Four protesters who displayed keffiyehs inside the Ontario legislature and were subsequently ejected have been banned from Queen’s Park.
Mariam Bebawy said she and three friends from York Center 4 Palestine received invasion notices last week from the sergeant-at-arms of the Ontario Legislative Assembly after they spread their keffiyehs and began chanting “Free and Free Palestine” during the question period.
Bebawy’s notice said he is prohibited from entering the premises of the main legislative building and a nearby government building.
“I don’t think it’s fair at all,” Bebawy told The Canadian Press. “It’s pretty racist, honestly.”
A keffiyeh is a checkered scarf typically worn in Arab cultures that has come to symbolize, in part, solidarity with Palestinians.
Speaker Ted Arnott banned keffiyehs in the legislature earlier this year, saying they are used to make a political statement. All four party leaders, including Premier Doug Ford, have called for the ban to be overturned.
Neither Arnott’s office nor Sergeant-at-Arms Tim McGough responded to multiple requests for comment.
Last Tuesday, NDP Leader Marit Stiles introduced a motion seeking unanimous consent of the chamber to repeal the keffiyeh ban. She failed after at least one Progressive Conservative lawmaker objected. It was Stiles’ second attempt to reverse the ban.
Sarah Jama, who is serving as an independent after being expelled from the NDP caucus last year, pulled out a keffiyeh and draped it over her shoulders during that time. No one seemed to notice and she used it until the end of question period.
Almost at the same time, Bebawy and his friends sitting in the public gallery took out their keffiyehs and began shouting various chants, including “they can’t cancel us.”
Legislative security acted quickly and escorted the four out of the building without incident.
Two days later, Jama put on the keffiyeh again during question period and was ordered out of the chamber by the speaker. She refused to leave and remained in the chamber. Arnott later said that he was not prepared to use physical force to remove Jama.
Jama has called the ban racist and has vowed to continue wearing the keffiyeh inside the chamber.
Bebawy said she and her friends offered little resistance other than refusing to take off their keffiyehs as security led them through the building to the door.
“The supervisor said that we were resisting, that we were not leaving right away and that we wanted to stay inside the gallery, but that was not true,” he said.
The incident on camera lasted about a minute before they left quietly.
Bebawy said they were initially warned by security to never do that again, but minutes later it was upgraded to a written trespass notice.
There is one exception to the notice: if you have a confirmed appointment with a Member of Provincial Parliament, you will be escorted to and from that meeting at Queen’s Park.
“Any violation of this order may result in your arrest and charges under the Trespass Law,” the sergeant-at-arms wrote.
Bebawy said security told him he could contact the president after a year to try to get the ban rescinded.
Last year, several members of the Neskantaga First Nation were expelled from the legislature for shouting at Ford during question period about his plans to mine the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario.
Chief Chris Moonias was ejected from the chamber but received no trespass notice and has returned to Queen’s Park several times since. Some others from Neskantaga received warnings from the sergeant-at-arms telling them that their interruptions were considered demonstrations and were therefore prohibited.
“If you behave in this manner in the future, you may be arrested under the Ontario Trespass Act and/or expelled from the Ontario Legislature by order of the Speaker,” wrote Jacquelyn Gordon, the former sergeant-at-arms.
Politicians are not in Queen’s Park this week, but the legislature resumes sessions on Monday. Stiles has said that she and “the community” will challenge the keffiyeh ban if it is not reversed by then.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2024.