Peterson Supporters Rally Outside College of Psychologists to Call for Free Speech

Protesters gather to call on the College of Psychologists of Ontario to halt disciplinary action against clinical psychologist and public intellectual Jordan Peterson over his social media comments, during a rally near the college’s office in Toronto on Jan. 11, 2023. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)

TORONTO—A few hundred people gathered outside the College of Psychologists of Ontario office in Toronto at noon on Jan. 11 to protest the college’s censure of Jordan Peterson.

Peterson has refused to comply with the college’s order that he take social media training or risk losing his licence, saying the order is politically motivated. The college has taken issue with Peterson’s tweets criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and with his commentary on a variety of issues, including COVID-19 restrictions.

“We’re standing for the right to debate controversial ideas and hard ideas,” Bethan Nodwell, one of the protest organizers, told The Epoch Times. “If they can ... silence a voice as large as Jordan’s, we’re all done for,” she said.

Protest organizers Stacey Kauder (L) and Bethan Nodwell (R), speak to people gathered in support of Jordan Peterson near the College of Psychologists of Ontario office in Toronto on Jan. 11, 2023. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)

Many of the protesters said they have been attending similar events for the past few years, worried about what they see as increasing restrictions on freedom in Canada. Some drew parallels between the situation in Canada and what they have observed in communist countries.

Protesters Draw Parallels With Communism

One of the attendees, Tom Begeja, told The Epoch Times, “I am here because I was born and raised in communist Albania I don’t want that to happen here.” Begeja came to Canada 25 years ago, when he was 28, to raise his family.

“I have come here for a better life, for freedom,“ he said. ”Everything that we’re seeing now in Canada, I used to see back home.”

He said he first noticed similarities between Canada and communist Albania about five years ago. “I saw it in the media, when they start to censor,” Begeja said.

In Albania, he said, people would spy on each other and denounce each other. “Everything has to be run by fear,” he said. “I think it’s spiritually … the evil mind never stops.”

Tom Begeja attends a protest calling for the College of Psychologists to withdraw its censure of psychologist Jordan Peterson’s public commentary, near the college’s office in Toronto on Jan. 11, 2023. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)

Protesters line Eglinton Ave. West, across the street from the College of Psychologists of Ontario’s office in Toronto on Jan. 11, 2023. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)

Begeja said when he sees Peterson talking, “it feels like I am talking. But he has the talent of speaking because he uses the language as a weapon. I think we are gifted having a guy like him.”

Attendee Glen, who preferred not to give his surname, held a sign that said, “CPO struggle session.” It was a reference, he said, to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) struggle sessions that took place in the 1960s under then-Chairman Mao Zedong. The CCP struggle sessions were violent public spectacles in which “class enemies” were denounced. Glen said he is part of a group that opposes the CCP.

“I think most people here find Jordan Peterson, just a very intelligent individual who has helped innumerable amounts of young people, particularly young men,” Glen said. He said young men are told about “toxic masculinity, or that they’re a problem in society. I think a lot of young kids are struggling with their role in the world because of that.”

COVID-Related Restrictions

Demonstrator Amber Mackereth told The Epoch Times she doesn’t always agree with Peterson, but she supports his right to say what he will. “Whether you agree with Jordan Peterson and everything he says is not the point. The point is that we should be able to say our opinions in a free society.”

She continued, “I don’t want to live in a place where everyone has one opinion and we’re following all these rules.”

Mackereth is an actress. She said she has had trouble auditioning because many auditions still require COVID-19 vaccinations and she is unvaccinated. She went to Mexico when vaccine passports were in effect “because I couldn’t be here anymore, because I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere.”

Protest organizer Nodwell was the head nurse at a hospital in Wakefield, Quebec, but she resigned over vaccine mandates. “Through this whole COVID journey, there has been a part of the population that have been stifled and unable to communicate their views in a public forum without being ridiculed,” she said.

Speakers

One of the speakers at the protest was Christine Anderson, a German politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament. She attended virtually, with Nodwell holding her phone up to the microphone for Anderson to speak.

Anderson was appointed to the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic, and in a July 2022 session she criticized the emphasis on vaccinating healthy people.

Anderson said she first heard of Peterson five years ago when he spoke out against Bill C-16, which amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.

“He very accurately back then described [it] as legislation to compel speech,” she said. “Mr. Peterson, I have been following you since then, and I truly admire how tenaciously you stand by your convictions and beliefs. It takes incredible strength and a strong moral compass.”

People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier (2nd L) listens to speakers at a protest in support of Jordan Peterson near the College of Psychologists of Ontario office in Toronto on Jan. 11, 2023. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)

Maxime Bernier, leader of the People’s Party of Canada and former Conservative MP, was also among the speakers at the protest. “I’m here to support Jordan Peterson, but ... also to support all these courageous Canadians,” he told The Epoch Times. “Some of them lost their jobs because of their convictions.”

He mentioned the many doctors and nurses in Canada who are facing similar disciplinary action by their professional regulators for similar social media commentary. Bernier said, “I believe that we are on the right side, because the bad guys usually are the ones who censor.”

College Censure

The College of Psychologists of Ontario did not reply to The Epoch Times request for comment on the protest as of publication. The College’s Executive Director Rick Morris told The Epoch Times via email on Jan. 3, when Peterson first announced the college’s demands, “The College is not authorized to provide this information as per the confidentiality provisions of section 36 of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991.”

Morris did not reply as of publication to follow up questions regarding the college’s discipline procedures in general.

Peterson published the details of his communications with the college on Jan. 4. They show that Peterson is being investigated on the basis of several complaints against him by people who appear to be members of the public and fellow psychologists. They focus on several of his Tweets and his interview with the podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

The college is considering the complaints under the professional code issues of “disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional conduct,” and “provision of information to the public.”

Regarding the latter, the information must be “accurate and supportable based on current professional literature or research” and “consistent with the professional standards, policies, and ethics currently adopted by the College.”