Commissioner Barbara Hall argued that a National Press Council would facilitate the protection of human rights without imposing censorship of the media, explaining that while the council duties would be limited to accepting complaints of discrimination (in particular, from what Hall described as "vulnerable groups") and requiring media outlets to publish counterarguments.
[4][5] 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."
[6] In a speech to Ontario's Standing Committee on Government Agencies, Conservative author Mark Steyn criticized the proposal for a press council, arguing that “Free societies should not be in the business of criminalizing opinion.”[5][7] In November 2018 the OHRC published its "Interim report on the inquiry into racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by the Toronto Police Service".
Black men make up 4.1% of Toronto’s population, yet were complainants in a quarter of SIU cases alleging sexual assault by TPS officers."
[11] Renu Mandhane, former executive director of the University of Toronto law faculty's international human rights program, became Chief Commissioner in November 2015.
[12][13] Ena Chadha, former chair of the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Legal Support Centre was appointed as the Interim Chief Commissioner in July 2020.