Dr. Jordan Peterson is facing the loss of his professional licence as he refuses to back down after being targeted by the professional regulator in Ontario following complaints about tweets. He writes about his ordeal in the Telegraph.
As a professional, practising clinical psychologist, I never thought I would fall foul of Canada’s increasingly censorial state. Yet, like so many others – including teachers, nurses, and other professionals – that is precisely what has happened. In my case, a court has upheld an order from the College of Psychologists of Ontario that I undergo social media training or lose my licence to practice a profession I have served for most of my adult life.
Their reason? Because of a handful of tweets on my social media, apparently. Yes: I am at risk of losing my licence to practice as a mental health professional because of the complaints of a tiny number of people about the utterly unproven ‘harm’ done by my political opinions.
These complainers – most of whom did not even live in Canada, none of whom were my clients or even knew any of them, nor had any contact whatsoever with the persons hypothetically harmed by my views – submitted complaints to the College of Psychologists of Ontario about what I had said using a handy online form. That supposedly august body had the option not to pursue these complaints, but seemingly decided some months ago that my behaviour did not meet with their approval. I had to agree to their demands to undergo training with one of their self-declared “social media experts” – sessions of indeterminate length, cost and content – and it seems that if I did not I would be dragged in front of a formal disciplinary hearing and, if it concurred in the judgment of wrongdoing, stripped of my licence.
The right of the College to do so has now been upheld by a provincial court, despite its apparent admission that it could infringe on my fundamental rights.
My transgressions? Two tweets criticising Justin Trudeau; one criticising his former Chief of Staff, who resigned in the aftermath of scandal some years ago; one ironically commenting on the identity of a city councillor in Ottawa, who in my view acted in a particularly unforgivable manner during the famous trucker convoy protest; and one objecting to the actions of the physicians performing mastectomies on perfectly healthy women – often minors – alongside a criticism of a famous actress who received such ‘treatment’ and then advertised its benefits to her unwitting fans. In conjunction, the entire transcript of a podcast I did with Joe Rogan where I expressed doubts, fully justified in my view, about the validity of the idiotic models that economists stack carelessly upon the doom-mongering climate predictions used by eco-zealots and wannabe tyrants to justify extreme policies which will harm millions. Finally, there was a tweet that apparently hurt the feelings of a plus-sized model (according to complainants she did not know) parading herself on the cover of a magazine hypothetically devoted to the celebration of athleticism and health.
Every single opinion was a political or psychological statement; every one devoid of genuinely documentable ‘harm’– except perhaps to the tender sensibility of certain Canadian moralists in whose mouths butter wouldn’t melt, in a country of fatal niceness and complacency.
The problem is the professional regulators have now been captured by Leftist radicals and weaponised against ideological dissenters, says Peterson.
In the last few years… such bodies – with their wide and untrammelled potential regulatory and punitive ability – have been weaponised by the same ideological radicals of the Left that have infiltrated and undermined higher education, media, judiciary, law, science and government. Any radical anywhere can submit the kind of complaint that can bring a professional’s life to a halt, and can increasingly rely on these captured colleges and other professional regulatory bodies to uphold and pursue their vexatious, vengeful, petty, spiteful and ideological motivated ‘complaints’. And this is regardless of how much good the target of their complaint has done – independent of the training, reputation or standing of the target, and accompanied by the deep pockets and infinite amount of time available for the accusers and adversaries, abetted by the resources of the Government itself.
Fighting it is absurdly expensive, he says, but he will not back down.
I will fight this idiocy all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. I have instructed my lawyers, in the aftermath of the rejection of my appeal, to inform the College that I will not comply with their forced re-education mandate, and to proceed with the disciplinary hearing they have promised will occur. In the past, such hearings have been videotaped and made public. I doubt the College will have the stomach to do the same in my case, although I will make every effort, reasonable and unreasonable, to ensure that every element of these proceedings is open to widespread international scrutiny. I have already posted the relevant documents online, as I am perfectly happy to have everything that I have done assessed in full.
But I know few people are in a position to conduct such a fight: I have the resources necessary to wage a multi-year court battle, ruinously expensive (tens of thousands of dollars a month) though it is. I also have the means of communication at hand to publicise exactly what is going on. I do so on the behalf of those who are unable to do so.
Regardless of the outcome, I have made arrangements with other jurisdictions – Canadian and elsewhere – to re-establish my licence, in a heartbeat, if the authorities in Ontario succeed in purloining it from
Worth reading in full.
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A brave, intelligent and decent man being pursued, plagued and made poorly by some of the most foul rubbish ever born to mankind.
An absolute beacon of truth and light in these satanic days.
I admire and respect JP immensely. His clarity of thought and speech is a delight.
It saddens me he’s been turned into a ‘demon’ by the woketards. He won’t go quietly though and he at least has the profile to make things uncomfortable for them. The prohibitive legal costs are a huge deterrent to most, so I’m pleased he intends to push through and make a huge stink.
Recently on a separate tech site, I commented on an article by mentioning something interesting that JP said in a podcast on that topic. Suddenly a few of the other commenters jumped in called him transphobic and then began to tar me with the same brush, ignoring the point I’d made. I gave as good as I got but it ruined my enjoyment of participating in the comment thread
Seconded, hux. I’ve nothing but respect for the man or anybody else who has the courage to speak out and stand up for their principles. We must always remember that there’s way more of us than them and standing united in opposition is our ultimate power, and when the cocky b’stards overreach one too many times it will be their downfall.
https://twitter.com/TheFigen_/status/1697650523389001921
Thanks Mogs
In the UK the warning signs were apparent as far back as 2005 or earlier. In schools*, teachers were “guided” into supporting the Approved Agenda (notably on Climate, Critical Race Theory, and Gender). The sinister aspect was that anybody who was suspected of not being 110% on board with the AA was given “professional guidance” and eased out of post. The spread of suppression of discussion of the AA has spread into the medical profession and psychologists professional standards followed later, and it has now become the norm on most social media and some blogs.
*EDIT: “… schools and, notably, teacher training colleges…”
It was going on in the 1980s. In 1986, at primary school in Devon, we were told that by year 2000, a winter day in Devon and Cornwall would be like the equator on a hot day. Twenty-three years beyond that date after a crappy, wet and cold July and August, I’m still waiting. When I started my English GCSEs in 1989 The Merchant of Venice was taught to us purely as a play about racism. We then had to write plays about a black man being refused rent of a room in a boarding house. Not sure what that had to do with Merchant, but there we go!
It’s been a slow capture of institutions and generations over decades and it’s only now that these evil people are coming out of the shadows.
…this is fantastic for us (not so much for Peterson, although I think he’s up well up for it)!
..it’s like being able to watch the Salem Witch Trials from a distance….and cheer from the side lines!! There is no way they emerge from this in any positive way…
….NO WAY!!
I am totally confident that Peterson will emerge triumphant….!!
And receive a helluva lot of back-up funding I’d wager.
This is a well put together 38min documentary by The Telegraph about how the woke ideology has infected Canada. Jordan Peterson features, as does Billboard Chris and several other speakers. Very interesting. Thankfully they went light on any Turdeau mugshots..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt2AuVQKpq0&ab_channel=TheTelegraph
Jordan, dear Dr. Peterson,
Don’t let the bastards grind you down.
This is the hill we die on, with you, face down in the mud.
Jordan Peterson is so right in everyone of his tweets and in his interview with Rogan.
This was an obscure university lecturer, little known outside his profession, whom the administration numpties quietly tried to pull into line. Instead they watched on in horror as be became an absolute rock star, not just in Canada but around the world, providing an example and a model for others to follow. I’m sure the numpties’ latest foray into censorship and re-education will go just as well.
Well done Jordan Peterson.
Trudeau, with the support of far too many Canadian people, has turned that lovely country into an intolerant quasi-Fascist state.
How can this happen? ——–Well look no further than Germany in the thirties. People fall for stuff and we think they should all know better, but tyranny has a certain way of deceiving people regarding it’s true motives.
The Trudeau govt has provided about $600 million (CAD) to the Canadian media to help them out because they are in financial difficulty.
Apparently they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them.
The Liberal Progressive Woke Virus is wiping out Free Speech faster than covid on amphetamines and therefore we longer live in free countries. I hope people were watching Farage this week on GB News show that Coutts Bank bunch of excuses why Farage was to be De-Banked. He did not tick all the woke boxes and infact he had crosses for them all. ——So basically if you don’t get a tick for Race Gender Equality Diversity and Climate then tatty bye, no bank account for you. Dare to say you don’t want an endless stream of illegal immigrants and it’s tatty bye for you. Dare to say you support Brexit and it is tatty bye for you. Dare to support Trump Policies and it is tatty bye…….Infact it is tatty bye all the way down the list unless you are prepared to be bludgeoned into submission by Wokery that wants “inclusion” for all. ——Except YOU.
There was the Spanish Inquisition.
We now have the Canadian Inquisition.