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 was asked to remove the keffiyeh, but refused. She was then asked to leave, however, remains in the chambers and has refused so far.
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 NDP have twice 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.