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Sarah Jama

Sarah Jama (born ) is a Canadian activist and former politician who was the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton Centre from 2023 to 2025. Jama was elected as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP), but was ejected from the party in 2023 and served as an independent for the remainder of the session.

Jama became involved in accessibility advocacy and pro-Palestine advocacy as a student at McMaster University. She later co-founded the Disability Justice Network Ontario in 2018 and the Hamilton Encampment Support Network in 2021, focusing on affordable housing access. In 2021, Jama was arrested by police in Beasley Park in central Hamilton at a protest against homeless encampment evictions in the city, but the charges against her were dropped.

On October 10, 2023, three days after the Gaza war began, Jama made a social media post criticizing the conflict and calling for an end to the occupation; she did not directly mention the Hamas October 7 attack that killed hundreds of Israelis and saw approximately 250 people taken hostage. She later apologised for any possible offense to Jewish or Israeli Canadian constituents, but did not retract the post. On October 23, 2023, the NDP removed Jama from of its caucus, with party leader Marit Stiles stating that Jama had taken a "number of unilateral actions that have undermined our collective work and broken the trust of her colleagues." Jama served out her term as an independent MPP and was defeated in her attempt to be re-elected as an independent MPP in the 2025 Ontario general election.

In October 2023, the legislature voted to censure Jama in response to her comments. Provided by Wikipedia