A B.C. nurse was hit with a hefty fine for a pattern of online behaviour, resulting in a wave of online debate around censorship and gender discrimination.
The fine was handed down by the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) on Aug. 14.
“A panel of the Discipline Committee (the Panel) of the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) previously found that Ms. Hamm had committed professional misconduct by making discriminatory and derogatory statements towards transgender people across various social media while identifying as a nurse,” BCCNM states in its decision.
The comments in question were made between 2018 and 2021, and the college considers its own decision to be “an important statement against discrimination.”
“Nurses and midwives occupy a position of trust and influence in our society. The college will continue to stand up against discrimination and believes it is a core aspect of our public perception mandate to ensure nurses uphold the important principle that the health care system is non-discriminatory,” the college adds.
A panel awarded the college $93,639 to be paid within two years. Her nursing license was also suspended for a month.
A 115-page disciplinary hearing shares some of the allegations levelled against Hamm.
Referring to the B.C. nurse, the hearing document states, “She does not believe that everyone has a gender identity. She rejects the suggestion that a person’s adherence or non-adherence to stereotypes associated with males and females somehow reflects an internal gender identity or gender soul, referring to it as ‘anti-scientific, metaphysical nonsense.’”
The hearing documents also include the fact that Hamm supported Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and believes the author isn’t transphobic.
The college notes that Hamm has filed an appeal.
“This is authoritarian censorship”
Since the decision, debate has raged on social media, and Hamm has stuck to her beliefs.
One of the people who has entered the conversation is Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre, who is suggesting that the penalty against Hamm constitutes “authoritarian censorship.”
“We must restore free speech and free thinking in a free country,” his X post adds.
Poilievre’s post has been viewed nearly 500,000 times and has received over 10,000 likes.
Many have also come out in support of Poilievre’s comments, including Hamm’s lawyer.
As nurse Amy Hamm’s lawyer throughout this ordeal, I am grateful to see this support. We need to get our institutions and regulators permanently out of the business of controlling speech and minds. They are too prone to being weaponized as a tool for cancel culture. @preta_6 https://t.co/dqZMMHMHP7
— Lisa Bildy (@LDBildy) August 20, 2025
Not everyone has supported Poilievre’s comments, with one X user saying, “No one outside of the Maple Maga fools can stand you. Think about that, Temu-Trump.”
Hamm has doubled down on her thoughts on gender.
I won’t stop until all nurses & midwives in Canada are free to say that humans don’t change sex, men aren’t women, and women deserve their own spaces.
I refuse to be used as the example of why you should shut your mouth. I insist upon being the example of why you should never.
— Amy Eileen Hamm (@preta_6) August 20, 2025
While much of the conversation taking place on X about the B.C. nurse over the last week is in vehement support of her, that hasn’t always been the case. Hamm has been on the receiving end of attention on social media for her comments for a few years now, with many condemning her for her views.
Amy Hamm let us know she wasn’t fired & is still working as a nurse, despite her transphobic far-right fan club continually portraying her as a martyr at the altar of far-left liberal cancel culture. So for the record she is still employed while she continues to harm trans folks. https://t.co/inBr0DpKLb
— windward antifascist (@windward_afa) January 25, 2023
Wrong, Amy Hamm was sacked because she’s a transphobic bigot, who was loathed by her colleagues.https://t.co/D5zQQfxF8t
— Reformed Princess (@CatAnita7) June 3, 2025
It remains to be seen what comes of Hamm’s appeal.
We reached out to Hamm for comment earlier this week, but have not yet heard back.