action on racism. Although this is often hard to do, it is necessary to make communities welcoming and safe for all."[8]
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In April 2008, the OHRC dismissed a complaint by theCanadian Islamic Congress againstMaclean's, but issued a statement denouncing the magazine.[9] In an interview, Hall stated that "When the media writes, it should exercise great caution that it's not promoting stereotypes that will adversely impact on identifiable groups. I think one needs to be very careful when one speaks in generalities, that in fact one is speaking factually about all the people in a particular group."[10]
The editors ofMaclean's denounced Hall and her staff for what they called the "zealous condemnation of their journalism" and stated that "[Hall] cited no evidence, considered no counter-arguments, and appointed herself prosecutor, judge and jury in one fell swoop."Maclean's also accused every human rights commission in the country of "morphing out of their conciliatory roles to become crusaders working to reshape journalistic discourse in Canada."Maclean's wrote that Ms. Hall's press release was "a drive-by smear," and "perhaps the greatest disappointment in this whole saga."[11]Mark Steyn, who wrote the excerpt inMaclean's that the complaint was based on, also sharply criticized Hall and the OHRC, commenting that "Even though they (the OHRC) don't have the guts to hear the case, they might as well find us guilty."[12]
At a meeting of theCanadian Arab Federation on the day after theBritish Columbia Human Rights Tribunal heard the complaint, Hall served on a panel along with Khurrum Awan, one of the student lawyers who helped file the complaint who testified at the BC Human Rights Tribunal againstMaclean's, andHaroon Siddiqui, editor emeritus of theToronto Star. Hall joked to the audience that she could finally speak freely with her co-panellist Awan about his complaint. Awan praised Hall's condemnation ofMaclean's, stating that he had difficulty developing support until Hall calledMaclean's Islamophobic, and then "everyone wanted to be our uncle."[13]
In February 2009, in a report to theCanadian Human Rights Commission, Hall in her capacity as OHRC Commissioner, recommended the creation of a National Press Council that would serve as a national media watchdog. Unlike current press councils in Canada, membership to this new council would be required by all publishers, webmasters and radio and television producers. Hall stated that such a council was necessary to protect human rights but insisted that such a body would not result in censorship of the media. Hall explained that the national press council would have the power to accept complaints of discrimination, in particular from "vulnerable groups" and although the council would have no power to censor media outlets, it could force them to carry the council's decisions, including counterarguments made by complainants.[14][15]
Mary Agnes Welch, president of theCanadian Association of Journalists, stated that the current provincial press councils are "the only real place that readers can go to complain about stories short of the courts" but that they "are largely toothless and ineffective." However, she argued against a mandatory national press council, stating that:
"The provincial ones don't even work, so how could we have a national one? And I know a lot of journalists who would take umbrage at essentially being in a federally regulated profession.... If on the crazy off-chance that there is some momentum behind this idea of a national press council, it won't be coming from journalists."[14]
TheNational Post strongly opposed Hall's proposal, arguing that a mandatory national press council "is merely the first step toward letting the Barbara Halls of the world decide what you get to hear, see and read." ThePost also stated that Hall is a "pompous purveyor of social concern" who believes she "has the ability to judge which speech should be free and which not."[15]Barbara Kay also strongly opposed Hall's suggestion, stating that herexperience with the Quebec Press Council (QPC) was evidence that press councils are abused by those wishing to suppress the discussion of sensitive or controversial issues.[16]
On March 16, 2015, Hall was appointed by the provincial government to chair a seven-member panel that will conduct public consultations to review the governance of theToronto District School Board in an effort to "restore public confidence" in the institution after a series of controversies.[17]
After theToronto van attack in April 2018, Hall was appointed as administrator by the volunteer steering committee of the #TorontoStrong Fund on June 13, 2018. She is tasked with distributing the approximately $3.4 million to the 26 victims and survivors of the attack by September 28, 2018.[18]
The former Ontario Human Rights Commission Head has been an outspoken opponent of a local daycare for young children in her home area of Cabbagetown in Toronto. "It just seems like a massive change for the neighborhood" Hall was quoted in a Dec. 12, 2018 National Post article by Chris Selley.
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