In 2016 University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson warned about the impact of Bill C-16, which added gender identity and gender orientation to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the criminal code. In a video lecture speaking out against the bill and defending free speech, he brought attention to how the legislation would criminalize a person’s refusal to use alternative pronouns.
“I think that some of the things that I say in my lectures now might be illegal,” Peterson said in one of the removed videos, according to one report. “I think that they might even be sufficient for me to be brought before the Ontario Human Rights Commission under their amended hate speech laws.”
In a media interview, he explained how some of the things he says in lectures to students could be “transformed suddenly into hate speech,” and that's why he made the video. "I said that we were in danger of placing the refusal to use certain kinds of language into the same category as Holocaust denial.”
Many critics argued he was being alarmist about his predictions and said there’s no way the misuse of pronouns would land someone in jail because it wouldn’t “meet the threshold for hate speech in Canada.”
But it turns out, sadly, that Peterson was right.
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"This could never happen, said those who called my stance against Bill C16 alarmist," Peterson tweeted. "I read the law and saw that it was, to the contrary, inevitable."
This could never happen, said those who called my stance against Bill C16 alarmist. I read the law and saw that it was, to the contrary, inevitable https://t.co/zi8vB5x4x0
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) March 18, 2021
There is a man in Canada who can only be alluded to as He Who Shall Not Be Named: Robert Hoogland. For the sake of natural justice, it is important to speak this man's name. He is now the Canadian state's prisoner of conscience.
The warrant was issued by a judge for the arrest of a father after calling his biological female child his "daughter," and referring to her with the pronouns "she" and "her." Hoogland was found to be in contempt of court.
Hoogland is a father to a gender non-conforming biological female 14-year-old who identifies as transgender and prefers the use of male pronouns. Hoogland has repeatedly called this person his daughter, though the court has forbade it.
On Tuesday at 10 am Vancouver time, Hoogland surrendered himself to the court in response to the Attorney General of British Columbia's warrant his arrest for contempt. He was the arrested and jailed. The warrant was issued by Judge Tammen on March 4, 2021. (The Post Millennial)
Hoogland broke a gag order to speak with The Federalist and other outlets about the situation. He described watching a “perfectly healthy child” who was “altered and destroyed for absolutely no good reason.”
In a separate interview with Mass Resistance, he explained how the school “groomed” her and how doctors and courts stripped him of his parental rights.
“What kind of father would I be if let’s say in 5, 10 years my daughter is detransitioning, and she turns to me and says, you know, ‘Dad or Mom, why did none of you do anything to stop this? I was a child,' he told The Federalist. "When my daughter asks me that question, I’ll say, ‘I did everything that I possibly could. There was nothing more I could do, and then when there was nothing more I could do, I continued on because I didn’t want other parents to go through what I went through.”
Hoogland has a crowdfunding page set up for those who wish to help.
