Caryma Sa'd

Caryma Sa'd appears on the City of Toronto’s list of certified candidates for Councillor in Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth. A certified candidate is one whose nomination the City Clerk has accepted. The list shows the nomination date as August 21, 2026 and the campaign website votesad.ca.

Her campaign site, the campaign’s own account, says she has built a career over two decades across law, journalism, education and small business. It says she graduated with a law degree from the University of Ottawa in 2015, left a Bay Street litigation firm to open her own practice in housing, criminal and cannabis law, was Executive Director of NORML Canada and taught a cannabis law course at Seneca College. It says she began her law career while living in Toronto-Danforth and later left the neighbourhood because of the cost of living. The site also says she runs a video news brand called ProtestMania, which it says local, national and international outlets rely on. A Law Society of Ontario letter of 2024, described below, refers to her as a lawyer. voche.me did not check the other claims.

The Local describes her as a lawyer and social media influencer who became known for covering demonstrations against COVID-19 health measures and now largely makes videos at pro-Palestine demonstrations. The Local reports that critics describe her conduct at these events as provoking or baiting people into confrontations for her videos, which she denies.

A letter dated March 20, 2024 from the Law Society of Ontario to Bernie Farber, who had complained about her, was published by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, which has publicly criticised her conduct. voche.me read the letter. In it a Law Society investigator wrote that the investigation “identified concerns” that she “failed to act with honour and integrity”, “engaged in harassing, and/or discriminatory conduct” and “engaged in conduct that tends to bring discredit upon the legal profession”, based on posts she made on X about attending his home to serve a notice. The investigator closed the matter by giving her “Regulatory Guidance”, which the letter says is a remedial response and “not a disciplinary measure”, and wrote that the Law Society would take no further action. The Local describes the letter as a finding. In its statement of November 28, 2024 the Canadian Anti-Hate Network also says she altered a letter from its lawyer before posting it online. That is the network’s claim, and voche.me found no reply from her in the pages it read.

CBC News reported on November 8, 2022 that Hamilton city prosecutors withdrew a trespassing charge against her. She was arrested on May 26, 2022 outside a rally for Premier Doug Ford at the Hamilton airport. CBC reports that Hamilton police said she did not leave despite several chances, that she said she had RSVP’d and attended as a political commentator, and that the prosecutor said there was “no reasonable likelihood of conviction”. She told CBC she felt vindicated and still had unanswered questions.

Her campaign says it will work with every resident in good faith, listen to staff, experts and affected people, pursue negotiated compromise, and build a team that prioritises pragmatism, responsiveness and fiscal responsibility. The Local reports that she is critical of Mayor Olivia Chow’s ties to the advocacy groups Progress Toronto and the Broadbent Institute.