Ottawa Venue Expands Seating for Jordan Peterson’s Talk as Groups Try to Cancel It

Jordan Peterson, Canadian clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, explains the communist roots of postmodernism during an interview with The Epoch Times on June 15, 2018. The Epoch Times

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson thanked the “woke mob” for drawing more attention to the Ottawa stop on his “Beyond Order” tour by trying to cancel it. Peterson said Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre has expanded the seating to accommodate the increased demand.

“Thanks to all 36 groups protesting my forthcoming Jan 30 Ottawa lecture (many funded by @JustinTrudeau’s Liberals) we’ve been forced to expand seating to accommodate all the extra purchasers of tickets,” he tweeted on Monday. 

Among the groups who signed a letter calling on the centre to cancel Peterson’s appearance were the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, Planned Parenthood Ottawa, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, and Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women. These groups have received some funding from the Liberal government.

The groups started their letter by criticizing Peterson’s support of the Freedom Convoy. They said they represent Ottawa residents who “experienced the traumatic events of the occupation of our city by the far-right.” They accused Peterson of generally fostering an “environment of hate.” They gave the example of his opposition to 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.

When Peterson served as a witness at the Canadian Senate regarding Bill C-16 in 2017, he said, “I think the most egregious elements of the policies are that it requires compelled speech.” He said the Department of Justice had indicated that the bill would be interpreted within the precedents established by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Peterson continued, “The Ontario Human Rights Commission explicitly states that refusing to refer to a person by their self-identified name and proper personal pronoun—which is the pronouns that I was objecting to—can be interpreted as harassment, and so that’s explicitly defined in the relevant policies. I think that’s appalling, first of all, because there hasn’t been a piece of legislation that requires Canadians to utter a particular form of address that has particular ideological implications before, and I think that it’s a line that we shouldn’t cross.”

Though many of the groups signing onto the letter are LGBTQ advocacy groups, among them were also Bright Light Veterinary Eye Care, Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, and the Ottawa Historical Fencing Society. The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2626 also signed.

Regarding his upcoming talk in Ottawa, Peterson said on Twitter, “So now extra tickets are available. Thank you, yet again, woke mob.”

Ticketmaster shows a net capacity of 18,001 at the event. It showed just over 550 tickets left available as of Thursday morning. Part of the event’s description on the Canadian Tire Centre website reads, “Jordan B. Peterson has taught mythology to lawyers, doctors and business people, consulted for the UN Secretary General, helped his clinical clients manage depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and schizophrenia, served as an adviser to senior partners of major Canadian law firms and lectured extensively in North America and Europe.”

The groups’ letter concludes that if Canadian Tire Centre and others involved in the event “truly value the lives and well-being of equity-seeking groups throughout the City of Ottawa they will act quickly and work together to ensure this show does not take place in our city.”

The Canadian Tire Centre did not reply to The Epoch Times inquiry regarding opposition to Peterson’s appearance as of publication.