TORONTO — Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles says she has removed rookie legislator Sarah Jama from caucus.
Stiles says the member for Hamilton Centre, who has been under fire for comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict, made what Stiles calls “a number of unilateral actions” that have undermined the party’s collective work and broken the trust of her colleagues.
Jama spoke this morning in the legislature against a motion to censure her for a statement she made on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
She said Premier Doug Ford’s government is targeting her to distract from its own scandals, and also said that governments and institutions in Canada are trying to use their voice and weight to silence people who support Palestinians.
The Progressive Conservative motion would effectively silence Jama in the legislature and calls on the Speaker not to recognize her in the House until she retracts her original statement and apologizes again.
Jama’s original statement, on social media, decried “the generations long occupation of Palestine” without mentioning the attack by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians.
Stiles had originally defended Jama after the legislator issued an apology for her initial statement, but now says in a statement that she and Jama had agreed that in order for her to stay in caucus they would work together “in good faith with no surprises” but now some of her actions “have contributed to unsafe work environments for staff.”