Ian Mitchell vs. transgender people
Ian Mitchell was a Scottish-born Canadian pediatrician, bioethicist, and anti-transgender activist. Mitchell was a professor emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine until dying in 2025.
Background
Ian Mitchell was born on April 15, 1943 in Falkirk, Scotland. Mitchell earned a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1968. Mitchell then trained in pediatrics and pediatric respirology, including a year at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Mitchell’s Edinburgh training also included pediatric critical care. Mitchell later earned a master’s degree in bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2004.
In 1982 Mitchell took a position in the intensive care unit of the Alberta Children’s Hospital, a unit Mitchell later directed. Mitchell also became an associate professor in the University of Calgary’s Department of Pediatrics. Mitchell’s clinical practice was team-based and centered on children with chronic lung disease. Mitchell also held several leadership positions with Alberta Health Services.
Starting in 1997, Mitchell helped build undergraduate and resident bioethics education at the University of Calgary, and directed the university’s Office of Medical Bioethics from 1999 to 2006. Mitchell chaired the Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board of the University of Calgary and the Calgary Health Region, and worked with other Alberta research ethics board chairs to reduce duplicate review of multicenter studies. Mitchell joined the Canadian Bioethics Society in 1993, served on its executive from 2002 to 2005, and was its president from 2003 to 2004.
Mitchell wrote, co-wrote or edited several books and published nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles on respirology, care of medically complex children, bioethics and the history of pediatric medicine.
Mitchell and spouse had two children. Mitchell died on December 3, 2025.
Anti-trans activism
At the end of a storied career, Mitchell tacked on an unfortunate anti-trans footnote. In September 2024, Mitchell joined anti-trans activists Chan Kulatunga Moruzi, Darrell Palmer, and Roxanne Goldade in a letter to the editor criticizing the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) position statement on trans healthcare for young people. Moruzi is closely affiliated with anti-trans hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) and was a key figure in the SEGM-McMaster funding scandal.
On March 26, 2025, Mitchell was quoted in a National Post article attacking the CPS position statement:
“Any consent process involves telling people about harms and benefits and what the evidence is,” added Dr. Ian Mitchell, a professor emeritus at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine. “This is an enormous procedure, to change someone’s whole identity. This is not a little intervention.”
In July 2025, Mitchell was a signatory on a formal complaint about a Globe and Mail article by Danielle Groen, which reported on the Canadian Medical Association’s legal challenge to Alberta’s Bill 26 banning medical transition options for young people. That complaint was written by anti-trans extremist Mia Hughes and published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. It was also signed by other prominent anti-trans activists, including:
In 2025, Moruzi, Mitchell, and Palmer published a longer letter to the editor in anti-trans journal Archives of Sexual Behavior criticizing the CPS position statement. Goldade was not included on that letter, and it added anti-trans activists Peter Sim and Ari R. Joffe.
References
McInnis & Holloway Funeral Home (January 10, 2026). Obituary: Dr. Ian Mitchell, April 15, 1943 – December 3, 2025. https://www.mhfh.com/obituaries/Dr-Ian-Mitchell?obId=46592318
Staff report (December 15, 2025). In Memoriam: Ian Mitchell, Cumming School of Medicine. https://ucalgary.ca/news/memoriam-ian-mitchell-cumming-school-medicine
Anti-trans coverage
Kirkey, Sharon (March 26, 2025). Canada’s pediatricians advised to support affirming gender-questioning six-year-olds. National Post https://nationalpost.com/health/canadas-pediatricians-advised-to-support-affirming-gender-questioning-six-year-olds
Kulatunga-Moruzi, Chan (January 24, 2025). Why is Canada falling behind the science in treating gender-distressed youth?: Chan Kulatunga-Moruzi. Macdonald-Laurier Institute https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/why-is-canada-falling-behind-the-science-in-treating-genderdistressed-youth-chan-kulatunga-moruzi/
Selected writing by Mitchell
Kulatunga Moruzi, C., Sim, P., Mitchell, I., Palmer, D., Joffe, Ari R. (February 6, 2026). The Canadian Paediatric Society Is Trapped in a Pre-Cass Time Warp. Quillette https://quillette.com/2026/02/06/the-canadian-paediatric-society-is-trapped-in-a-pre-cass-time-warp-gender-medicine/
Hughes, Mia; Mitchell, Ian; signatories (July 8, 2025). ‘Far too serious for such uninformed, careless journalism’: MLI’s Mia Hughes pens formal complaint challenging Globe article on gender medicine. Macdonald-Laurier Institute https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/far-too-serious-for-such-uninformed-careless-journalism-mlis-mia-hughes-pens-formal-complaint-challenging-globe-article-on-gender-medicine/
Kulatunga Moruzi, C., Sim, P., Mitchell, I., Palmer, D., Joffe, Ari R. (2025). The Cass Review and Gender-Related Care for Young People in Canada: A Commentary on the Canadian Paediatric Society Position Statement on Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth. Archives of Sexual Behavior 54, 3743–3761. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03335-8
Kulatunga Moruzi, C., Mitchell, I., Palmer, D., Goldade, R. (2024). Letter to the Editor: Response to the Canadian Paediatric Position Statement on transgender and gender-diverse youth. Paediatrics & Child Health, 29(6), 413–414. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/pxae070
Resources
Quillette (quillette.com)
- Ian Mitchell
- quillette.com/author/ian-mitchell
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