Authoritarian Canada Wants Professional Standards From Jordon Peterson

The millionaire celebrity and might not be able to legally practice as a psychologist!

by Evan Urquhart

The right wing press is once again convinced Jordan Peterson’s liberty is in grave danger. Peterson first made headlines for falsely claiming he was risking jail because he preferred to decide for himself which pronouns his students deserved in 2016. He never faced any repercussions for doing so, but his claims of being oppressed raised his profile with the far right, helping him make millions of dollars from books and speaking tours expounding on his theory that women are evil sources of chaos and men, who embody order, should fear their influence. Now, Jordan faces a choice between completing a class on professional standards in social media use or continuing to write books and tour without being licensed as a psychologist in Canada. This mild censure from a professional organization is being characterized by the right as one of the greatest threats to liberty on the planet today.

Peterson’s social media behavior has resulted in complaints being filed with the Ontario College of Psychologists, the professional organization that regulates clinical psychologists in Canada. The behavior at issue includes a tweet where Peterson suggested someone he disagreed with on climte change should “leave the planet” (implying the person should commit suicide), another where he expressed confusion over how child welfare cases work (something that, as a mandated reporter of child abuse, a psychologist would be expected to fully understand), and several other milder tweets where he engaged in petty namecalling online.

Not being an expert in the licensing requirements for psychologists in Canada, it’s difficult to say whether Peterson’s behavior falls outside the bounds of what would normally be allowed. None of the right wing articles on Peterson have grappled with that question at all, taking it as given that Peterson is being unjustly targeted for his beliefs. (Right wing writers have also omitted the context that Peterson is rich, that his living is not dependent on being certified as a psychologist in Canada, and that he’s a giant asshole.) Instead there are bold claims, such as in the Washington Examiner which says the nation of Canada is “terrified” of Peterson, and acting in an authoritarian manner by requesting that he undergo some remedial training to improve the professionalism of his social media use.

screenshot from the Washington Examiner article

Calling remedial professional training “re-education,” as the right has repeatedly done in this story, doesn’t actually make what’s being asked of Peterson anything like the prison camps in China or Vietnam, where torture and hard labor sought to break those whose views differed from the communist party. Occupational licensing, by contrast, is used to regulate members of a profession and insure that certain standards of knowledge and professionalism are met, with the harshest punishment available being the loss of a professional license to practice in the field. That’s not to say professional licensing is entirely an unmixed blessing, as the professionalization of occupations that are often used as a stepping stone out of poverty can create barriers that stop poor people from entering fields such as hairdressing or childcare. However, licensing does provide a level of quality assurance for patients and customers. In areas where safety is at issue it’s easy to imagine the disaster that unregulated electricians, welders, or surgeons could become.

The dangers of unregulated talk therapy probably fall somewhere between the dangers of poorly installed electrical wiring and the dangers of a bad haircut. The danger posed to Peterson’s livelihood, of course, is zero.