Former Nova Scotia eastern zone emergency medicine department head Dr. Chris Milburn and his wife Dr. Julie Curwin have been organizing the second Free Speech in Medicine and Science Conference. .“Our organization was kind of triggered by COVID policy and all the insanity, the shutting down of any dissent, that happened during COVID,” said Milburn in a Monday interview. .“It’s not just COVID that that’s an issue for.” .Milburn said doctors who think for themselves had felt these problems coming for a long time. He added doctors who were critical of social justice initiatives felt censored. .He said there is “a pressing need to promote free speech in medicine and we’re continuing on with that mission.” .Last year’s Free Speech in Medicine and Science Conference had a major focus on COVID-19 policies. This year’s conference will touch on COVID-19, but it will cover gender ideology, drug policy and the legal limits of regulatory colleges. .The conference will be held from October 27 to 29 at the Inverary Inn in Baddeck, NS. Some of the speakers will include Concordia University marketing professor Gad Saad, British Columbia nurse Amy Hamm, and Brownstone Institute senior scholar Aaron Kheriaty. .Milburn said Saad has been invited as a speaker because he is one of a few voices in academia who is open to speaking out loud and saying what he thinks. While some public figures can be wishy-washy when they speak out against wokeness, Saad says people have abandoned truth and science. .He said it is disturbing Hamm is facing a disciplinary hearing from the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives for having different opinions on gender ideology. What that has to do with her work as a nurse is beyond him. .Milburn added medical regulatory colleges are cracking down on speech because of certain people believing every one must think the same. Rather than the live-and-let-live approach, he said there are some people who believe any ideas opposing theirs are unacceptable. .That started with political correctness in the 1970s and 1980s, where there were certain words people could no longer say. Now people have seen extreme political correctness through wokeism, which seeks to control them in every way. .He said he would love to fill the Inverary Inn to its maximum capacity of 225 people. Last year’s conference had about 140 people, which he was happy about as a first go. .Ironically, he said attempts to advertise the conference have been censored. Doctors Nova Scotia declined to put the conference on its calendar of events because it was not keeping with its strategic objectives. .It suggested it could be offensive to some of its members. There was another organization which advertised an event about prescribing transgender hormones and that was fine to put on the calendar. .He said people could submit complaints to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia about Curwin and him for organizing the conference. While it could chop their careers short, he said they are willing to take that chance. .He called the state of free speech in medicine in the immediate future “absolutely shocking and dismal.” He speaks with physicians on a regular basis who tell him they wish they could push back. .Milburn concluded by saying important people will be coming to the conference and looking to make connections. .“I just think it’s a wonderful opportunity for people who want to find out that there are other people who think like them out there,” he said. .Milburn and Curwin began to set up the first conference in 2022. .READ MORE: Cancelled Nova Scotia doctor organizes Free Speech in Medicine Conference.“I wanted to have a venue where we could get together to have physicians talk about actual science and actual risks and benefits of policy,” he said. .“This is sort of my reaction in the attempts to censor me.” .Milburn was punished by local public authorities in 2021 for questioning their directives during COVID-19. .He was fired from his position as an emergency medicine department head after he went on a radio show and criticized school closures and the de-facto rule of public health leaders. .“The decision to cancel in the first place was unjustified in my estimation,” he said.
