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Toronto (October 23, 2023) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) welcomes the Ontario NDP’s decision today to remove MPP Sarah Jama from its caucus.

In a statement issued this morning, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Jama, who represents the riding of Hamilton Centre, “has undertaken a number of unilateral actions that have undermined our collective work and broken the trust of her colleagues. Some of Ms. Jama’s actions have contributed to unsafe work environments for staff.”

“I have been left with no option but to remove Ms. Jama from our Caucus,” Stiles added.

This decision comes two weeks after FSWC and other Jewish groups called on the Ontario NDP to remove Jama from caucus following her abhorrent statement on the Israel-Hamas war that failed to acknowledge the mass atrocities committed by the terror group Hamas against Israeli civilians following its invasion of southern Israel on October 7.

Despite being ordered to retract her statement by the Party and then issuing her subsequent apology, which FSWC said was “much too little, much too late,” Jama doubled down on her statement this morning in the Ontario legislature, accusing Israel of apartheid and “domination and occupation of Palestinian lands” and stating, “governments and institutions in Canada are trying to use their voice and weight to silence us.”

Earlier this year, FSWC raised concerns with Stiles over Jama’s antisemitism and the Ontario NDP’s failure to acknowledge the harm done, apologize and communicate a commitment to confront antisemitism within the Party.

"The recent incidents involving Sarah Jama are just the latest in a number of her actions that have caused repeated hurt and harm to the Jewish community in her riding of Hamilton Centre and far beyond," said FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt. "It’s important to see Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles take the significant step of ejecting Jama from the Ontario NDP caucus. While it was a long time coming, today’s news sends a crucial message that antisemitism has no place in our public institutions, a lesson more critical now than ever."

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