 He was eventually appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1998 and was elevated to Associate Chief Justice of Ontario in 2001.He was appointed Commissioner in the Walkerton Inquiry in 2000, and was Commissioner in the Maher Arar Inquiry from 2004 to 2006.On August 12, 2013, Toronto police chief Bill Blair announced that he had requested O'Connor conduct an internal review into the use of force by police.