Canadian Nurse Fined $94,000 Over ‘I ♡ JK Rowling’ Billboard

British Columbia nurse, Amy Hamm, has been suspended and fined $93,639.80 for legal costs related to public statements she made about single sex spaces and women’s rights.

Hamm, a healthcare worker of more than 13 years who carries the title of nurse educator, co-sponsored a billboard in Vancouver which read, “I ♡ JK Rowling,” a mere symbol of support for the author J.K. Rowling’s view points on women’s and girls right. At the time of the sign being erected, Rowling was under fire for her public defence of Maya Forstater, a woman who was fired for tweets critical of gender. A U.K. appeals court later ruled that employers cannot discriminate against employees for those beliefs and sent the case back to a new tribunal.

The college launched an investigation into Hamm back in 2020 following complaints that her view that identifying so-called “transgender” individuals does not equate to changing biological sex would threaten “trans and gender-diverse communities,” according to Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms lawyers who represented her.

Chris Elston, who goes by Billboard Chris online, paid for the sign in full, whilst Hamm offered to contribute half the cost. But that money was swiftly refunded after the sign was taken down the next day.

Speaking to CBC News, a government funded “news” outlet in Canada, Hamm stated: “I don’t think it’s possible for women to defend their legal rights or even the definition of womanhood if anybody can say that they are a woman and it will be so.”
She added, “Women’s rights are important and we need to stand up for them and it’s not transphobic to do so.”

Her lawyer, Lisa Bildly, argued that disciplining Hamm for her opinions goes beyond the college’s power as a regulator, stating “the College is tasked with keeping patients safe and regulating the profession in the public interest, and not with giving social justice activists a tool for ‘canceling’ people with whom they do not agree.”

“Canada used to be a place where you would hear, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion, but I disagree,’ or ‘It’s a free country—say what you want … Now we are told that ‘Words are violence,’ and saying something as mainstream as, ‘Men and women have biological differences, and women have sex-based rights which reflect those differences’, can put your entire career in jeopardy. We cannot, as a society, continue down this path and remain a free society.”

According to the College’s Discipline Committee, the penalty is “reasonable and necessary,” “not…punitive,” “nor so high that it will deter others from raising reasonable defences.”

Here’s what Amy has to say: “The College has chosen to punish me for statements that are not hateful, but truthful. I’m appealing [to the BC Supreme Court] because biological reality matters, and so does freedom of expression. I want to express my thanks to the thousands of Canadians who continue to fund my legal case through donations to the Justice Centre.”

Hamm isn’t backing down, nor should anyone taking a stand for absolute truth.
God help Canada.

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