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May 11, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The physicians’ college of Canada’s largest province said it will investigate doctors who post on social media their opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns, controversial public health measures, vaccines, or promoting “unproven treatments for COVID-19.”
In a statement issued April 30, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) said that there have been “isolated incidents of physicians using social media to spread blatant misinformation and undermine public health measures meant to protect all of us.”
As a result, the CPSO said in a statement that it is “concerned about the increase of misinformation circulating on social media and other platforms regarding physicians who are publicly contradicting public health orders and recommendations.”
“Physicians hold a unique position of trust with the public and have a professional responsibility to not communicate anti-vaccine, anti-masking, anti-distancing and anti-lockdown statements and/or promoting unsupported, unproven treatments for COVID-19,” it continued. “Physicians must not make comments or provide advice that encourages the public to act contrary to public health orders and recommendations.”
The CPSO went onto state that physicians who engage in speech contrary to the government narrative may “face an investigation by the CPSO and disciplinary action, when warranted.”
Doctors fight back against CPSO statement
In response to the April 30 CPSO statement, a group of “physicians from across Canada” along with concerned citizens put out a declaration stating the CPSO’s message is “unethical, anti-science and deeply disturbing.”
“We physicians believe that with the CPSO statement of 30 April 2021, a watershed moment in the assault on free speech and scientific inquiry has been reached,” reads the declaration.
“We will never comply and will always put our patients first.”
The physicians’ declaration has been signed by 5,202 individuals at the time of this writing, with 203 of those signatures from doctors.
Ontario Dr. Patrick Phillips, who signed the declaration and who has been critical of lockdowns and has supported the use of Vitamin D to help overcome COVID-19, blasted the CPSO statement on social media, saying he will “not comply.”
“Ontario's medical regulator, tasked with protecting the rights and safety of patients, has actually banned informed consent for patients. They have taken away your right to be informed about – the harms of lockdowns – vaccine adverse events – Covid treatments. I will not comply,” wrote Phillips with a link to the CPSO statement.
In response to the April 30 CPSO statement, anti-lockdown Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill of Brampton also took to Twitter to fight back.
She retweeted many tweets that blasted the CPSO’s letter, such as one from Twitter user @timk519 that said, “CPSO adds ‘Ministry of Truth’ to their list of duties – only gov't approved truth is allowed, all other positions are forbidden.”
In social media posts, Gill has stated many times over the last few months her views on vaccines and COVID-19 lockdowns. She has been an advocate of using HCQ as a treatment for COVID, saying the “smears against Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)” as an effective treatment for COVID-19 “need to stop.”
Gill was issued warnings by the CPSO for her anti-lockdown views, her promotion of alternative treatments for COVID-19 such as HCQ, and for blasting COVID-19 vaccines as “not” needed.
Gill along with a legal team from the Constitutional Rights Centre headed by Toronto lawyer Rocco Galati have launched a $6.8 million libel suit against those who she says have opposed her along with the past president of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).
Gill is claiming her reputation as a doctor has been maliciously maligned though a “coordinated” attack.
In addition to Gill, other Ontario doctors who have come out against COVID-19 lockdowns and public health orders took to social media to criticize the CPSO statement.
Dr. Matt Strauss retweeted an image of a portion of text from the Geneva Declaration of the World Medical Association, saying “I will not, even under threat use my medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties.”
Strauss works as an intensive care doctor and was a guest in a recent roundtable hosted by The Canada Strong and Free Network on April 21 to talk about lockdowns.
During the online event, Strauss said, “We have to take personal risk … the government can’t tell you what the meaning of … your life is,” Strauss said. “It should be up to individuals.”
On Twitter, Dr. Gil Nimni, a York, Ontario emergency room (ER) physician, retweeted the CPSO statement and writing, “I guess we’re done here. See ya.”
Nimni said in December 2020 that lockdowns that send people into “financial ruin” are not the “answer” to the COVID-19 crisis, and that he shakes “his head” at his co-workers who go on social media “ranting” about a full emergency room.
Ontario College of Physicians ‘behaves like a tyrant and abuses its authority’: Canadian lawyer
Jay Cameron, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), told LifeSiteNews that the CPSO’s attempt to stifle its members speech is an “abuse” of authority, and they have no “monopoly” on the truth.
“In attempting to suppress the speech of physicians regarding their findings, observations and thoughts on Covid lockdowns, the Ontario College of Physicians behaves like a tyrant and abuses its authority as a professional regulator. It acts with arrogant presumption. The College of Physicians has no monopoly on the truth, and it is not infallible,” Cameron said.
Cameron noted that it is contrary to the time-honoured principles of scientific inquiry and the marketplace of ideas “to suppress public discourse and the search for truth.”
“Informing physicians they cannot publicly discuss their observations and concerns regarding Covid lockdowns and the devastating impacts on their patients is no different than the Inquisition informing Galileo he could not discuss his findings that the earth moves around the sun,” Cameron told LifeSiteNews.
According to Cameron, the CPSO must respect and uphold “the freedoms of thought, belief, opinion and expression of the physicians it governs.”
Ontario has been under a strict COVID-19 lockdown after Premier Doug Ford on April 16 introduced extended “stay-at-home orders” that placed a 10-person limit on church service attendance size, closed playgrounds, implemented provincial border checks, and gave police the power to stop anyone outside his or her home without cause.
After public backlash, the Ford government walked back some of its coronavirus rules less than a day later. Playgrounds were allowed to stay open, and police had to have “reason to suspect that you are participating in an organized public event or social gathering” in order to question people.
It is anticipated that Ford might extend the stay-at-home orders nearly one more month to June 2, but as of press time no official announcement has been made.