Editor of antisemitic and misogynistic Your Ward News back in jail after breaking parole

James Sears, editor in chief of "Your Ward News," is seen outside Ontario court in Toronto on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

The former editor of Your Ward News – a Toronto-based publication that promoted hatred against women and Jewish people – is back in jail after violating his parole by promoting hate speech.

Const. Caroline de Kloet told CTV News Toronto that on Feb. 3, James Sears was arrested on a warrant and transported to Toronto South Detention Centre. His breach was “due to hate speech.”

The Provincial Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (ROPE) squad took Sears into custody and Toronto police transported him to prison, de Kloet said.

Sears was found guilty of two counts of promoting hatred in January 2019 and later sentenced to one year in prison.

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada said his organization was aware of recent comments allegedly made by Sears about publicly proposing “a gruesome public execution for Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Teresa Tam.”

According to the organization, remarks linked to Sears joking about attacking Tam with a hockey stick and Hitler sentencing her to death for treason were received through an anti-hate app where individuals can report discrimination to B’nai Brith.

At Sears’ trial, the free publication – distributed to 300,000 homes and businesses in the Toronto area – was examined as evidence of promoting women and Jewish people as inferior.

“Sears should have served out his full sentence if we really mean to promote the objectives of sentencing, which in this case is deterring horrific hate speech,” Mostyn said. 

With files from the Canadian Press.