Author: yipeng

Opening statement remarks for Wednesday, October 30, 2024 session, House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, study of the protection of freedom of expression.

Good afternoon.

My name is Yipeng Ge. I am a family doctor currently practicing in primary care and refugee health in Ottawa.

I completed my medical school at the University of Ottawa, and was awarded the Anne C. Amberg Prize, a convocation award, for the best combination of academic accomplishment and sensitivity to community health issues. I completed my Masters of Public Health in health and social behaviour with a certificate in public health leadership from Harvard University.

Also as a scholar and practitioner of anti-racism and health equity, I was on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research anti-racism advisory committee, and I helped develop anti-racism education for the University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine. During my time at Harvard University when I first visited Palestine, I deepened my learning on settler colonialism and bearing witness to apartheid and occupation as determinants of Palestinian health, as this has been my area of study here on Turtle Island related to Indigenous health in Canada.

I was a resident in public health and preventive medicine at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine. I sat on Faculty Council, the highest governing committee for the Faculty. And I was on the board of directors for the Canadian Medical Association last year.

I learned intimately this past year that the boundaries of freedom of expression in Canada have been severely limited as it pertains to speech in support of health and human rights for Palestinians and Palestine.

My experience of institutional anti-Palestinian racism and limitations on our freedom of speech parallels the stories of many who have chosen to speak out about human rights violations in Palestine. Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of racism and discrimination adjacent to Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism but also distinct from both. It is a form of racism that seeks to silence, exclude, erase, stereotype, and dehumanize Palestinians and their allies. This often results in severe sanctions and disciplinary actions that profoundly impact the lives of Palestinians and their allies, a practice which was advised against by the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This is a freedom of expression issue.

Last year around this time, a family doctor and Faculty member shared my social media posts and publicly mischaracterized them as antisemitic and inflammatory, and sent them to the University and the Canadian Medical Association. He was someone that was neither a patient nor a direct colleague or supervisor of mine.

My social media posts were from my personal accounts and in no way was I trying to speak for any of my places of employment or affiliation. These posts were criticized as being inflammatory, racist, and antisemitic simply because they advocated for Palestinians having the same human rights as everyone else, aligning with international law.

I met with senior leadership of the Canadian Medical Association, and my social media posts were criticized and I was pressured to put together a public apology and provide personal one-on-one apologies to certain people in high-ranking positions and who hold influence on the association.

Soon after, I received a phone call from the University, informing me of my immediate and indefinite suspension citing a level 3 breach of professionalism for my social media posts. A level 3 professionalism breach means repeated instances of an individual’s behaviour and conduct despite intervention or a concern for the individual’s clinical care or quality of care of services. No prior conversations were held, nor were concerns ever raised regarding my social media posts or professionalism before. Patient safety was raised as a concern; however, in my duties as a resident in public health I was completing a rotation at the Public Health Agency of Canada without any individuals working under me who I was responsible for supervising, and without direct patient contact.

The University’s professionalism subcommittee who reviewed my case recommended immediate reinstatement without any disciplinary action. They suggested an apology be issued by the University, which they never gave. I feel deeply harmed by the University in causing emotional and psychological distress and has permanently altered my career path in public health.

As I sat on Faculty Council this past year, I witnessed multiple cases of medical students’ social media posts be discussed as “professionalism” concerns, and it was clear that a fair process was not being followed. It was shared during these meetings that there were no clear bylaws or processes, and that their legal counsel was creating the processes as they went. There were statements shared in these meetings that were rooted in anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab hate without any accountability.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has informed me of multiple complaints against me of a similar nature related to social media posts, and not related to my clinical competency and conduct within the clinical setting. This is taking away time and resources from me, my legal counsel, and ultimately the College itself in managing legitimate cases related to professional competence and conduct.

My purpose today is to ask this Standing Committee for support in holding institutions to account for overstepping in their policing of people’s right to free speech and to recognize the appalling normalization of anti-Palestinian racism in educational institutions and places of employment, such as the University of Ottawa and the Canadian Medical Association.

This is not a partisan issue. There are solutions that are already being proposed, including a Conservative private members bill (C-257) titled, ‘An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act (protecting against discrimination based on political belief)’. Last week, the Alberta Premier along with the Justice Minister said that their government will review professional regulatory bodies such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons which plays the important role of regulating professional competence and conduct, and introduce legislation next year to limit how they can police their own members on their speech.

Thank you.