Thank you so much, Chair.
I'm so sorry that I can't be with all of you in person today.
I want to thank all of the witnesses for being here.
I want to talk about the radicalization of the far right, and in particular about Jordan Peterson. I've heard he's moved to the States. Good riddance to bad rubbish. He supports things like the one million man march. What is concerning about Jordan Peterson is that the Conservative leader actively fraternizes with him and supports him. The reason I'm concerned about this—I try to stay as non-partisan as possible in committee—is that I worry, as one of the witnesses mentioned, about another Polytechnique, but this time against the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community in Canada.
I believe you mentioned that, Olivia Baker.
I'll give you some examples. The current leader, Pierre Poilievre, appeared on a show with Jordan Peterson on the latter's YouTube channel on May 16, 2022, to talk about freedom.
Jordan Peterson wrote an article very recently, on February 29, 2024, entitled “Jordan Peterson: The awe-inspiring conservative counter-offensive against woke nonsense”, which is something that we have to hear about. Gender-affirming care is now “woke nonsense”, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ having the right to access safe bathrooms is now “woke nonsense”. That was written in the National Post. Those are a couple of examples.
We know there has been an increase in far-right nonsense since the pandemic. I said recently in a national documentary that I think people are really struggling with mental health and that these far-right movements are usurping people into these anti-gender movements that have the potential for violence.
I want to start with you, Lauren Pragg. Why is it dangerous? Why does it put the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community in danger when political leaders fraternize with people who spew hate speech?