Stanford University medicine professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said prominent Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson deserved the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) George Jonas Freedom Award . .“The worst thing that governments did is to suppress speech,” said Bhattacharya at the Thursday event in Calgary..“If speech had not been suppressed, then people like me and my profession would have spoken up.” .Bhattacharya said many people stayed silent about COVID-19 restrictions because they were afraid of what would happen if they spoke up. These people saw what happened to Peterson, him and others and did not want that. .While there appeared to be a consensus among COVID-19 restrictions, he said they were bad ideas. Bad ideas do not survive free speech. .Although it takes a while and can be frustrating, he said they go away. He said it is “only in an environment of oppression that bad ideas persist and linger for years, causing harm to countless people.” .With Peterson’s case against the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO), he said it is an example of the war on free speech being waged against dissidents. The CPO used complaints by third parties to launch its investigation. .Peterson said in January the CPO is demanding he do a course about social media etiquette. .READ MORE: Jordan Peterson says Ontario psychologist regulator requesting he do social media course.“BREAKING: the Ontario College of Psychologists @CPOntario has demanded that I submit myself to mandatory social-media communication retraining with their experts for, among other crimes, retweeting @PierrePoilievre and criticizing @JustinTrudeau and his political allies,” he said. .He has to take social media training, with reports documenting his progress. If he objects, he will face an in-person tribunal hearing and potential suspension or revocation of his right to practice as a licensed clinical psychologist. . Jay BhattacharyaBhattacharya said the purpose of Peterson's investigation was “to recant his heresies as if we’re back in the Dark Ages, to undergo re-education as if we’re in Maoist China, and to embrace the new illiberal faith.” .Bhattacharya went on to say the main aim of this investigation was for Peterson “to recant his heresies as if we’re back in the Dark Ages, to undergo re-education as if we’re in Maoist China and to embrace the new illiberal faith.” He added it was an act designed to humiliate him. .The goal he said was to tar him as a heretic, as people who might agree with him would not dare say so. That is the main mechanism by which free speech is violated in the world. .He brought up his involvement with the Great Barrington Declaration and the pushback he faced. The Great Barrington Declaration said there is an enormous risk gradient with COVID-19, it is most harmful to seniors and lockdowns are damaging other people. .Therefore, lockdowns should be lifted and elderly people protected. The Great Barrington Declaration was about protecting civil liberties. .Four days after he wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, former National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Dr. Francis Collins wrote a letter to former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci and dismissed him as a fringe epidemiologist. What followed were hit pieces against him in the media, saying he wanted to let COVID-19 rip. .The purpose of the smear campaign was to destroy his reputation. It was about maintaining an illusion of consensus that all prominent scientists agreed about lockdowns. .Bhattacharya said he does not have tenure at Stanford unless he earns NIH grants. Since Collins said he is a fringe epidemiologist, he said every other scientist took note and realized they could lose grants and tenure if they spoke up. .He concluded by saying cracks are starting to form in governments’ abilities to suppress speech. .“If we can restore speech, then all of the rest of this will go away, I believe,” he said. . John CarpayJCCF President John Carpay said it was wonderful Bhattacharya was accepting the George Jonas Freedom Award for Peterson. .JCCF President John Carpay started off by saying it was an honour to have Bhattacharya at the George Jonas Freedom Award Dinner. .“Were I to set out everything he has done to support truth and justice and freedom in the last three-and-a-half years, it would take me half an hour,” said Carpay..“And that’s if I was summarizing.” .Carpay said he has taken a principled, courageous stance. He thanked him for appearing as an expert witness pro bono in JCCF cases. .Bhattacharya said in 2021 Canadian provinces should end lockdowns, change how they run PCR tests and avoid giving COVID-19 vaccines to teenagers. .READ MORE: Dr J opposes lockdowns, teenage COVID vaccinations, misused PCR tests.“I don’t know why governments don’t want to make decisions based on the evidence I and others like me have put forward,” he said..“There are tens of thousands of doctors who see this the way that I do.”
