James Sears

Sears was trained as a physician and described himself as a retired Canadian Armed Forces Medical Officer (Captain).[6][1] 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 Following complaints from female patients, Sears' medical licence was revoked by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 1992 after Sears pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault.[3]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]

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]

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]

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]

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 wilful 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 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]

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• Website of the New Constitution Party