James Sears

James Nicholas Sears (born Dimitrious Sarafopoulos;[1] September 14, 1963)[2][3] is a Canadian perennial candidate and former physician. He was the editor of an antisemitic tabloid promoting his own New Constitution Party. The newspaper, titled Your Ward News, was barred from distribution by Canada Post in 2016, and Sears was convicted of willful promotion of hate in 2019. On the day of the ruling, Twitter suspended his account @dimitrithelover. On August 22, 2019 he was sentenced to imprisonment for one year.[4] On August 27, 2019, Sears was released on bail pending the hearing of his appeal.[5]

James Sears
Born	Dimitrious Sarafopoulos (1963-09-14) September 14, 1963
Nationality	Canadian
Other names	"Dimitri the Lover"
Occupation	physician (license revoked)
Criminal status	Convicted January 24, 2019, sentenced August 22, 2019. Released on bail pending appeal
Conviction(s)	2 counts of willful promotion of hate
Criminal penalty	1 year's imprisonment (6 months each count, served consecutively)

Medical and military background

Sears was trained as a physician and described himself as a retired Canadian Armed Forces Medical Officer (Captain).[1][6] In the 1980s while a medical student with the Canadian Armed Forces, Sears was noted for erratic behaviour, and graduated in 1988, despite "documented reservations". During his subsequent internship, he was judged "immature" and entered psychotherapy in 1990. Following complaints from female patients, Sears' medical licence was revoked by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 1992 after Sears pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault.[3]

Sears started the Second Opinion Medical-Legal Consultants Group in 1994, offering "medical investigative services" such as medical background checks for the prospective employees of its clients and research for parties to medical malpractice suits. In 2001, it was reported in the Toronto Star that they had been hired by Canadian Tire and the Toronto Transit Commission.[7]

Mortgage broker

He has also been involved with the mortgage brokerage industry with Trillium Mortgages and then Expert Mortgage Company. His application for a mortgage broker's licence was denied by the regulatory body, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario; however, he has continued to work for Expert Mortgage Company as a "full-time in-house marketing guru", describing himself as "Ontario's #1 Trainer of Sales Consultants, with Specialization in Mortgage & Real Estate Agents".[7]

Pickup artist

Sears was also known for his activities as a pickup artist using the pseudonym "Dimitri the Lover" selling courses that claimed to train men in how to seduce women.[7]

Politics

In the 2014 Toronto civic election, Sears was a city council candidate in Ward 32 and received 797 votes (roughly 3% of the vote).[8][9] His campaign included a website with an interactive animation that asked users to choose one of three playable characters, Rob Ford, Vladimir Putin or Adolf Hitler to "spank" the bare bottom of a cartoon caricature of city councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, Sears's rival in the election.[10]

He ran in the 2015 federal election as an independent candidate (no party affiliation) and placed fifth out of seven candidates, getting 254 votes (less than 0.5% of the vote).[11]

Sears was a candidate for the Canadians' Choice Party in the 2018 provincial election running against Attorney General Yasir Naqvi in Ottawa Centre. He placed last out of eight candidates with 92 votes.[12]

In 2018 he registered as a candidate for Mayor of Toronto in that year's election.[13] He finished with 680 votes, less than 1% of the total vote.[14]

Your Ward News

Sears is editor-in-chief of Your Ward News, a quarterly newspaper which promotes the New Constitution Party, an unregistered neo-Nazi political party led by Sears.[1][15] The newspaper used to be printed and distributed as a flyer in the east Toronto neighbourhood of The Beaches. The vanity publication, which claimed to have a circulation of 50,000, was criticized for using antisemitic caricatures and language, described by former Canadian Jewish Congress Chief Executive Officer Bernie Farber as "classic anti-Semitic tropes" and "a clear attempt at a hateful representation of Jews".[15] On June 6, 2016, the Government of Canada ordered Canada Post to cease delivery of the paper.[16]

The newspaper continued to be distributed using private delivery services, and was investigated for hate crime.[17] On June 21, 2017, Sears and publisher Leroy St. Germaine were charged under the Criminal Code with uttering threats against Warren and Lisa Kinsella in an article by Sears in which he wrote that his supporters may decide to "bludgeon the Kinsellas to death."[18][19]

In November 2017, Sears and St. Germaine were each charged with two counts of willful promotion of hatred under the Criminal Code.[20] They were accused of promoting hatred against women and Jews.[21] Both were found guilty on January 24, 2019.[22] The Crown asked that Sears be given a one-year jail sentence and an additional three years' probation during which Sears would be prohibited from publishing any material.[23] On August 22, 2019, Sears was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, consisting of six months for each charge, served consecutively, the maximum sentence available.[4][23][24] He is currently out on bail, pending appeal.[5] On August 29, 2019, St. Germaine was sentenced to one year of house arrest.[5]

Electoral record

2014 Toronto election, Ward 32[25]

Candidate	Votes	%
Mary-Margaret McMahon	15,762	60.92
Sandra Bussin	4,552	17.59
Brian Graff	1,922	7.43
James Sears	797	3.08
Eric de Boer	677	2.62
Carmel Suttor	464	1.79
Alan Burke	404	1.56
Maria Garcia	402	1.55
Michael Connor	334	1.29
Sean Dawson	241	0.93
Bruce Baker	213	0.82
Jim Brookman	107	0.41
Total	25,875	100%

2015 Canadian federal election: Beaches—East York
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Nathaniel Erskine-Smith	27,458	49.45	+18.69	$104,089.50
	New Democratic	Matthew Kellway	17,113	30.82	-10.82	$129,211.99
	Conservative	Bill Burrows	9,124	16.43	-6.31	$35,453.04
	Green	Randall Sach	1,433	2.58	-2.02	$3,691.94
	Independent	James Sears	254	0.46	–	$35,400.00
	Marxist–Leninist	Roger Carter	105	0.19	-0.08	–
	Independent	Peter Surjanac	43	0.08	–	$449.62
Total valid votes/Expense limit			55,530	100.00		$208,561.84
Total rejected ballots			216	0.39	–
Turnout			55,746	73.18	–
Eligible voters			76,173
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+14.76
Source: Elections Canada[26][27]

2018 Ontario general election: Ottawa Centre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Joel Harden	29,675	46.08	+25.69
	Liberal	Yasir Naqvi	21,111	32.78	-18.89
	Progressive Conservative	Colleen McCleery	10,327	16.03	-2.08
	Green	Cherie Wong	2,266	3.52	-4.22
	None of the Above	Marc Adornato	437	0.68
	Libertarian	Bruce A. Faulkner	385	0.60	-0.96
	Communist	Stuart Ryan	110	0.17	-0.35
	Canadians' Choice	James Sears	92	0.14
Total valid votes			64,403	100.0
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		+22.29
Source: Elections Ontario[28]

Sources

1. "Message From NCP Leader, Dr. James Sears". New Constitution Party of Canada. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
2. https://twitter.com/dimitrithelover
3. "Disgraced doctor is T.O.'s seduction guru". Toronto Sun. December 30, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2015. By 1986, Sears was in the Canadian Armed Forces and while still a third-year medical student was evaluated by a military psychiatrist who suggested there was "something seriously wrong" with Sears.
4. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/canada/toronto/article-your-ward-news-editor-james-sears-sentenced-to-one-year-in-jail-for/
5. "Your Ward News publisher sentenced to 12-month house arrest".
6. Quoted in The College of Surgeons and Physicians of Ontario vs. Dr. James Sears, December 1, 1992 - "'If Captain Sears returns to medical practice, he should be supervised carefully.'" (1990)
7. "Did the Controversial Editor of Your Ward News Send Homophobic Hate Mail to Councillor Wong-Tam?". 2017-04-19.
8. "2014 Municipal Election Results - Councillor Poll by Poll" (PDF). 31 October 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
9. "'Dimitri the Lover' back making headlines". Toronto Sun. March 25, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
10. "Toronto city council candidate James Sears promotes online 'spanking' game against female rival". canada.com. Postmedia News. June 30, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
11. "Federal Election 2015: Beaches-East York riding results - Toronto | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
12. https://www.elections.on.ca/content/ngw/en/election-results/ottawa-centre.html
13. Sears, James (Winter 2018). "Editor's message". Your Ward News. Missing or empty |url= (help)
14. Watkiss, Uli (October 25, 2018). "2018 Clerks Official Declaration of Results" (PDF). toronto.ca. p. 1.
15. "Beach residents decry 'offensive' newsletter". Toronto Star. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
16. Shane, Emmett (June 6, 2016). "Canada Post ordered to stop delivering controversial Your Ward News". CBC News. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
17. Pelley, Lauren (January 30, 2017). "Toronto police investigating controversial Your Ward News publication". CBC News. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
18. "Editor, publisher of neo-Nazi tabloid charged with uttering threats". CityNews. June 21, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
19. Loriggio, Paola (June 21, 2017). "Criminal charges laid against publisher of controversial newspaper Your Ward News". CTV News. Canadian Press. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
20. "Court Ruling - Sears and St. Germaine". Scribd. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
21. Cameron, Peter (November 16, 2017). "2 men behind controversial Toronto publication face hate-related charges". CTV News. Canadian Press. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
22. Perkel, Colin (January 24, 2019). "Your Ward News duo found guilty of peddling hate against women and Jews". CBC News. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
23. Perkel, Colin (April 26, 2019). "Editor found guilty of peddling hate says Your Ward News gave 'angry men' a voice". National Post. Canadian Press. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
24. Perkel, Colin (May 30, 2019). "James Sears fires lawyer; sentencing for Your Ward News delayed". 680 News. Canadian Press. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
25. "Toronto Election 2014 Poll By Poll Results: Councillor" (PDF). Toronto City Clerk's Office. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
26. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Beaches—East York, 30 September 2015
27. Elections Canada – Final Candidates Election Expenses Limits
28. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 6. Retrieved 20 January 2019.

External links

• Website of the New Constitution Party