Jordan Peterson says he's willing to risk licence over social media training after losing court battle (2024)

Jordan Peterson says “the war has barely started” after losing his bid to have the courts bar the College of Psychologists of Ontario from ordering him to undergo remedial social media training.

On Tuesday, a panel of three judges with the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed Peterson’s motion for leave to appeal an earlier decision by the Ontario Divisional Court. No reasons were given, which is normal for the appeal court.

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“A higher court in Canada has ruled that the Ontario College of Psychologists indeed has the right to sentence me to re-education camp. There are no other legal avenues open to me now,” Peterson wrote on X. “It’s capitulate to the petty bureaucrats and the addle-pated woke mob or lose my professional licence.”

Peterson said that the college had “won this round,” but the war is not over.

“There is nothing you can take from me that I’m unwilling to lose,” he wrote. “So watch out. Seriously. You’ve been warned.”

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Howard Levitt, who represented the controversial psychologist and best-selling author, said they are unable to appeal further.

“I think it’s going to be a licence to regulatory bodies to be more aggressive,” said Levitt, a Toronto employment lawyer and Financial Post columnist.

In another tweet, posted Wednesday morning, Peterson said he wants “the entire current crop of minions at the College of Psychologists to publicly apologize and then resign.” He started a poll on X so his followers could bet on whether this would happen, or that his licence to practice psychology would be suspended.

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In a column for National Post, Peterson wrote that he stands by everything he said that initially sparked the complaints to the college.

“I regret none of these actions. I would say exactly the same things again,” he wrote.

He said that if he loses his license, it will not affect him.

“I am independently wealthy,” Peterson wrote. “I am also not dependent even on my formal status as a psychologist. This makes me very unlike my colleagues and fellow professionals, for whom threat to their licence is an intolerable threat to livelihood, reputation and family stability, financial and otherwise.”

He went on to warn that free speech rights are impaired in Canada. This was echoed by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

“Another outrageous attack on free speech,” Poilievre wrote on X. “This is the culture of censorship Trudeau has created and I will reverse.”

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In August, the Ontario Divisional Court said that the college was allowed to have Peterson undergo social media training.

“Requiring coaching following apparently unheeded advice seems a reasonable next step, proportionately balancing statutory objectives against Charter rights which are minimally impaired, if they are impaired at all, by the (college’s decision to require coaching),” says the 18-page court decision.

Peterson had sought to have the August ruling overturned by going to the appeal court.

The legal battle dates back more than two years.

Over the course of 2022, the college — which governs the conduct of psychologists practising in Ontario — received a number of complaints about Peterson’s online behaviour. The concerns included his tweets about a plus-sized Sports Illustrated model, whom he said was “not beautiful” and Elliot Page’s gender transition, who he said “had her breasts removed by a criminal physician.” There were also complaints about his views on climate change and “aggressive” conduct towards Gerald Butts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former principal secretary.

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In January 2023, Peterson posted a document online detailing several of the complaints against him.

The complaints deal mostly with Peterson’s political commentary and language he used on social media. At least one complainant said they are also a member of the same college of psychologists as Peterson, although names are redacted in the document Peterson posted, so National Post was unable to confirm this.

Peterson said that none of the complaints came from his clients and many of them came from outside Canada. He alleged that some of the complainants have falsely claimed that they are his clients. Their names are redacted, so National Post is unable to confirm this.

Peterson, who is also a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Toronto, put his practice on hold in 2017 but is still a licensed psychologist.

In response to the complaints, the college investigated, and ordered Peterson to undertake media training, at his own expense, or risk the suspension of his licence to practice in Ontario.

Peterson refused to undergo training, and asked the courts to review whether the college had such authority. He maintained that his speech was political, and outside the purview of the college’s authority and that he had his own team in place to monitor his conduct.

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“I have already undertaken the remediation of my actions in a manner very much akin to what has been suggested by the (Inquiries, Complains and Reports Committee) and have done so in an exceptionally thorough and equally exceptionally public and transparent manner,” Peterson wrote to the college.

Peterson’s comments did not run afoul of any Canadian laws.

Rather, they were found to have contravened specific rules that exist for psychologists, a regulated profession.

“When individuals join a regulated profession, they do not lose their Charter right to freedom of expression,” says the ruling by the Ontario Divisional Court from August. “At the same time, however, they take on obligations and must abide by the rules of their regulatory body that may limit their freedom of expression.”

“The order is not disciplinary and does not prevent Dr. Peterson from expressing himself on controversial topics.”

Levitt said he was surprised, given the international media attention Peterson’s case garnered, that the courts did not want to weigh in on the extent to which professional regulatory bodies can police members’ speech.

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“Is there free speech in Canada? To what extent are the limits on free speech in Canada, to free speech which is not criminal or not tortious, not a violation of any law? To what extent are regulated professionals and regulated trades impacted in terms of what they can say in the public forum?” said Levitt. “These are important issues and Canada has been castigated broadly for the decision of the divisional court.”

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