Canadian psychologist and popular media personality Dr. Jordan Peterson is pushing back against a demand from the Ontario College of Psychologists that he must submit himself for mandatory social media training due to a handful of complaints from people claiming his tweets and comments on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast have caused harm. Peterson revealed the demand in a tweet earlier in the month, saying, “BREAKING: the Ontario College of Psychologists has demanded that I submit myself to mandatory social-media communication retraining with their experts for, among other crimes, retweeting Pierre Poilievre and criticizing. 

Justin Trudeau and his political allies.” Peterson, who is a licensed clinical psychologist, said that all the complaints against him were political, as none of them were from former clients or anyone associated with his former clients. Peterson summed up the situation, writing, “To reiterate: I face public disgrace, mandatory political re-education, disciplinary hearing and potential loss of my clinical licensing for agreeing with Pierre Poilievre and criticizing our standing PM Justin Trudeau.” Pierre Poilievre is the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Peterson is no stranger to controversy. He first rocketed to fame in 2016 after he released a series of videos against Canadian Bill C-16, which Peterson said was illegal because it forced speech by mandating that people refer to transgender individuals by their chosen pronouns. Peterson soon found himself in the public spotlight, with right-leaning individuals lifting him up as a champion of free speech while left-leaning individuals portrayed him as a bigot. With this latest attack, Peterson has filed an application for review with the Ontario Divisional Court. He also wrote an op-ed for the National Post detailing his refusal to comply. He noted that anyone can file a complaint to the Ontario College of Psychologists but that the board can throw out complaints that appear frivolous. By going forward with the complaints against him, he stated it was the equivalent of a lawsuit. “The Ontario College of Psychologists has levied a multitude of such lawsuits against me since my rise to public prominence six years ago (although none at all in the 20 years or so I practiced as a psychologist before that). These have multiplied as of late and now number more than a dozen. This may seem like a lot (and ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire,’ or so people think), but I might point out that it is difficult to communicate with as many people as I do and to say anything of substance without rubbing at least a few of them the wrong way now and then,” Peterson wrote. 

Peterson went on to list some of the demands made of him in order to maintain his license, including a social media training course at his own expense and that he would have to publicly admit his wrongdoing. Peterson went on to list examples of some of the complaints against him, including criticism he has aimed at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and support for Pierre Poilievre’s position on unnecessary COVID lockdowns. The Daily Mail also published a list of some of Peterson’s most controversial comments, including his criticism against the concept of “white privilege,” suicidal thoughts that occurred over his dependency on sedative medication, and calling a plus size model on Sports Illustrated “not beautiful.” He was also suspended from Twitter in late June for a tweet criticizing Ellen Page’s transition surgery. Page now goes by the name Elliot Page, and the tweet was deemed hateful. Peterson was later reinstated by Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk. Peterson finished his op-ed by warning others that they might be similarly censored for their beliefs. He also issued a challenge to the Ontario College, writing, “And to the College of Psychologists, I issue this challenge: I am absolutely willing to make every single word of this legal battle fully public so that the issue of my professional competence and my right to say what I have to say and stand by my words can be fought in full daylight.”