Socialist Caucus demands: Immediately Reverse the Expulsion of Ontario MPP Sarah Jama from the NDP caucus at Queen’s Park. Failing that, Conduct a Review of the Leadership of Marit Stiles
The totally unacceptable decision of Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles on October 23 to expel Hamilton Center MPP Sarah Jama from the caucus of Ontario NDP MPPs is a frontal assault on democracy and social justice. It is nothing less than a capitulation to the grossly anti-democratic censure by the Doug Ford Conservative government of Jama, a 29-year-old Black, Muslim, disabled person and elected representative.
Her “crime”, it seems, was to speak out for the rights of the Palestinian people who are being massacred in Gaza and the West Bank, and to call for an end to the 75-year old Occupation of Palestinian territory by the Zionist state, and to demand an immediate ceasefire in the conflict so that urgent humanitarian aid can reach masses of starving and injured people.
It is the height of hypocrisy for the NDP caucus of MPPs to vote against the Tory censure motion in the Ontario Legislature, just minutes after Stiles informed Jama that she is removed from the NDP caucus. Why expel the young MPP who won a by-election in March 2023?
According to Stiles, Jama acted “independently” “too often”, including by asking her lawyer to issue a cease and desist order against the Conservative Premier for his libelous e-post which falsely accused Jama of being an anti-Semite who supports the murder of Israeli civilians.
Labour and party activists, leaders of racialized groups, feminists, the Hamilton Labour Council and Hamilton Center NDP are outraged and demand that the removal of MPP Jama from the NDP caucus be rescinded.
As a result, the NDP Socialist Caucus calls for an immediate reversal of the expulsion order. Failing that, we demand a review of the leadership of Marit Stiles by any and all appropriate means.
