Premier Doug Ford is defending his controversial appointment of a Toronto police constable to the Ontario Human Rights Commission — and admitting that policing is a family affair to him.

“There’s no secret I absolutely love our police officers,” Ford told reporters Friday at Peel Regional Police headquarters.

“And I’m proud to say that three out of my four daughters are with police officers, so there’s my bias right there as well,” he said in announcing $20.5 million in funding for the Peel force to fight gang and gun violence.

The premier later hailed the appointment to the human rights watchdog of Const. Randall Arsenault, who has publicly praised Ford to his large following on social media.

That move came as the commission is conducting an inquiry into allegations of racial profiling and discrimination against the Toronto Police Service.

“The police officer that’s serving (is) top notch. You can’t ask for a better police officer that what the attorney general appointed,” said Ford in his first public comments since the Star revealed the appointment on Tuesday.

“I support our police and I support the appointment that the attorney general made. If there’s a conflict, they remove themselves,” he said, adding the officer is one of “two phenomenal candidates” the government named to the panel.

Attorney General Doug Downey insisted Arsenault is the right person for the part-time job, which pays up to $10,000 a year.

“If you look at his record, he is a phenomenal appointment. We went through all the appropriate processes to do the conflict checks, to do the background, to that sort of thing,” said Downey, “so I have full confidence that the board will function as it always has.”

Arsenault and fellow appointee Violetta Igneski, a McMaster University professor with Progressive Conservative ties, were not among about 330 applicants for the vacant positions.

Renu Mandhane, the province’s chief human rights commissioner, said Tuesday she was “somewhat surprised” to hear about the appointments earlier this month.

Mandhane added she was “concerned” a Toronto police officer on active duty had been appointed during the commission’s inquiry into the police department.

The Black Legal Action Centre warned that the appointments raise questions about the integrity of the commission and its ability to fight racism.

“Indeed, this seems to be one more step in Ford’s gutting of the human rights system in Ontario,” the Toronto-based centre said in an open letter.

“We at BLAC, as members of the Black community, are alarmed, and extremely concerned, about the integrity of (the commission) and its ability to combat racism, anti-Black racism and all other forms of discrimination in this province.”

Last year, Ford tried to have a family friend installed as commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police. Toronto police Staff Supt. Ron Taverner withdrew his application after months of bad publicity for the Tories.

In September 2018, Arsenault posted a picture on Instagram, where he has 53,000 followers, of himself and his partner in their uniforms with the premier at the annual Ford Fest in Vaughan.

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The officer 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, who has not returned messages from the Star, is related to Jasmine Igneski, who has held senior posts in the Tory governments of premier Mike Harris and prime minister Stephen Harper.

Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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