MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing a ...

Posted April 25, 2024 11:36 am.

Last Updated April 25, 2024 2:32 pm.

Independent MPP Sarah Jama has been asked to leave the Ontario legislature for wearing a keffiyeh on Thursday.

Speaker of the House Ted Arnott banned the wearing of the traditional Palestinian scarves after he said it appeared to him the keffiyeh was being worn to make a political statement.

Jama, who represents Hamilton Centre, was asked to remove the keffiyeh, but refused. She was then asked to leave, however, remains in the chambers and has refused so far.

Jama said she was wearing a keffiyeh before and will continue to wear it, reminding people it is a cultural cloth. “Absolutely, I’ll be back I don’t know about this afternoon, but I’ll definitely continue as [long as] I’m here to continue to wear it.”

When asked about how wearing it has become a political statement, Jama said she isn’t the one making it political.

“Every party leader has spoken up about how this ban shouldn’t exist. The Premier has spoken about this ban, this ban needing to not exist and yet his own members, the PCs are the one consistently saying no to the removal of this ban. The Conservatives are making this political, the NDP, the liberals, the Greens have all said that the suspension should be removed,” said Jama.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles called Jama being asked to leave “outrageous,” and said she was “absolutely appalled” by the attempt to silence and remove a member.

When asked about the decision to kick Jama out of the legislature, Premier Doug Ford said, “The speaker is the one who runs the legislature.”

The Ontario Liberals later introduced an unanimous consent motion to hold a formal vote on the ban that wouldn’t require unanimous consent, but PC MPPs voted no. 

“I don’t know what her intentions are for the future … I will respond as speaker, according to the standing orders to enforce the standing,” said Arnott when asked about what might happen if Jama continues to wear the keffiyeh.

The Ontario NDP have twice before tried to introduced unanimous consent motion to try and overturn the ban, but it failed both times.

Jama put on a keffiyeh after the motion failed on Tuesday, but she was not been asked to remove it then. Jama was censured by the Ontario legislature and removed from the NDP after a controversial social media post about the Israel-Hamas war last year.

Premier Doug Ford has called for the reversal of the decision, saying the ban of the keffiyeh was made “by the speaker and the speaker alone.”

All three other party leaders have also called for the ban to be overturned. “All of the parties have agreed and acknowledged that the ban on wearing the keffiyeh was unnecessarily divisive,” Stiles added during question period Thursday.

A keffiyeh is a black and white checkered scarf that has come to symbolize solidarity with Palestinians. Keffiyehs could regularly be spotted in the crowds of pro-Palestinian rallies in Toronto over the last several months.

Under the order, keffiyehs would be banned in the legislative precinct by Members, staff and the public.