James Sears

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For the American educator, historian, and activist, see James T. Sears. For the United States Air Force general, see James R. Sears.

James Sears
Born
Dimitrious Sarafopoulos

(1963-09-14) September 14, 1963 (age 62)
Other names"Dimitri the Lover"
OccupationPhysician (license revoked)
Political partyNew Constitution
Other political
affiliations		Canadians' Choice
MovementNeo-Nazism
Criminal statusReleased
Convictions2 counts of willful promotion of hate
Criminal chargeViolation of parole
Penalty1 year in prison (6 months each count, served consecutively)
Date apprehended
Surrendered for incarceration on June 14, 2021

James Nicholas Sears (born Dimitrious Sarafopoulos;[1] September 14, 1963)[2][3] is a Canadian neo-Nazi who was convicted of willful promotion of hatred in 2019.

Sears was the editor of a misogynist and 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 on January 24, 2019. He was sentenced to imprisonment for one year on August 22, 2019.[4] On August 27, 2019, Sears was released on bail pending the hearing of his appeal.[5] On June 14, 2021, his appeal was denied and his one-year prison sentence began.[6] He was released on parole on October 14, 2021,[7] and was arrested again for violating his parole conditions on February 3, 2022.[8]

He is Internet-famous for a now-memeified voicemail that circulates on social media.

Medical and military background

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Sears was trained as a physician and described himself as a retired Canadian Armed Forces Medical Officer (Captain).[1][9] In the 1980s he was a medical student with the Canadian Armed Forces and graduated in 1988. 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 Following complaints from female patients, Sears' medical licence was revoked by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 1992 after Sears pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault.[3]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.[10]

Mortgage broker

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Sears claimed as of 2005 to be the co-owner of Toronto mortgage broker Trillium Mortgage.[11] In 2014, in campaign materials supporting his run for Toronto city council, In an article describing hate mail allegedly sent from Your Ward News to Toronto city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, Torontoist reported that as of 2015 Sears was merely an employee of the brokerage.

Pickup artist

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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. A voicemail purported to be training material from his courses regularly makes its way around the internet. [12]

Your Ward News

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File:New Constitution Party emblem.jpg
Logo of the New Constitution Party

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][13] 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".[13] On June 6, 2016, the Government of Canada ordered Canada Post to cease delivery of the paper.[14]

The newspaper continued to be distributed using private delivery services, and was investigated for hate crime.[15] 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."[16][17]

In November 2017, Sears and St. Germaine were each charged with two counts of willful promotion of hatred under the Criminal Code.[18] They were accused of promoting hatred against women and Jews.[19] Both were found guilty on January 24, 2019.[20] 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.[21] 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][21][22] On August 29, 2019, St. Germaine was sentenced to one year of house arrest.[5] While Sears and St. Germaine appealed the verdict, suggesting that their counsel was incompetent, a judge denied their appeal on June 14, 2021, sustaining the lower court's sentences. Sears was ordered to surrender himself that afternoon to begin serving his sentence.[23]

After being released on parole in 2021, Sears accepted a "free speech award" from white supremacist Paul Fromm.[8] In his videotaped acceptance speech, Sears theorized about the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada "if the Nazis were in charge", and called for the public execution of Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam.[8] Sears was arrested again on February 3, 2022, for violating his parole conditions.[8][24]

Political candidacies

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In the 2014 Toronto civic election, Sears was a city council candidate in Ward 32 and received 797 votes (roughly 3% of the vote).[25][26] 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.[27]

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).[28]

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.[29]

In 2018, he registered as a candidate for Mayor of Toronto in that year's election.[30] He finished with 680 votes, less than 1% of the total vote.[31]

Electoral record

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2014 Toronto election, Ward 32[32]
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[33][34]


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[35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ "@dimitrithelover" on Twitter
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  8. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  33. ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Beaches—East York, 30 September 2015
  34. ^ Elections Canada – Final Candidates Election Expenses Limits
  35. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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  • File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Quotations related to James Sears at Wikiquote
  • Website of the New Constitution Party

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