| Sarah Jama | |
| Parliament: | Ontario Provincial |
| Term Start: | 16 March 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Andrea Horwath |
| Riding: | Hamilton Centre |
| Otherparty: | New Democratic (2022–2023) |
| Party: | Independent (2023–present) |
| Residence: | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Alma Mater: | McMaster University |
Sarah Jama (born)[1] is a Canadian politician and disability justice activist who has served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since March 2023.
Jama became involved in accessibility advocacy and pro-Palestine advocacy as a student at McMaster University. She later co-founded the Disability Justice Network Ontario in September 2018 and the Hamilton Encampment Support Network in 2021, focusing on affordable housing access. In 2021, Jama was arrested by police in Beasley Park in central Hamilton at a protest against homeless encampment evictions in the city, but the charges against her were dropped.[2]
Sarah Jama was elected as the MPP for Hamilton Centre in March 2023 as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP).[3] She replaced Andrea Horwath, who stepped down as MPP to run for the mayor of Hamilton.
On October 10, 2023, shortly after the 2023 Israel-Hamas war began, Jama made a social media post criticising the conflict and calling for an end to the occupation and apartheid.[4] She later apologised for any possible offense to Jewish or Israeli Canadian constituents, but did not retract the post. On October 23, 2023, the NDP removed Jama from of its caucus, with party leader Marit Stiles stating that Jama had taken a "number of unilateral actions that have undermined our collective work and broken the trust of her colleagues."[5] Jama has since served as an independent MPP.
Jama, a Somali Canadian Muslim, was born with cerebral palsy and uses a walker or wheelchair for mobility.[6] [7] [8] [9]
She attended McMaster University, where she obtained a social sciences degree.[10] At McMaster, she ran for student union presidency, and was disqualified for exceeding campaign spending limits and retweeting a "Bad Taste" article.[11] Her disqualification was lifted on appeal, and she came in second upon re-tabulation of the votes.[12]
In 2014 she wrote on disability justice issues for the magazine of the Young Communist League of Canada, Rebel Youth.[13] In 2016 she served as Ontario director for the National Educational Association of Disabled Students,[14] and was named one of Hamilton's "most interesting people" by the CBC for her work in organizing an "Anti-Racism Action Initiative" and her disability justice activism.[15] Jama was involved in accessibility advocacy and pro-Palestine advocacy at McMaster University.[16] [17] [18]
Jama co-founded the Disability Justice Network Ontario in September 2018 and co-founded the Hamilton Encampment Support Network in 2021, focusing on affordable housing access. In February 2021, she appeared before the Senate of Canada's legal and constitutional affairs committee to argue against the proposed Bill C-7, which she said made euthanasia more accessible for people with mental health disabilities, rather than providing mental health support.[19]
In 2021, Jama was arrested by police in Beasley Park in central Hamilton at a protest against homeless encampment evictions in the city.[20] She was charged with obstructing police and assaulting a police officer.[21] Charges against her were later withdrawn after she entered into a peace bond.[22] [23] The peace bond prohibited her from crossing police caution tape, interfering with police operations related to homeless people, and participating in illegal or violent demonstrations.[24]
Jama sought the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) nomination for member of Provincial Parliament (MPP; a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Canadian province of Ontario) in the Hamilton Centre provincial by-election, after former MPP and NDP leader Andrea Horwath resigned to run for mayor.[25] [26] Jama was named the NDP candidate in October 2022.[27] [28]
Jama's campaign drew controversy over a statement she made in 2021 that Israel is funding "the killing of people here locally and globally", for which she later apologized.[29]
On 16 March 2023, Jama was elected as the MPP for Hamilton Centre, garnering 9,477 votes, comprising 54% of the vote.[30] [31]
In May 2023, Jama retweeted a post about the death of Palestinian prisoner and hunger-striker Khader Adnan, a former spokesperson for of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is listed as a terrorist entity in Canada.[32] The post called him a "martyr for freedom".[33] [32] Both B’nai Brith Canada and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs criticized Jama for sharing the post, B'nai Brith saying he was a convicted terrorist.[32] Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East stated that Jama was being "unfairly attacked" for retweeting the statement and noted "It would be wrong for the ONDP [Ontario NDP] to punish their MPP for drawing attention to a powerful example of non-violent struggle against Israeli apartheid".
On 10 October 2023, two days after the 2023 Israel–Hamas war began, Jama generated controversy for posting a statement under Ontario NDP letterhead referring to "apartheid" and describing "continued violation of human rights in Gaza" by Israel without mentioning either Hamas or the killing of Israeli civilians.[34] [35] [36] [37] She also called for the "end [of] all occupation of Palestinian land and end [of] apartheid" and offered her sympathies to people mourning on both sides.[38]
Her statement was criticized by Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles, and prompted Ontario Liberal leader John Fraser, Premier Doug Ford, and Jewish organizations such as Holocaust education group Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to call for her resignation from caucus. Ford also publicly stated that Jama had a "long and well-documented history of antisemitism" and "hateful views", and that she "publicly support[ed] the rape and murder of innocent Jewish people", and called for her to resign.[39] [40] In response to Ford's statement, Jama served Ford's office a cease and desist letter and threatened to sue him for libel. Although Jama released her statements under NDP letterhead, the party was not made aware of the pending statement, and had not endorsed Jama's positions.[41] Stiles privately met with Jama asking her to remove the statement and apologize; Jama subsequently apologized for her posts in a reply to them about 24 hours later on Twitter, but refused to remove the statements and instead pinned her statement to the top of her feed on X.[41] [35] [42]
On 23 October 2023, the legislature voted 63-23 to censure Jama in response to her comments. The NDP voted against the censure, with Stiles noting that it was an "extreme motion" and that "We do not believe the government should use its majority to strip a member of their right to speak and vote. This is an extreme step that will disenfranchise the voters of Hamilton Centre". As a result, she is banned from speaking in the chamber until and unless she retracts and deletes her original statement and formally apologizes.[35]
In April 2024, Ted Arnott introduced a Keffiyeh ban in the Ontario legislature .[43] In the days following the ban, Arnott ordered Jama to leave the chamber after she refused to remove her Keffiyeh, she was subsequently banned from legislature for the rest of the day. This event repeated itself numerous times at Queen's Park, and even prompted other members of the NDP to follow in her footsteps. [44] On May 6, 2024, House Speaker Ted Arnott loosened the rules surrounding the Keffiyeh to allow it to be worn in Queen's Park except inside the house.[45] As recently as May 6, 2024, Jama was ordered to leave the chambers. Jama says she has no intention of ending her stand of solidarity with the Palestinian people.[46]
On the day of the censure vote, Jama was removed from the NDP caucus.[47] In an official party statement, Stiles noted that Jama had been uncooperative with NDP colleagues, making unilateral decisions without party endorsement and endangering the work environment of NDP staff, and had broken the terms of an agreement Stiles had made with Jama, which would have kept her affiliated with the party following Jama's statements on the Israel–Hamas war.[41] [48] Officials said that staff had worked with Jama on a statement, but it differed from what she said instead publicly in the moments preceding her expulsion. She also had not informed the party about her intention to threaten the Premier with legal action.[49]
In November 2023, Jama signed an open letter denying that Israeli women were subjected to rape and sexual violence during 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.[50] [51] [52] [53] On November 21, her office stated that Jama had removed her name from the letter.[54]