The Supreme Court of Canada has denied an appeal from psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson against an order to have him undergo social media training by the College of Psychologists of Ontario as a punitive measure for controversial social media posts.
Peterson’s initial appeal was denied by a panel of three judges with the Ontario Court of Appeal, who dismissed his motion for leave to appeal as part of a previous decision by the Ontario Divisional Court in January.
“The court has rejected my appeal regarding the decision of the Ontario College of Psychologists to subject me to indefinite re-education,” wrote Peterson in a post to X on Thursday.
“Primarily for publicly opposing the butchers and liars subjecting children to sterilization and mutilation. I am also required to pay whatever court costs the College accrued in relation to my appeal. I am now bereft of options on the legal front in Canada. I guess it’s On with the show.”
The College claimed it received several complaints regarding Peterson’s online presence on social media in 2022.
Among those complaints were his comments about a plus-size Sports Illustrated model which he said was “not beautiful” and the gender transition of actor Elliot Page.
The College threatened to revoke Peterson’s psychology licence if he refused to undergo social media training.
“It is a tragic loss both for the 25% of Canadians who are members of professional and trade regulated vocations and for Canadians generally,” employment lawyer Howard Levitt, who is representing Peterson, told True North.
“It is an invitation to extortion and to levying personal vendettas by threatening people with loss of their professional licenses if a complaint is made against them that something they said or wrote might offend the sensibilities of their regulatory bodies.”
While the renowned author and former University of Toronto professor has not had an active clinical practice since 2017, he remains a member of the College, which alleges that his social media presence poses a risk to the public.
The professional governing body ordered Peterson to participate in a social media coaching program that would reeducate him on how to approach his public commentary and he was told that failure to comply would result in him being found guilty of professional misconduct.
“It will chill both debate and speech as regulated Canadians will not risk being offside the sensibilities of their regulators,” said Levitt.
“And the idea that Jordan Peterson, one of the masters of social media, requires social media training by comparative incompetents, is risible and ludicrous.”
