5 Feet of Fury

Bernie Farber to replace Barbara Hall as head of Ontario Human Rights Commission?

As has been rumored for years now:

The Ontario government is looking for a new human rights watchdog.

Former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall, chief commissioner for the Ontario Human Rights Commission, is retiring at the end of next month.

Hall, 68, who was appointed to the $167,000-a-year post by former premier Dalton McGuinty in 2005, has had her term extended four times.

Her contract expires Feb. 27 and a new chief is expected to be named before then.

(…)

One person being touted is Bernie Farber, former chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a long-time anti-racism activist.

Farber — who ran for the Liberals in the 2011 provincial election, losing Thornhill to Progressive Conservative Peter Shurman — has worked with at-risk youth, battered women, and served on numerous community race-relations and safety committees over the years.

Bernie has “worked with battered women” in the loose sense that he’s been making me want to bang my head against a wall for many years.

Anyhow, obviously, I’ll be continuing my tireless efforts to Bernie Farber’s life a living hell, whether he gets the job or not.

If he gets the job, I hope he charges me with something.

If he doesn’t, I hope that I’ll have played a small part in that, too.