U of O doctor suspended for pro-Palestinian posts says he has been reinstated and will not return

A junior doctor at the University of Ottawa’s medical school who was suspended for pro-Palestinian social media posts says he has been reinstated but has no plans to return to the institution.

Dr. Yipeng Ge, 29, was sanctioned by the university last November after receiving multiple complaints about a series of pro-Palestinian posts he made that included references to “apartheid” and “settler colonialism.”

At the time of his suspension, Ge was in his fourth year as a public health and preventive medicine resident and was completing a residency with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

His research has focused on Indigenous health, anti-racism and decolonization.

“I feel incredibly violated by this process and I don’t know how to continue in this institution because of what happened,” Ge told CBC on Friday.

“I have dedicated almost eight years of my life to this institution. And the fact that they do something like that without talking about it first, I just find it incredibly appalling and outrageous.”

University spokesman Jesse Robichaud told CBC on Friday it would not confirm Ge’s reinstatement or comment on the “confidential” deliberations of the faculty’s subcommittee on postgraduate professionalism.

Four days earlier, the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Epidemiology and Public Health posted a photo of Ge on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, with a message that the school was “delighted to welcome our outstanding learners.” and welcome colleagues back.”

My colleague said the news was anti-Semitic

In November, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an associate professor of family medicine at the U of O, noted a series of Ge posts on his own Substack page, calling them examples of “anti-Semitism.”

One such post included a photo of a handwritten message on a telephone pole in Ottawa with several slogans, including the words “Zionism = Palestinian genocide.”

Dr. Yipeng Ge shared this picture on social media last year. In a post on his Substack page, Ge’s colleague Dr. Yoni Freedhoff it is an example of anti-Semitism. (substack)

Ge told CBC he never said those words himself, but only shared the photo of the poster, which he didn’t take.

“There is this disproportionate discipline – and often harsh discipline – for speech or comments, often in the form of social media posts, when it comes to demanding health and human rights for Palestine and Palestinians,” he said.

“The attacks are aimed at discrediting someone, questioning their character and integrity and really humiliating them as a professional, isolating them and silencing them and causing them incredible fear and the wider community incredible fear “to express oneself” about Palestine in general.”

Ge also resigned from the board of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) in December after similar backlash from that organization.

According to the UN, the consequences in the workplace are increasing

According to a November 2023 United Nations statement, there has been a “wave” of people around the world – including journalists, academics, athletes and protesters – who have been censored, suspended, blacklisted or threatened with workplace consequences for showing solidarity with the victims showed the war in Gaza.

Ge said he accompanied a group of graduate students to the West Bank last March while taking courses at Harvard University.

He said it was “incredibly eye-opening to be there and know the conditions people are living in – through a system of apartheid and different classes of citizens”.

Ge said he is now weighing his options on what to do next and is considering transferring to another university.

“I cannot continue in this institution with what I have experienced,” Ge said. “The subsequent conversations I had with faculty leadership and their lack of insight, their remorse… even after my reinstatement and everything, they don’t feel like they made a mistake.”

“I can’t see them as respectable colleagues.”