Jordan Peterson, the polarizing Canadian psychologist, has bid Canada adieu and will now call the United States home, citing personal and professional reasons for the move.
The news was revealed on a podcast this week, where Peterson and his daughter, Mikhaila Peterson Fuller, discussed his decision to move. He did not specify where he had settled, but news reports indicate he is living near his daughter, who is in Arizona.
“Welcome to moving to America, formally,” she offhandedly said to her dad during The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast episode.
“I guess that’s what happened, isn’t it? Is this the big announcement?” said Peterson.
“There are decided advantages to being here,” he said.
Peterson made reference to his ongoing feud with the College of Psychologists of Ontario, as well as a bill targeting hate speech, among his key reasons to leave his home country.
“The issue with the College of Psychologists is very annoying, to say the least, and the new legislation that the Liberals are attempting to push through, Bill C-63, we’d all be living in a totalitarian hellhole if it passes,” he told his daughter.
“The tax situation is out of hand. The government in Canada at the federal level is incompetent beyond belief, and it’s become uncomfortable for me in my neighbourhood in Toronto,” he added.
Peterson, an author and former University of Toronto professor, has not had an active clinical practice since 2017 but remains a member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario.
In 2022, the professional body reviewed Peterson’s social media conduct after hearing concerns about whether his posts met its standards.
It determined that online comments appeared degrading, demeaning and unprofessional — and that this posed a risk to the public.
It ordered that he enter a remedial coaching program to reflect on his approach to public statements and warned he could be accused of professional misconduct if he did not comply. Peterson took issue with the direction and launched a legal campaign to try to get out of it.
In August of this year, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed Peterson’s application for judicial review, and the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal attempt.
Peterson has long been a magnet for controversy in Canada — a public figure with a huge social media following that people appear to either fully embrace or abhor.
He first courted controversy for refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns while teaching at the University of Toronto. He has gone on to international fame with sold-out lectures, best-selling books and a popular podcast.
While he has frequently made headlines for his controversial views on feminism, gender and climate change, Peterson has insisted in the past that all the complaints at issue are political and don’t have anything to do with his past or present clients as a psychologist.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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