On Monday November 2, NYU alumna Renu Mandhane stepped into her new job as chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Renu obtained her LL.M. at New York University School of Law with a focus on international human rights law. In addition to publishing in the area, Renu sits on the Canada Committee of Human Rights Watch and the Legal Committee of PEN International. She has worked at a number of domestic and international organizations focused on advancing women’s human rights.  She was also the Executive Director of the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto and practiced criminal law from an equality rights perspective for  four years and routinely represented survivors of domestic and sexual violence, as well as federally-sentenced prisoners. Renu is regularly quoted in the media including the Globe and Mail,  the Guardian, Al Jazeera, CBC, Toronto Star, and Ottawa Citizen, and has appeared on national and local television. In 2012, Renu was profiled in Precedent Magazine as an “agent of change.”

The OHRC was established in 1961 and is part of Ontario’s system for human rights, alongside the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre (HRLSC). It is guided by the Ontario Human Rights Code. The commission investigates systemic, persistent discrimination and seeks to elevate grassroots groups’ concerns about human rights.