B’nai Brith takes physician college to court over ‘antisemitic’ comments made by doc

B’nai Brith Canada has taken the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba to court after it dismissed a complaint about a doctor’s social media posts, which the Jewish organization called antisemitic.

The Jewish advocacy organization filed a complaint with the college in October last year about a number of posts made by Dr. Barry Lavallee on X — formerly Twitter — in 2024, which it called “deeply troubling” and “unbecoming of a physician and alarming to the Jewish community.”

The complaint was ultimately rejected by the physician watchdog in September, B’nai Brith said in a notice of application in the Court of King’s Bench last month.

The application seeks a judge’s order to quash the college’s decision and force it to reconsider the complaint.

Among the X posts B’nai Brith flagged in its initial complaint was a comment Lavallee left in reply to a news video of Jewish travellers at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, amid the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lavallee appears to no longer be active on X. In the past, he frequently reposted and commented on posts about the Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

B’nai Brith’s chief operating officer, in the initial complaint, said Lavallee had been “utilizing social media to disseminate hate and spread antisemitic misinformation” in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

It urged the college to look into the comments and take disciplinary action against Lavallee for breaches of professional ethics.

The notice of application argues the college’s rejection exceeded its jurisdiction and authority under the legislation that governs it by differentiating between third-party complaints and complaints made by patients.

“It’s important that a human rights organization… is able to file professional complaints.”

The organization’s director of research and advocacy, Richard Robertson, argued the legislation allows the organization standing.

“We’re hoping that the court will instruct the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba that under the legislation, they must treat a complaint from an organization as a bona fide complaint, that they must accept our standing in the matter,” said Robertson.

“It’s important that a human rights organization… is able to file professional complaints… if we feel that their conduct has endangered the public or compromised their ability to provide care to patients.”

Lavallee, a physician and high-profile academic researcher, resigned from a position at the University of Manitoba’s school of medicine in 2019, citing frustrations in dealing with administration in attempts to combat systemic racism at the post-secondary institution.

He has since gone on to work as the chief executive officer of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin (Northern Peoples’ Wellness) Inc., which is aimed at establishing a new health system to better respond to the needs of northern First Nations people in the province.

A spokesperson for the organization declined comment on his behalf while the matter is before the courts.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca