Yukon-based clinical social worker temporarily stripped of registration for supporting conspiracy theories

A Yukon-based clinical social worker has had her professional registration stripped — at least temporarily — for supporting conspiracy theories, but that's not stopping her from offering services.

The British Columbia College of Social Workers says Debbra Greig's views could be detrimental to her clients and there is a real risk of harm. 

Greig believes in cult leader Romana Didulo, the self-professed "Queen of Canada" known for her QAnon beliefs. 

Since the Yukon has no government regulations or oversight for social workers, Greig sought registration with the B.C. college in 2007. Similar registration is mandatory in order to practise in the majority of the country.

Greig was registered as a clinical social worker, the highest level of clinical designation that also allowed her to make mental health diagnoses. Having a registered classification is also a requirement for some contracts with various governments and Indigenous Services Canada.

The B.C. college is now investigating Greig's work after a complaint her behaviour was "extremely concerning." Meanwhile, the college has taken what it calls "extraordinary action to protect the public" by suspending Greig's registration and ordering her not to provide services to existing or prospective clients. However, the reach of the B.C. college doesn't extend past the Yukon border.

That's a concern for Linda McDonald, an advocate with the Liard Aboriginal Women's Society in Watson Lake, Yukon, where Greig is based. 

"To hear the B.C. College of Social Workers has taken away Ms. Greig's licence to practise and the reasons behind it is very concerning to us, because we have a lot of people here who are struggling and need support," McDonald said. "We feel that people here should be able to count on unbiased and healthy counselling experiences." 

CBC reached out to Greig multiple times by phone for this article, but did not hear back.

Troubling message

Greig has largely worked with rural Yukoners. This summer, she was working with a client from Ross River who was due in family court. A legal aid lawyer working with the same client received an email from Greig just days before the proceeding, stating the court process was now "null and void" and that Canada is now governed by "HRH Queen Romana Didulo" who has issued her own decrees.

"It was really strange to say the least," said Lynn MacDiarmid, the executive director of the Yukon Legal Services Society.

MacDiarmid said the legal aid staff thought it was a prank or a mistake. They replied asking for clarification.

"She confirmed that she firmly believed this and that we need to know this, that the royal decrees are valid, and Queen Romana is the queen of Canada," MacDiarmid said.

That reply from Greig raised concerns about her ability to advocate for her clients in an informed, competent and ethical manner, prompting MacDiarmid's team to contact the B.C. College. 

"If Ms. Greig is advising a lawyer about this information, she is likely counselling her vulnerable clients to believe in this. This is extremely concerning," MacDiarmid wrote to the college on July 30. 

Conspiracies

For its part, the college has declined to comment on Greig's case. In an email to CBC news, Camille Karlicki, a lawyer and senior inquiry investigator said, "The college will not be participating in any interviews while the investigation of the registrant is ongoing," 

However, details of the inquiry committee's decision to suspend Greig while the investigation takes place are public and shed light on her conspiracy views. 

In its decision paper, the panel reviewing the matter described what they heard from Greig. 

"Very soon there will be an 'apocalypse' of information available worldwide and everybody will be made aware of what is truly happening on 'planet' Earth. This prophecy is well known," Greig told the panel.

Greig went on to say, "I am actually 'stationed' here in the north, to assist this population to process the coming apocalypse of information once everything 'comes to light.'

The panel wrote Greig's beliefs pose a serious risk to the public. 

"If clients are advised financial obligations do not have to be paid, taxes are abolished and foreclosures are forbidden, the panel is concerned that clients may follow this advice and find themselves in significant financial and/or legal trouble."

Similarly, the panel expressed serious concern over Greig's work with vulnerable children and the impacts her view could have on families. 

Still practising?

While the college was direct in its message Greig must stop working, it isn't clear whether she is following the order. Her website is still active and continues to list social work as a service she offers.

Greig uses the name Hannah Clinical Social Work Service Inc. for her business. Her website currently reads that while she passed the B.C. College Clinical Social Worker exam in 2007, "she has since retired that designation." It goes on to list various titles for her, as well as ways to reach her.

The director of UBC's School of Social Work told CBC she was astonished after reading details of Greig's interim suspension, describing her "shock and horror to find that this person is representing marginalized and at-risk people and doing that given her set of beliefs." 

"The idea that she is now representing herself as having retired her clinical designation is to flagrantly misrepresent what she was advised to do by the college," said Lea Caragata. 

According to Caragata, given that there is no college or governing body in the Yukon, there's not much that can be done if Greig isn't following the directive. 

That lack of territorial oversight is also a concern for Reagan Gale, a clinical psychologist who has worked across the North and was instrumental in advocating for the Yukon government to regulate her field, something the government has committed to but which is still not in place.

Gale says Greig's case reinforces the need for the territorial government to do more to regulate professions like social work and counselling. 

"Yukon is unique in that it is the last Canadian jurisdiction that lacks a regulatory model or regulatory oversight for many different health professions and other professions like social work," she said. 

Gale said people who access mental health services are often some of the most vulnerable, which means they need "the highest level of protection" — and oversight and regulation could help achieve that.

Creating an oversight body is not an easy process, Gale said, but that "doesn't mean we can't do it and doesn't mean it shouldn't be done." 

She pointed out that Yukon communities are often small and isolated and there's limited options for service providers. 

"It just creates an additional layer of vulnerability, which for me drives home the need for regulatory oversight even more."

Meanwhile, for the Liard Aboriginal Women's Society, Linda McDonald agrees legislated oversight is lacking in the territory.  

"Certainly there's accreditation and oversight for doctors. And the fact that we don't have a body for a group of people who are so very important — in particular because it is our most vulnerable who are seeking services of people like Ms. Greig," she said.