As mayor, she presided over a period of economic growth for the city, represented by large construction projects like The Air Canada Centre and improvements to downtown residential neighbourhoods such as Cabbagetown and Church-Wellesley.

She was the first Toronto Mayor to march in the city's Pride Parade, supported affordable housing initiatives, and helped introduce violence against women as a national political issue in Canada.

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 wrote that violence and harassment of Canadian-Asian anglers "remind us that racism and racial discrimination exist in Ontario.

"[8] In April 2008, the OHRC dismissed a complaint by the Canadian Islamic Congress against Maclean'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.

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."

"[12] At a meeting of the Canadian Arab Federation on the day after the British 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 against Maclean's, and Haroon Siddiqui, editor emeritus of the Toronto Star.

[14][15] Mary Agnes Welch, president of the Canadian 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."

The Post 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.

[17] After the Toronto van attack in April 2018, Hall was appointed as administrator by the volunteer steering committee of the #TorontoStrong Fund on June 13, 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.