Ontario Premier Doug Ford is denying accusations that he defamed Sarah Jama after the Hamilton Centre MPP fired off a cease and desist letter and demanded a retraction of public comments.
Jama, who was recently ejected from the Ontario NDP caucus, is threatening to sue Ford for defamation over public statements the premier made on social media that depicted Jama as holding anti-Semitic views.
“Sarah Jama has a long and well-documented history of antisemitism,” Ford’s statement on Oct. 11 said. “Marit Stiles … has yet to hold Ms. Jama accountable for publicly supporting the rape and murder of innocent Jewish people.”
Ford’s office was served a cease and desist letter, on Oct. 19, along with a notice that a statement of claim could be issued against the premier “personally” unless he retracts the comments and issues an “unequivocal apology.”
Ford’s statement, the letter says, implied that Jama is “racist” toward Jewish people, sympathetic to terrorism and unfit for office.
“These published statements have done and continue to do serious harm to Ms. Jama’s reputation,” the letter reads.
Lawyers for Premier Ford fired back, claiming the statement is not defamatory and that Ford denies accusations that he personally defamed Jama when the statement was released on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The cease and desist letter is a regrettable attempt to curtail the freedom of speech and freedom of expression of Premier Ford on an issue of tremendous public importance that strikes at the heart of a free and democratic society,” Ford’s lawyer said in the responding letter.
The letter also contains several examples of Jama’s social media posts which, Ford’s lawyers claim, are evidence that she “harbours anti-semitic views or has made comments that are anti-Semitic in nature.”
Ford’s lawyers suggested he has no intention of retracting or apologizing for the statements because they were not made “recklessly or with malice.”
“Mr. Ford, as Premier of Ontario, merely expressed his opinion, to which he is entitled in a free and democratic society,” the letter stated.
“Mr. Ford continues to hold this opinion which is widely shared by a great many others.”
On Monday, Jama was censured in the Ontario Legislature for her initial comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In her original statement, Jama said: “We have seen this definition of apartheid in real time through the continued violation of human rights in Gaza through the use of white phosphorus chemicals, the withholding of access to food, fuel electric and water, and the destruction of the only exit from Gaza that isn’t controlled by the State of Israel.”
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