A former B.C. registered nurse and three-time political candidate has been ordered to pay nearly $22,000 following a professional misconduct case prompted by comments he made in 2020 relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and complaints from Indigenous patients. The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives first issued a citation against Sean Taylor in September 2022. He told the disciplinary body he was fired over his statements in 2021 after practising for more than 15 years, and that he let his registration lapse in 2022. He stated he has no intention of returning to nursing. Taylor stood as a candidate for the Peoples’ Party of Canada in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections and ran as an Independent in the 2024 provincial election. At a subsequent hearing, a panel found that two comments made by Taylor advocated violence and one was discriminatory, constituting professional misconduct. ‘We will meet you in the streets’ The statements the college found were apparently in favour of violence were made on the “Grizzly Patriot” YouTube show in October of 2020. As quoted in Taylor’s recently published penalty decision, he said, referring to the pandemic: “you’ll get people to wear your masks, and you can put them in your internment camps … but there is a group of people, myself included, and you and a bunch of friends, who will not comply. We will meet you in the streets and do this the old-fashion way.” The disciplinary panel wrote that a reasonable person who heard the first comment would perceive it as “advocating for or suggesting a favourable disposition towards violence (i.e. to physically fight their opposition in the streets), rather than as advocacy for peaceful protest in the streets.” During the hearing, Taylor testified he did not regret the comment but acknowledged he could have worded it differently. About the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Taylor is quoted as saying: “the restraint that’s being shown on the right, like I got to tell ya, I watched that s***. I want to take a road trip and go down and play paintball.” During cross-examination, the college says Taylor did not deny the term “playing paintball” is a euphemism for shooting people. The panel ruled that even if he meant it as a joke, the comment suggested that was the appropriate response to protests and therefore advocates violence. The hearing found that three other allegations related to remarks about not wearing a mask, COVID-19’s origins in China and how much of the virus was present in B.C. hospitals could not be proven on a balance of probabilities and were dismissed. The college said that statements advocating violent behaviour, when made by a nurse, erode the public’s trust in the profession and are “inimical to the profession’s values of tolerance, non-violence and respect for the inherent dignity of all people.” ‘They just call you a racist’ The hearing also discussed comments Taylor made during a June 2020 Global News interview, where he claimed medical staff were “distraught” over allegations of racism from Indigenous patients. The Ministry of Health had launched an investigation that month after reports emergency room staff in the province played a “game” to guess the blood-alcohol level of patients who appeared Indigenous. For his interview, the penalty decision notes, Taylor stood outside Kelowna General Hospital in nursing scrubs with a stethoscope around his neck. He told the reporter that ER staff routinely make guesses before patients’ results come back, but he had not witnessed a “game” and Indigenous people were not targeted. He then said, as quoted in the document, “When someone doesn’t get what they want and they, they just call you a racist… We’ve had a couple incidences recently.” He also says accusers are “slandering” staff and the allegation “paints us with an unfair brush.” According to the decision, when asked during the hearing if allegations of racism are made for an improper purpose, Taylor responded “sometimes.” The panel ruled that his suggestion that patients made such accusations when they don’t “get what they want,” and that claiming racism exists in ERs constitutes “slander,” was a racially insensitive remark and discriminatory. “The respondent’s comment sends a message to the public that health-care professionals, including nurses who operate within the public health apparatus, harbour harmful stereotypes about Indigenous persons,” the college wrote. “It is an aggravating factor that the respondent’s comments were directed toward a vulnerable, marginalized group already facing barriers to accessing health care, likely resulting in a further depressive effect on that group seeking health care.” ‘What he did was wrong’ The college wrote that Taylor’s comments are “contrary to the foundational values of the health-care system” and “went beyond mere inflammatory speech.” In particular, it said his remarks “disparaging Indigenous people” may have created distrust in the system and negatively impacted quality of care. The college said that Taylor has shown “no interest” in addressing the harm his conduct caused and instead his submissions read “as though he perceives himself as the victim.” Ultimately, the panel ordered Taylor to pay $21,900 to help cover legal costs incurred by the college during the lengthy disciplinary process. If Taylor chooses to return to nursing, he must serve a 30-day suspension first. “Disciplining the respondent will make a strong statement to the public that what he did was wrong and that the panel and the college do not condone advocating either discrimination or violence,” the document reads. “This statement will go some way to repair the damage done to, and of restoring and upholding public confidence in the health-care system and the nursing profession, and to ensure an equal, tolerant, and discrimination-free health-care environment for all.”
