Jordan Peterson Faces 5 New Regulatory College Complaints Over Social Media Posts

Author, media commentator, and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson addresses the 5th Demographic Summit in the Fine Arts Museum in Budapest on Sept. 14, 2023. Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images

Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson says he has received five new complaints filed with his regulatory college related to a social media post criticizing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

The latest allegations come one month after the Supreme Court of Canada’s Aug. 8 decision not to hear Peterson’s legal challenge of a College of Psychologists of Ontario ruling that he undergo remedial social media training.

The college, which has since been rebranded as the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO), is the governing body for psychologists in the province.

The complaints received by Peterson and his legal team reference a social media post from 2023 in which the well-known media commentator criticized Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in the upcoming presidential election.

Peterson’s post on X from Jan. 31, 2023 used the phrase “retarded children” to describe Harris’ audience in response to a tweet by another social media user who was critical of the vice-president’s speaking style, saying it sounded like she was speaking to children.

Peterson responded by saying her audience must be “retarded children. And they got that way from listening to people like her. A devouring mother, if there ever was one.”

Each of the five grievances objected to Peterson’s use of the word “retarded.” One complainant wrote, “I know I am not the only one who is imploring the CPBAO to take further action to stem this ridicule and disrespect to the industry, the people, and the unwritten rules of respectful representation of a profession.”

Anyone who has a concern about a psychologist can file a complaint with the CPBAO, according to the college’s website. The college will conduct a full investigation upon receipt of a complaint and does not require the complainant to be involved in the process.

Peterson, in a recently-penned opinion piece, described the complaints against him as being submitted “simultaneously,” and suggested that some “behind-the-scenes organizing” had occurred by “the very activists who are weaponizing the professional governing boards.”

He said the “language police types” typically have two motivations: to appear “as though they are good and that they care, without any cost to themselves” and “to control absolutely everything everyone else says all the time,” adding that the college should dismiss the complaints.

The Epoch Times contacted the CPBAO for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.

Legal Battles

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision last month to dismiss Peterson’s challenge of the college’s social media training order ended a two-year legal battle that has been brought before judges at every level of the legal system.

The 2022 order was issued after the college received complaints about some of Peterson’s social media posts.

The governing body alleged some of his posts directed at a plus-sized model, transgender actor Elliot Page, and several politicians may be “degrading” to the profession and could constitute professional misconduct.

Peterson submitted a request for a judicial review in June of 2023, but his application was dismissed last August when the Ontario Divisional Court upheld the training order issued by the college. He challenged the ruling, but the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal in January, upholding the lower court’s decision. Following the judicial proceedings, Peterson said he'll undergo the training, adding that he will “publicize every single bit of it.”

Peterson, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto in psychology, rose to fame through his YouTube lectures, his successful self-help book, “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos,” and his opposition to the federal government’s Bill C-16, which added the protection of gender identity and expression to the Human Rights Code and Criminal Code.