Alok Mukherjee

Background In 1971, Mukherjee emigrated to Canada from India intending to pursue an academic career. He was sidetracked from this goal for several years when he assumed a position as a School Community Relations Worker with the (then) Toronto Board of Education, from which he went on to become the Toronto Board's Race Relations Advisor.

Following his stint at the Toronto Board of Education, Mukherjee became an instructor in South Asian Studies at York University — and where, in 2004, he received a PhD. During this period, he designed and taught some courses in South Asian cultures, languages and literature as well as in Native Canadian literature. He published two books – Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature, which is a translation of a work on the literature of India's "untouchable" writers by the Dalit writer Sharankumar Limbale, and This Gift of English which proposes a new analysis of the rise of English education in India as a convergence of British and Indian ruling class interests. He also served as an advisor to Mayor David Miller.

Since his arrival in 1971, Mukherjee has worked as a human rights and equity advocate, community organizer and race relations consultant in Canada and abroad. He has been a partner with the consulting firm Partners in Equality, and was a member of the Doris Marshall Institute for Education and Action.

Police Services Board Mukherjee was originally appointed by City Council to the Toronto Police Services Board for a term effective September 28, 2004 to November 30, 2006. In 2004, he became Vice-Chair of the Board and in 2005 became Chair, succeeding Pam McConnell. After his original appointment, he was reappointed for the following term February 8, 2007 to April 13, 2010. Subsequently, he was appointed by the Province for the next three (3) year term and on its completion, he was re-appointed for another three-year term effective April 14, 2013.

With this record of service, Mukherjee has become the second longest-serving board chair of this institution. Only Charles O. Bick, the first chairman of what was then called the Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission, had served for a longer period of time with a tenure of twenty-two (22) years. On January 21, 2015, Mukherjee was re-elected as board chair by a 6 to 1 margin, to a tenth one-year term. In January 2015 Mukherjee indicated he did not intend to seek further re-appointment to the board, and at the June 18, 2015 monthly public meeting, he announced his retirement from the board, effective July 31, 2015, in order to accept an appointment at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) (now Toronto Metropolitan University).

Electoral record