University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson has come under fire after refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns.

The psychology professor released a video lecture in September where he criticised Canadian human rights legislation that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.

He took aim at alternative pronouns requested by trans people to reflect non-binary identities such as 'they', 'ze' and 'zir' - instead of 'she' or 'he'.

Since then, Dr Peterson has been the subject of complaints from students calling his comments "unacceptable, emotionally disturbing and painful".