This is the call to the City of Vancouver and its mayor Ken Sim to cancel the appearance of Jordan Peterson at Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, Canada on Feb 21, 2023

Peterson and his followers will often argue that protesting or calling for the cancellation of his events is a censorship  or infringement on the freedom of expression . However freedom of expression in Canada is not absolute especially when it comes to hate speech that incites violence against a particular defined racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, religious or other identifiable group.

Mr Peterson views directly jeopardize the safety and well-being of marginalized communities, especially women and transgender and gender non-conforming people. Violence against women and LGTBQ2SIA+ folks starts with words so giving this man a platform to speak is directly impacting safety of marginalized communities.

Peterson rose to  infamy through his opposition to Bill C-16, the Bill that amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression. https://youtu.be/KnIAAkSNtqo

Peterson has also preached ideas like “enforced monogamy” that encourage the superiority of men over women and insinuates that they should be treated as sexual objects instead of equals.

When self-described “incel” , Alek Minassian, who killed 11 people when he plowed a rented van into a busy Toronto sidewalk in 2018 has been sentenced to life in prison, Peterson said  “He was angry at God because women were rejecting him,” Peterson said of the alleged Toronto killer. “The cure for that is enforced monogamy. That’s actually why monogamy emerges.” https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-context-of-jordan-petersons-thoughts-on-enforced-monogamy/amp/

Approximately every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner (Amelia Armstrong and Brianna Jaffray, Statistics Canada, 2021).

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and other sexual minority people in Canada were almost three times more likely than heterosexual Canadians to report that they had been physically or sexually assaulted https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200909/dq200909a-eng.htm

Transgender Canadians were more likely to have experienced violence since age 15, and also more likely to experience inappropriate behaviours in public, online and at work than cisgender Canadians. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00009-eng.htm

As stated in the 2022 report written by General Manager of Arts, Culture, and Community Services to the City of Vancouver City Council on the subject of “Response to the National Inquiry into MMIWG2S Calls for Justice and Red Women Rising Report Recommendations” and I quote

“Colonial settler policy has had deep and far-reaching consequences for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples, which continue today. The ongoing systemic and societal discrimination resulting from past and present colonial practices have compounded the intergenerational impacts of the Indian Act and Indian Residential School System (IRSS) profoundly affecting the well-being and prosperity of Indigenous Peoples and communities. Studies and data show Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples are at greater risk of harm and targeted by many groups and individuals. As the Final Report notes, “the common thread weaving through... [these studies] is that the violence is rooted in systemic factors, like economic, social and political marginalization, as well as racism, discrimination, and misogyny, woven into the fabric of Canadian society”.2 In the Final Report, The National Inquiry characterizes “these acts, including violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people, as genocide.”https://council.vancouver.ca/20220719/documents/r3.pdf

in light of the City of Vancouver commitment to end violence against women and LGBTQ2SI+ folks, I urge the city to stop this event which is being held at a civic theatre operated by the City of Vancouver.