Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson could be stripped of his license to practice clinical psychology over his sharing of political posts on social media. The College of Psychologists of Ontario which regulates the profession in his home province has disciplined Peterson over the sharing of political posts on Twitter.
Peterson says he got in hot water with the College because he retweeted posts about PM Justin Trudeau, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, Trudeau advisor, Gerald Butts, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, and others.
The College has ordered Peterson to undergo mandatory social media communication retraining to "modify his objectionable behavior." It's unclear what it is about the Tweets or the sharing of them that may violate the College's Code of Ethics. Either way, Peterson says he will not comply.
"I have absolutely refused to do so," said Peterson. The next step for the College is to demand he submit to an 'in-person' disciplinary hearing. If Peterson does not satisfy the College and commit to changing his behavior, it could strip him of his license to practice."Canada has been given over to the commissars," Peterson said, "something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime." He says he'll make the issue public in the days ahead.Some of the posts that may be drawing the ire of the College include one on December 24th in which Peterson tweeted out a link to Conrad Black's column in the National Post: A moral imperative for Trudeau Liberals to resign.
Then on December 27th, he tweeted,
Has Jordan Peterson become The government of Canada's latest political target for holding the wrong opinion?
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Peterson added that this "re-education" order from the College of Psychologists of Ontario was based on complaints about his public statements on Twitter and The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast.
According to Peterson, there were only around a dozen complaints in total which had been made over a four-year period and many of the complainants "falsely claimed that they were or had been clients of mine."
"None of the complainants involved in the current action were clients of mine, past or present, or were even acquainted with any of my clients)," Peterson tweeted.
"We are now in a situation in Canada under @JustinTrudeau where practicing professionals can have their livelihoods and public reputations threatened in a very serious manner for agreeing with the Official Opposition and criticizing major government figures," Peterson added. "If I comply the terms of my re-education and my punishment will be announced publicly. I have already had the second most serious category of punishment levied against me and have been deemed at high risk to 're-offend.'"
Peterson claimed that these types of ultimatums from regulatory agencies are becoming "more widespread" because "SJW [social justice warrior types] have weaponized the domain of professional misconduct complaints and the Colleges themselves have become bastions of woke sensibility [sic]."
Additionally, Peterson asserted that Canadian regulatory agencies' use of similar tactics in fields such as law and healthcare is intimidating practitioners and making the advice they give "dangerously unreliable":
"Canadians: your physicians, lawyers, psychologists and other professionals are now so intimidated by their commissar overlords that they fear to tell you the truth. This means that your care and legal counsel has been rendered dangerously unreliable."
This isn't the first time the College of Psychologists of Ontario has taken action against Peterson over tweets he made publicly on his personal social media accounts.
Last year, Peterson was investigated by the regulatory body after someone complained about a tweet where he wrote "You're free to leave at any point" in response to McGill University medicine professor Roger Palfree's concerns about overpopulation. Peterson said the complaint that triggered this investigation didn't come from Palfree, the person he was responding to.
Peterson's experience reflects the increased attempts to sanction the speech of licensed professionals in Canada. The Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) recently passed a law that can result in doctors being jailed for up to two years if they're deemed to have spread certain types of "false or misleading information."
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