Premier Doug Ford has quietly appointed a Toronto police officer and a professor with Progressive Conservative links to sit on the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Star has learned.

Const. Randall Arsenault — a 19-year police veteran with Indigenous roots and a sizable following on social media, where he has lauded Ford — and Violetta Igneski, a McMaster University associate professor in philosophy, were chosen to fill two commissioner positions.

The human rights commission was caught off-guard by the political appointments, which were made on Jan. 14 but have yet to be officially announced.

They come amidst the rights watchdog’s ongoing inquiry into allegations of racial profiling and discrimination against the Toronto Police Service, raising questions around the optics and timing — and the potential for conflict of interest.

Neither Arsenault nor Igneski were among about 330 applicants for commissioners’ posts submitted for vetting to Renu Mandhane, Ontario’s chief commissioner of human rights.

Mandhane told the Star she came up with a short list of about 30 candidates late last year, under what she believed was a process to which the Ministry of the Attorney General had agreed.

“I didn’t receive their applications as part of the package that was sent to me by the public appointments secretariat,” she said. “I don’t know if they applied, but I didn’t receive their applications.”

The commission is seeking clarification from Attorney General Doug Downey about how the appointments came about.

“Obviously, we were in the middle of a process that I thought we had agreed upon, so I was somewhat surprised to hear about the appointment of the two new commissioners,” said Mandhane.

She said she was “concerned” that a Toronto police officer on active duty had been appointed while the commission is conducting its inquiry.

In a written statement, Downey’s office said Arsenault and Igneski were named “to support and advance the commission’s mandate to provide leadership for the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights, and builds partnerships across the human rights system.

“The appointments were made in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code,” the statement said, referring to the necessity for commissioners to “have knowledge, experience or training with respect to human rights law and issues.”

Downey’s office emphasized that it is Mandhane’s responsibility “to manage potential conflicts between commissioners and their duties” as members of the human rights commission.

Since becoming premier in June 2018, Ford has shown little interest in the commission. While Mandhane’s term as chief commissioner extends until October, all nine of the other commissioners’ terms had been allowed to expire before last week’s appointments.

Last January, CBC News reported that University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson was granted a private audience with the premier a week after tweeting, “The faster the Ontario Human Rights Commission is abolished, the better @fordnation.”

Peterson, who has 1.4 million Twitter followers, is internationally famous for his pointed critiques of political correctness. His tweet, which also referred to the commission as “a dangerous organization,” followed an interview Mandhane gave to CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.

At the time, the Tories were unhappy the commission had joined a legal challenge of Ford’s decision to temporarily replace the 2013 sex-education curriculum with a lesson plan from 1998. A modernized curriculum was reinstated last year.

Arsenault, an Aboriginal liaison officer with Toronto police, has 31,000 followers on Twitter and 53,000 on Instagram, where he frequently posts selfies, messages and videos. He also recently helped save two men from drowning.

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In Sept. 2018, Arsenault posted a picture on Instagram of himself and his partner with Ford at the premier’s Ford Fest in Vaughan.

Arsenault wrote in the caption that police officers “have been taking photos with politicians in all levels of government and all political parties for quite some time now. I was proud to stand beside our Premier Doug Ford.”

Igneski is related to Jasmine Igneski, who has worked with the federal and provincial Conservatives. A research paper by Igneski thanks family for their support, and specifically a sister named Jasmine.

Jasmine Igneski served as a policy adviser to prime minister Stephen Harper. She was also a senior policy adviser to Mike Harris’s Progressive Conservative government.

The Star left messages with Arsenault and Igneski seeking comment Tuesday, but did not hear back from them.

Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray said Arsenault’s many years of service and “experience as a community-builder, youth mentor and Aboriginal liaison officer in his division will make him a valuable asset to the OHRC and his experiences with the commission can only translate positively for the TPS.”

As for his attendance at Ford Fest, Gray said both Arsenault and his partner were on duty and had permission to go.

While the government is entitled to make the appointments, they come on the heels of controversy last summer over a series of political appointments linked to Ford’s former chief of staff, Dean French, and a promise by the premier to clean up patronage.

Commissioners are part-time and receive per diem compensation for their work.

On average, each commissioner is expected to work two days a month and make no more than $10,000 per year.

“My priorities for the commission are non-partisan appointees, people with deep human rights expertise, including lived experience,” said Mandhane.

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