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Sarina understandably felt a passionate drive to right social wrongs. At first, falling in with dominant progressive narratives, she blamed all white people for her family’s suffering, indeed for all the evils of the world. She believed she had to “work with those who felt oppressed, whether it be racism, sexism, mental health, homophobia, classism, poverty or addictions. I was going to be their voice.”

As an ardent feminist, social work, a field dominated by feminist premises, seemed a good fit for Sarina. It didn’t live up to expectations. After 22 years, a transformative experience in a shelter where she was working produced a political epiphany. Two clients with children, both suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, had decided to go off their meds and take only herbal supplements. Over Sarina’s objections, her superiors insisted that, since the medical system was “patriarchal” and it was “empowering” for women to self-treat, she should not interfere. It ended badly, with psychotic episodes putting Sarina at risk, the children needing to be removed from their mothers, and Sarina leaving the profession in a state of guilt over her professional impotence in the face of an irrational ideology.

Sarina’s resulting break with feminism turned into a refusal thenceforth to see the world through the lens of ideology, identity politics or political correctness

Sarina’s resulting break with feminism turned into a refusal thenceforth to see the world through the lens of ideology, identity politics or political correctness. Sarina stopped vilifying the white race; she stopped seeing the world as a zero-sum game between oppressors and oppressed. Today Sarina is one of Canada’s most ardent free-speech warriors. She is particularly incensed by Bill C-16, known as the Transgender Rights Bill, and the “compelled speech” it endorses in support of alleged feelings-based rights.

Next Wednesday, July 18, I will be speaking in Toronto on a public panel Sarina has organized at her own expense: “Bill C-16: One Year Later: Sex, Ideology and Compelled Speech in Canada,” along with neuroscientist and journalist Dr. Debra Soh, lawyer Jared Brown and Wilfrid Laurier University graduate student Lindsay Shepherd. If travel constraints permit, Jordan Peterson says he will be present to cheer us on. He explains why he thinks our event is important in this video.

Do join us for what promises to be a provocative and lively event. Information and tickets are available at: brownpapertickets.com/event/3430264.

• Email: kaybarb@gmail.com | Twitter: BarbaraRKay