Appointee Biographies

IRWIN GLASBERG

Irwin Glasberg was first appointed as Ontario's Fairness Commissioner on January 10, 2020. His office oversees the registration practices of 41 regulated professions and health regulatory colleges whose members participate in virtually every area of the provincial economy and service sector. Since his appointment, Irwin has worked with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, other provincial ministries, regulators and key stakeholders to develop and implement a series of innovative legislative and program-based changes to enhance fair registration practices for the professions and skilled trades. Irwin is a lawyer and former public servant who has held leadership positions at the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Ontario Workers' Compensation Board and the Information and Privacy Commission. Irwin worked at Cabinet Office in the Ontario government on two separate occasions, most recently as the Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for the Roots of Youth Violence Review. Irwin has also held a variety of executive level positions at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, where he was responsible, at different times, for the Victims and Vulnerable Persons, Policy and Adjudicative Tribunals, and Civil Law Divisions. For a three-year period, Irwin also co-chaired the Debwewin (means "truth" in Ojibway) Jury Review Implementation Committee in conjunction with Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. He also served as the ministry’s representative on the Law Commission of Ontario’s Board of Governors for three years. Before his current appointment, Irwin served as Ontario’s Deputy Attorney General, where he assumed the role of Chief Legal Officer to the Crown. He led the ministry through the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the transition of the court system to a virtual environment and the provision of sound legal advice on many novel issues. This was the second time that Irwin held the Deputy Attorney General position. Irwin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from McGill University and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto. He is also a graduate of the Ivey Senior Public Sector Leadership Program at the University of Western Ontario. Irwin served as a seminar leader for the Public Law Section of the Bar Admission Course on four separate occasions. In 2023, Irwin was awarded a prestigious King’s Counsel designation for the Province of Ontario.