Justin Trudeau names top cop, prisoners' advocate as new senators

The first female head of the Ontario Provincial Police,  a former federal court judge and a top women's prisoner advocate are among the latest slate of appointees to the Senate.

• Meet Canada's 9 new senators
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• Indigenous prisoners, segregation top priorities for new Ottawa senator Kim Pate 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today he will recommend the appointments of six new, Independent senators to fill vacancies for Ontario.

In January 2014, at the height of the Mike Duffy expenses scandal, Trudeau expelled all senators from the national Liberal caucus and vowed to appoint independent members to the Senate if elected.

The new appointments were selected using the government's new application, merit-based process, as were last week's nine appointments.

The current count of non-affiliated (or Independent) senators stands at 38. There are 21 Liberals and 40 Conservatives.

There are still six vacancies in Quebec, which are expected to be filled later this week.

The six new senators from Ontario are:

Gwen Boniface

Gwen Boniface is the first woman appointed as commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police and the first female president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

Boniface is a longtime member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, where she currently serves as deputy executive director. In addition, she was the founding president of the Canadian Police Chiefs International Service Agency, a non-profit organization created to address sexual exploitation of children.

According to her biography supplied by the Prime Minister's Office, Boniface has "worked tirelessly to repair relationships with First Nations communities, initiating many reforms to promote Aboriginal policing."

She was given the Order of Ontario in 2001 in recognition of her service to the province and her work with First Nations communities.

Tony Dean

Tony Dean is an internationally recognized professor at the University of Toronto's School of Public Policy since 2009.

A native of the United Kingdom, Dean worked for nearly two decades as a public policy professional in the government of Ontario, becoming secretary of the Cabinet and head of Ontario Public Service.

One of his accomplishments was the development of the Service Ontario government service centres. He was also tasked with repairing the relationships between the government, teachers' federations and school boards after former premier Dalton McGuinty introduced highly contentious legislation in 2012.

Sarabjit S. Marwah

Sarabjit Marwah is the retired vice-chairman and chief operating officer of Scotiabank. While at Scotiabank, he was a member of numerous industry committees, including the Canadian Bankers Association.

Marwah has served on the boards of private organizations in Canada, as well as non-profit organizations such as the C.D. Howe Institute, the Royal Ontario Museum, the United Way Campaign, the Toronto International Film Festival, Humber River Regional Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children.

He is also a founding member of the Sikh Foundation of Canada.

Lucie Moncion

Lucie Moncion is the chief executive officer of the Alliance des caisses populaires de l'Ontario. L'Alliance is a network of 12 credit unions that serves 23 Francophone municipalities in northeastern Ontario, an organization that plays a key role in the economic development of Francophone communities.

Assets have almost tripled — to $1.4 billion — since she took over as CEO in May 2001.

Moncion has served on various boards, including as vice-president on the board of directors at Nipissing University, treasurer on the board of directors of Direction Ontario and member of the board of directors at Collège Boréal.

Kim Pate

Kim Pate is the executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and part-time professor in the University of Ottawa's faculty of law.

Since 1992, she has worked with and on behalf of women in prison and provided support toward their reintegration into society as part of her work at Elizabeth Fry.

She has also shed light on the special needs of Indigenous women, who are overrepresented in Canadian federal prisons, and those with mental health issues. Prior to joining the CAEFS, she worked for several years with the John Howard Societies.

Howard Wetston

Howard Wetston is counsel with Goodmans LLP and adjunct professor of law at the University of Toronto.

Wetston has led the Ontario Securities Commission, the Ontario Energy Board and the Competition Bureau.

He also served as a vice-chair of the board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, an international policy forum for securities regulators and a global standard setter for securities regulation. He is a former Federal Court judge.