For years, we have discussed (e.g., here, here, here, here, here) the crackdown on free speech in Canada, which followed European allies in criminalizing and regulating religious and political speech. The latest example involves Canadian nurse Amy Hamm, who had the temerity of putting up a billboard reading “I (heart) J.K. Rowling.” Despite recent changes in various countries regarding transgender athletes and other policy changes long advocated by Rowling, she remains persona non grata on the left — subjected to liberal blacklisting, book burning, threatened prosecution, cancel campaigns, and boycotts. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal targeted Hamm. These tribunals have long operated as speech regulators, prosecuting those with opposing viewpoints or values.
I discuss Canada’s criminalization of speech in my book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” The Hamm case is a textbook example of how these publicly funded tribunals quickly became speech censorship boards in the name of protecting “human rights.” Free speech does not appear to be one of those human rights.
The tribunal opened an investigation of Hamm four years ago after she paid for the pro-Rowling billboard. After a year of investigation, the tribunal altered its allegations to claim that Hamm was sharing “medically inaccurate information” to “discriminatory and derogatory statements regarding transgender people.” She has faced almost two years of investigation and 23 days of hearings. She continues to appeal the case.
In the meantime, she was also targeted at work by activist group Care Not Cops, which publicly called for her firing. Vancouver Coastal Health then suspended Hamm in May 2024. The regional health authority claimed Hamm’s exercise of free speech about her beliefs caused “harm to individuals.” Accordingly, she could not continue as a nurse unless she was either silent about her views or mouthed the approved viewpoints of the tribunal or health authority.
What is particularly chilling is how the tribunal continued to change its allegations and orders, including seeking to halt appeals by claiming that it has yet to “deliberate on the appropriate penalty and costs.” It now claims that there are “four public items in which she had identified herself as a nurse – three articles and one podcast episode.”
The point of these campaigns and investigations is not just to punish figures for their opposing views but to create a chilling effect on anyone who might even contemplate supporting Rowling or voicing opposing views.
One word: “Evil”
Transgender? Simulants or bisexuals? Homosexuals? A masculine gender in women’s clothing? Is transsocial. The prodigious use of liberal license has hoisted these cultural progressives on their petard. Oh, and strike the Rainbow banner and rhetoric. Albinophobia is an ancient psychosis in the modern family.
Here are some Canadian billboards that Nurse Hamm was competing against:
https://www.pinterest.com/kokjohn57/canadian-billboards/
https://izismile.com/2011/04/09/brazen_billboards_from_canada_29_pics.html
THANK YOU, LIN! 🤣
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal is probably far and away the worst of the provincial tribunals, being very far left. The problem is, the rest of them, plus the national one, are not much better. Nurse Hamm has a very long and difficult road ahead of her AT BEST. Canada is, imo as being born and raised there, without a massive pushback from citizens, Canada is lost.
Surrender pronto or we’ll level Toronto!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0R5DTHcmGU
“What if Canada had acted on its 1921 Defense Scheme No. 1 and invaded the U.S.?”
–by Andy Sturdevant 11/04/2016
“In Kevin Lippert’s recent book “War Plan Red,” he details a plan by the Canadian military in the interwar years to hold off a hypothetical attack by the United States on Canada with a pre-emptive invasion. This would have been mounted in the years after World War I, when geopolitical alliances were more fluid, and before they fixed themselves into the now-familiar Axis and Allied powers of the Second World War. In the chance the United States and Great Britain found each other at odds with each other, perhaps entangled in alliances with Imperial Japan or European powers, a conflict with Canada isn’t impossible to imagine. Unlikely, but not impossible.”
“In the event of this particular scenario, a plan called Defense Scheme No. 1 was drafted by Lt. Col. James “Buster” Brown in 1921. If and when evidence of an impending American invasion were to come to light, the plan specified, the Canadian military was to conduct a three-pronged invasion of the northern United States, creating enough of a havoc to put the U.S. on the defensive, and buy some time for Great Britain to jump into action and save its ally. The end result of Brown’s middle pronged attack was the deployment of Prairie Command troops to swoop down from Winnipeg to invade Great Falls and Fargo, and then ultimately to occupy Minneapolis and St. Paul.”
https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2016/11/what-if-canada-had-acted-its-1921-defense-scheme-no-1-and-invaded-us/
———————————————–
–Oddball
“Take it easy Big Joe, some of these people got sensitive feelings.”
Maybe she’s just a fan of Harry Potter.
If America stands strong against the insanity of the progressive movement and illustrates this to the remainder of sane people throughout the western world, they will follow suit and; just as is happening in Britain and Italy, for example, you will see a growth of movements finally pushing back against the smaller but louder prog movements throughout the western world. Once you expose the small but thuggish left for what they really are you will see resistance building as they watch America/Trump/MAGA show them how to remove/silence these vile ideologues and their destructive policies.
WhimsicalMama,
That, re: UK and Italy and in some other countries like Germany, Sweden, we are seeing push back against push back against leftist progressiveness. The recent NYT article highlighting the exodus of Democrats from their own party and others have noted an increase in those registering as Republican. According to the NYT report, a deep dive into the numbers show the Democrats lost some 2.1 million voters while the Republicans gained 2.4 million voters.
The real wildcard is Independents. Will they vote for woke leftists policies or Republican ones? Sane and normal people will only put up with so much of the stupid and crazy before they say enough. The upside to the stupid and crazy is the woke leftists are sounding more and more desperate. Now they are doubling or even tripling down on the “Nazi” rhetoric with the Sydney Sweeney “Nazi propaganda!” for her “good geans/jeans” American Eagle ad. Thing is, the whole “Nazi” thing no longer means anything and is alienating the sane and normal Democrats as we are seeing them leave the party.
And they, woke leftists, are the ones who are destroying the Democrat party.
All Trump/MAGA has to do is keep winning, keep succeeding on real polices people care about.
I do believe that Trump said something similar when he was asked if he would seek revenge on those that caused so much trouble and spread so may lies about him and he said something to the effect that just being successful and helping America become great again is all that he needs, success being the best revenge of all.
Correct, Trump did said that he would go after those who done him wrong and will seek revenge. That cause a ruckus on the Left and got them scare. But when Sean Hannity asked him the question if Trump would go after those whom he had felt done him wrong, Trump quipped the country being successful would be the best form of revenge for him.
“Trump ran on a promise of revenge. He’s making good on it” – Associated Press
Personally, I think it’s a good thing Trump is going after those whom he felt had done him wrong. But in a way, I don’t think he’s seeking revenge full throttle, he’s going after them for actually breaking the law.
Of course, the Left is having a meltdown because for so long, they weren’t being held accountable for their actions (for the vast majority). Now they’re going to be held accountable for their actions, it’s a foreign concept for them and they don’t like it.
Exactly, the left is saying two wrongs don’t make a right. But we didn’t hear any on the left say what Biden and Obama did was wrong when they did it, did we? What Trump is doing is righting a bunch of wrongs – their wrongs. That’s very different from revenge.
“the Sydney Sweeney “Nazi propaganda”
Ms. Sweeney and her American Eagle ads have given me the perfect litmus test to find out whether or not someone I know is (or has become) a woke a-hole. I had lost weight and bought some new jeans and jean shorts from AE a couple of months before that ad campaign began. So, I can now tell an acquaintance that “I got into Sydney Sweeney’s pants this morning” and gauge their reaction 😉
3 issues
1-Canada continues to prove over and over that they are simply Europe with an American accent. It is amazing that the police and tribunals in Europe and Canada continue to use their power to intimidate and jail people for their anti-child mutilation views. This is done even as their National Health Plans retreat from pushing the trans lifestyle and studies such as the Cass Report, Oxford study and others now report no real improvement in mental health or decrease in suicide with the use of surgical mutilation and medications.
Strangely enough having the child go through puberty is the best treatment.
2-Canada as well as Europe also has missed the entire meaning of a constitution. It’s not that you have written out a design of your government but what you actually say in the constitution that matters. Neither have ever been able to get that right. Basically your philosophy of government is the design for the rules of government. They still have no concept of who We The People are and the rights that people have transcend government.
3-I think the nurse in Canada should move to the the US. She likely speaks American English, has a skill that is highly desired and it’s doubtful we would even notice her accent.
An observation-J.K. Rowling has a truly sharp manner of speaking. She seems to have no fear and her response to verbal assaults are breath taking and hilarious.
GEB
Do you really think that police generally speaking has the moral conviction to stand up to those in elected positions and risk losing their pay and pensions.
It almost never happens.
They do what they are told to do
The problems with all the other British colonies that separates them from America is that none of them actually fought for their freedom with great sacrifice, they just waited it out, politely, until they were granted their freedom. They never developed that rebellious backbone that America showed when they won their independence by defeating Britain. They are more like sheep that have been let out to pasture than a caged wolf that has escaped it captor. They think differently than us when it comes to being “free” by self determination rather than by permission.
@whimsicalmama
Excellent and true, and we were literally the lone wolf. So be it. Your other comment is spot on, too. 👍🏼 we won’t go down that path of tyranny again gently.
We need nurses. English speaking a plus. Move to the US.
Either that or wait till Alberta become an independent country of their own. Then she could move there. 🙃
Estovir, where are you? (You can get to comprehensive/collective medical journal information much more quickly than I.)
I’m interested to know if and/or how many Canadian medical professionals have published articles that line up with Hamm’s opinions? (There certainly are several in the United States!) Have they faced discipline, censorship, or loss of professional employment, even if, arguendo only, their opinions constituted a minority? Were their publications canceled or pulled?
How many “expert witnesses” in cases involving transgenderism or surgical/medical intervention have testified with opinions that parallel Hamm’s opinion? Have they faced discipline or censorship?
Is it the speech or the forum?
Maybe we should keep the illegals and just deport all liberals. I’d settle for just deporting white liberals so they couldn’t claim we were racist. I guarantee you we’d still have a better country. Reduce the carbon footprint–deport a liberal.
Judging by what’s happening to Nurse Hamm, I have no doubt what American liberals would do to the rest of us if they had the power and the chance.
Diogenes,
Deport the liberals, I would more likely call them illiberal, then who is going to hire the illegals? Those of us with MAGA flags, American flags, Trump signs in our yards sure as heck are not going too!
I agree on your second part. That is why they keep saying how the Constitution is a threat to democracy, out of date, racist and all that other stupid and crazy.
Upstate, true, deporting illiberals would solve both problems. Of course, I was just being facetious about deporting illiberals, but the Democrats could always change my mind. They seem to be trying.
What are the study reports on the long-term effects of the life-long medications that will be needed to maintain the transition? Is there a difference in effect if started as a pre-pubescent, pubescent, or once fully matured (18+)? And the financial cost to the person and to society? Is it expected insurance or state government medical coverage to pay for the necessary medications? I do worry very much about the effects.
So, now anytime anyone can claim we have hurt their feelings, we are a criminal? The “play nice” Mommies and Daddies have decided their Sharia Law should be imposed on all. Play nice!
That level of oppression will lead to vigilantism. With a little luck.
“That level of oppression will lead to vigilantism. With a little luck.”
In CANADA?! You’ll need more than luck for that wish to materialize. It is barely possible that, with enough provocation, Alberta and possibly one or two other provinces might rebel and possibly threatened to form their own nation, but even that is highly unlikely in the near to medium term. Canada has had two huge problems for as long as I can remember: the one identified here in which Eastern English Canada exists as a statist, socialist confabulation; and the second issue unmentioned by Turley (and by most who write about Canada, actually), which is Quebec. The Quebecois are nominally French speaking, are centrally situated, geographically, control much of Canada’s manufacturing capability, and learned long ago that they could manipulate Toronto into largely letting them get away with whatever they wanted by whining, stomping their feet, and generally being totally and repellently unpleasant, without actually committing overtly illegal actions that would force Toronto to respond with force (*that* actually probably would break up Canada). Ireland used similar tactics to extract appeasement on issues important to them from the UK for much of the 20th century. No, regimes will ebb and flow in Canada, as will the efforts of those regimes to exert totalitarian control, according to the current prevailing mood of the complacent electorate, but little will change dramatically, or very much for the better.
What we are learning is that some humans are more valued than others and therefore are worthy of special protections from the common majority. I long for the time when Orwell becomes fiction again.
” I long for the time when Orwell becomes fiction again.”
“1984” was never really completely fantasy, but at least there was a better time when it was regarded as a cautionary parable, not an instruction manual.
I agree. As long as Canadians, and Europeans vote for this, they will have it, at least until the governments remove the burden of voting altogether. Ditto for the USA, if we ever get the Democrats back. Why not just call them “Wokocrats” right now? P.S. I can see Pete Buttigieg at the Dept of Interior declaring the Rocky Mountains as racist.
Oh Canada: “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty”.
My fellow Americans stay vigilant, the past four years should have shown us all how fragile our freedoms are.
This is one of the most egregious cases of government censorship of speech that I have seen. Apparently much of it stems from her identifying herself as a Nurse. They feel obligated to protect the status of their profession. It is a case of “professional bias” on the part of the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM). In their arrogance, they think they are protecting trust in their profession, but instead, their actions against free thought and free expression are eroding that trust.
“they think they are protecting trust in their profession, ”
Anyone who would trust their health to such idiotic, irrational clowns is a fool to begin with.
In case anyone missed it, the Bible predicted this type issue, the persecution of it, and many more insane things to occur in the End Times! I thank God, I at least live in the USA, which might be the last bastion of Freedom left on planet Earth.
*. Anon, it’s always end times.
It’s 1984 North of the border.
“It’s 1984 North of the border.”
I can’t recall when it has ever been anything else; just different chapters of the book.
A man in the U.K. was arrested for saying “We love bacon” at a protest. We live in truly maddening times.
Don’t say that. Keith Stürmer (this is his proper spelling) wants to extradite Americans too for same offenses.
“A man in the U.K. was arrested for saying “We love bacon” at a protest. ”
He should get himself off the hook be claiming he has a crush on Rosie O’Donnell…