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Dr. Matthew Bzura, president of the Professional Association of Residents and Interns of Manitoba (PARIM), has resigned after criticizing a controversial speech given by a student at the University of Manitoba medical school graduation in May.
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During a speech that drew national attention and criticism from Manitoba’s Jewish community, graduate Dr. Gem Newman referred to the Israel-Hamas war as “genocidal.”
He urged the audience to “stand in solidarity” with Palestine and to oppose settler colonialism, while failing to mention the massacre of millions of Jews during the Holocaust or the Indigeneity of Jews to Israel.
Bzura, who criticized Newman in a social media post days after the speech, told the Winnipeg Sun he stepped down as president of PARIM after being strong-armed by colleagues in the organization who were upset with his criticism.
PARIM officials demanded his resignation and threatened to take more action if he did not.
In his social media post, Bzura said Newman’s speech was “inappropriate, divisive, and absent of nuanced contextual history as was his decision to use our collective home at the University of Manitoba as a political apparatus to incite ethnoreligious vilification and advance a prejudiced narrative.”
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Freedom of expression does not equal freedom from consequence, wrote Bzura, adding Newman might have people believe he holds moral authority on “the right side of history.”
“Yet, the families of innocent October 7 victims had not yet begun mourning their loved ones before Dr. Newman started engaging social media posts that mocked their peril,” wrote Bzura, a Polish Canadian who is working on his third residency.
Bzura was treated in a reprehensible manner by PARIM, said Avrom Charach, a member of Winnipeg’s Jewish community.
“I hope he runs for PARIM leadership again and wins,” said Charach.
Despite the conflict, Bzura is optimistic for the future of medical residents in Manitoba. He holds no ill will towards Newman.
“I would like to make it known that despite all this unfairness and all the noise surrounding the situation, I still want everyone to know that resident physicians are a crucial part of the health-care system,” he said. “They are literally the horsepower of our health-care system and I want the best for them.”
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