Controversial Ontario MPP Sarah Jama removed from the NDP caucus amid disputes over her social media statements and actions, while the Ontario legislature censures her, leaving her unable to speak in the House until specific conditions are met. Photo Credit: Peter Power/Canadian Press
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles says Jama took “unilateral actions” that broke trust
Controversial Hamilton Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Sarah Jama was removed from the Ontario NDP caucus on Monday, with the party’s leader Marit Stiles saying that Jama took multiple “unilateral actions” that broke trust.
Jama had been at the centre of four different controversies in a matter of months, the latest being a statement she made on October 10th on social media that appeared to justify the Hamas attack on Israel.
Jama wrote that “violence and retaliation” is “rooted in settler colonialism,” proclaimed “free Palestine,” and did not condemn the Hamas terrorist attack.
It was later revealed that Jama attended an anti-Israel rally in Toronto that was organized as a “celebration” of “heroic Palestinian resistance,” seemingly supporting the gruesome October 7th Hamas attack.
At the time, Stiles issued a press release asking Jama to “retract her statement” and “state clearly that she decries any violence.”
Jama never ended up retracting her statement and never addressed her attendance at the anti-Israel rally, but simply added below her original post that she “apologizes” and “unequivocally condemns terrorism by Hamas.”
Stiles seemed placated and it looked as though Jama would remain in the NDP caucus.
Indeed, Stiles wrote in her official statement regarding Jama’s removal from the party that the two of them “had reached an agreement to keep her in the NDP caucus, which included working together in good faith with no surprises.”
However, Stiles continues that, since that time, Jama had “undertaken a number of unilateral actions that have undermined our collective work and broken the trust of her colleagues.”
Those actions include hiring controversial lawyer Stephen Ellis and threatening to sue Premier Doug Ford for libel, pinning her October 10th social media statement to the top of her profile, and delivering an unapproved speech on Palestine in the legislature in which she doubled down on her original comments.
Stiles also says that some of Jama’s actions even “contributed to unsafe work environments for staff.”
Indeed, the Toronto Star has reported that Jama’s lawyer caused security issues at the provincial legislature by trying to “personally serve Ford with a cease and desist letter.”
As such, Stiles said that she was left “with no option but to remove” Jama from the NDP caucus.
Stiles added that the decision was made with the support of other NDP MPPs.
Jama will now sit as an independent in the legislature and, as it stands, would be unable to run under the NDP banner in the next election.
Jama was also censured by the Ontario legislature on Monday, meaning that she will not be able to speak in the House until she makes a verbal apology and deletes her October 10th social media post.
Ontario PC Party MPPs, who make up a majority in the legislature, voted to censure Jama.
Ontario Liberal MPPs abstained from the vote and the Ontario NDP voted against the censure.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
