‘Threats’ prompted Elle to cut Sarah Jama from article

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OTTAWA — Threats against a Canadian women’s magazine prompted publishers to revise a contentious article over the weekend.

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Posted online on Aug. 19, Elle Canada published a listicle entitled “These Eight Incredible Canadians have Broken the Glass Ceiling” by writer Sadaf Ahsan — featuring profiles of eight “changemakers,” including LGBT advocate Fae Johnstone, journalist Connie walker, hockey great Cassie Campbell-Pascall, and independent MPP Sarah Jama.

Despite the gender-neutral headline of the article’s online version, social media posts and the magazine’s print edition described the piece as profiles of “eight incredible Canadian women.”

The online version of the article, however, omits the word “women” from the headline.

The article sparked furor online, due to the inclusion of Jama and two trans-women — Johnstone and musician Vivek Shraya. 

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“Did these men ever struggle to find a place to pump milk? Did they have their fertility status discussed at SLT (senior leadership team) meetings in relation to whether they should be promoted? Called ‘emotional’ or spoken over by booming male voices in the boardroom? Suffer sexism and told it’s ’just a joke’? Had their career path hampered because they wouldn’t give sexual favours? You are an absolute disgrace to women, girls and feminism as a whole,” wrote one disgruntled reader on X. 

Elle‘s Friday post on X garnered over 2,000 replies before the magazine limited comments.

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Jama, a rookie MPP representing Hamilton Centre with a history of anti-Israel and what some view as anti-Semitic remarks, was booted from the NDP caucus last year in response to controversial statements issued shortly after the Oct. 7 terror attacks. (Jama has denied her comments were anti-Semitic.)

The NDP removed her one day after Jama was censured by the Ontario legislature, with the party claiming Jama was “uncooperative” and broke terms of an agreement that would’ve kept her in the party.

Jama also appeared in a Nov. 14 video denying that Hamas terrorists sexually assaulted their victims during the Oct. 7 attacks, blaming such reports on misinformation from Canada’s “zionist lobby.”

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In response to the controversy, Elle removed Jama from the piece, added an editorial note and removed the author’s byline from the story.

The word “eight” was also excised from the headline.

On Monday, the editorial note was revised, saying the original article “represents the opinions of a political personality but does not reflect the opinions of the publishers of Elle Canada and its parent company.”

Elle Canada publisher Sophie Banford told the Toronto Sun the decision to edit the article wasn’t made lightly.

“Unfortunately, over the weekend, some members of our editorial team were targeted with threats due to this article,” she said.

“The safety and well-being of our journalists are our top priorities, and it is within this context that we made the decision to remove the content in question.”

The entire article, including the profile on Jama, was published in Elle Canada‘s September issue.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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