Caryma Sa'd

Sa'd was born to an Indian mother and a Palestinian father, and grew up in Mississauga, Ontario.^[1] She studied law at the University of Ottawa.^[3]

After articling in a Bay Street law firm, and working for Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP, Sa'd launched her own practice that specializes in criminal, housing, and cannabis law in 2017.^[1][4][5][6] She serves on the board of directors of Legal Line,^[1] and in 2019 ran unsuccessfully to be a bencher at the Law Society of Ontario, finishing in 28th place with 15.8% of the vote.^{[7][8][9][10]} She ran again in 2023 and came in 38th place with 8.6% of the vote.^[11]

In 2019, Sa'd represented tenants displaced by a fatal fire from 235 Gosford Boulevard apartment block in Toronto. She organized an open letter to Toronto Mayor John Tory, requesting him to block reoccupation of the building until air quality issues were addressed.^[12][13]

Also in 2019, Sa'd described Ontario's lottery system of providing retail cannabis licences as "unfair" because it excluded potential licensees based on luck, not experience or relevant skills.^[14] In 2021, she campaigned for the rights of small cannabis businesses, and criticized Facebook and Instagram for blocking their posts despite the legality of selling cannabis in Canada.^[15]

In 2021, Sa'd represented tenants who rented illegal apartments from Toronto landlord Brad J. Lamb, pushing for financial compensation for those evicted,^[16][17] and persuaded a judge to give more time to two tenants whose rent was delayed due to hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[18]

In 2023 Sa'd was herself the subject of an eviction order for her office premises in Toronto after she failed to show for her own hearing before the Landlord and Tenant Board.^[19]

Sa'd has commissioned cartoons that are critical of corporations, public figures, and politicians.^[1] Sa'd co-founded 420 Cannabis Court, a pop-up outdoor cannabis-friendly lounge that existed during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns and hosted live comedy acts.^[20] From March 2020 to October 2021 she was the executive director of the Canadian branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).^{[1][21][22][23]}

Throughout 2021, Sa'd documented and published footage of anti-vaccination and COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests in Toronto.^[24] In July 2021, she invited anti-lockdown activist Chris Sky to appear in front of an audience at her venue in Toronto's Chinatown for a live interview.^[25] A community group, Friends of Chinatown, and other tenants in the mall that the interview was to be held in urged her to cancel the event due to concerns for community safety.^[26] Sa'd refused the request but the event was cancelled nevertheless after proper precautions were not taken and community groups, residents and concerned parties showed up to protest Sky and police had to be called to break up a number of scuffles.^[27][28] In 2023, Sa'd sued the Canadian Anti-Hate Network due to circumstances surrounding the protests against the event and its cancellation. The action was dismissed on September 25, 2023 as having "no reasonable cause of action and therefore has no reasonable prospect of success" with Sa'd ordered to pay CAHN's legal costs.^[29]

In 2022, she spent weeks in Ottawa documenting the Canada convoy protest before live tweeting the bail hearings of Pat King and Tamara Lich.^[30]

Sa'd was arrested for trespassing by Ontario Provincial Police on May 26, 2022, as she tried to enter political rally for Doug Ford at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.^[31][32] Charges were dropped on November 8, 2022.^[33]

In December 2023, Sa'd filmed some Moxies workers in downtown Toronto who had stepped outside their restaurant to cheer on an anti-war, pro-Palestinian march during the Israel–Hamas war. The workers were later terminated by the company.^[34][35]

Sa'd's father died of COVID-19 in March 2021.^[30]