Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia hosts a new supper club and a podcast. (photo from JMABC)
The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia is launching two new programs celebrating the diversity of food traditions represented within the B.C. Jewish community. From all corners of the world, from Baghdad to Bangalore, Kiev to Cape Town, Jewish families have made a new home here, bringing with them a wealth of culinary traditions.
One of the programs, the Chosen Food Supper Club, will give guests the opportunity to try these foods and hear the stories behind them. Why do Syrian Jews eat leeks, Swiss chard and gourds on Rosh Hashanah? What are boerewors and bobotie? How do you prepare the ultimate chicken tagine? These mysteries and more will be solved (deliciously) at the supper club, which will take place over 10 evenings between April and September. Each dining experience will run from 5-8 p.m. on a Sunday evening. Guests will enjoy a complete dinner while hearing firsthand stories from members of the Jewish community. All meals are kosher-style, not certified kosher. Tickets are $40 per person per meal, and are available at jewishmuseum.ca/programs/the-chosen-food; they must be purchased in advance.
The JMABC’s other new program is The Kitchen Stories podcast.
When we talk about food, we often end up talking about so much more. Family traditions, patterns of migration, gender dynamics, our relationship to the land. More than just a source of nourishment, food is a means of communication. And, in The Kitchen Stories series, listeners will hear what it was like to be a Jewish family living in far-flung places such as Eritrea, Chile and India. They will hear about the pressures to fit in or stand out, and how food was often a means of doing both. They will hear about the difficulty of maintaining family culinary traditions after migrating to a new country.
Podcast episodes will include community members developing new traditions or reviving long-forgotten ones, a Jew by choice who is learning to cook Jewish cuisine while not wanting to forget her own family’s food traditions, and families adopting new traditions to strengthen their relationship to the land.
The 12-episode series will be available for download on the iTunes store, Google Play, Soundcloud and at jewishmuseum.ca.
Avi Zimmerman chose for Talk17 a format that would allow a speaker to share their stories and views uninterrupted. (photo from Avi Zimmerman)
There is a range of strong opinions when it comes to Jewish community development east of the Green Line. Many around the world refer to these Israeli communities as “settlements.” But, to Avi Zimmerman of the Ariel Foundation and many Israelis, Ariel is something else.
Zimmerman was born and raised in West Orange, N.J. He made aliyah in 1995 and served in the Israel Defence Forces. After earning a degree in occupational therapy at the Hebrew University and then working in the field for four years, he and his wife decided to move to Ariel. There, Zimmerman started up an aliyah program.
“I was then asked to run the Ariel Foundation, which is what I’ve been doing for the last eight years or so,” Zimmerman told the Independent. “The foundation is not only for raising funds for city projects, it also provides accurate information about the city of Ariel to an international public.”
Ariel will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2018. Established on Aug. 17, 1978, with 40 families, it is now a city of close to 20,000 residents, plus an additional 15,000 students studying at Ariel University.
Geographically, Ariel is east of Tel Aviv, past the Green Line. Given what he – and others – see as misinformation being spread about Jewish communities east of the Green Line, Zimmerman decided to share stories from the people actually living in the area and how local people feel about various issues.
To do this, Zimmerman copied a format that has worked very well for TED Talks on YouTube, and created Talk17.
“Our lives are not lived through a conflict lens, fortunately, nor are those of our Palestinian neighbours,” he explained. “Those elements possibly do exist. It’s not that they don’t exist. But, they are not the primary theme of the way life is lived here.
“If people are interested in what goes on here, I think it’s only fair to the international community to provide more accurate information – not in terms of stats or facts, although that’s part of it … [but] beyond that, in terms of the voices from the region.
“The concept is, instead of talking about us in a well-intentioned yet disenfranchising way, just listen to us and hear what we have to say.”
Zimmerman chose the TED Talk format because it is not confrontational, as are debates and as can be panel discussions. The format allows a presenter to tell their whole story without interruption.
“We want to give authentic voices an opportunity and a fair platform, so there’s no debate, no winners and losers, no questions and answers,” he explained. “There’s no objective right or wrong to that. It’s authentic…. I think, ultimately, people are interested in the breadth and depth of the story.
“There are a lot of people who like to live in what they are calling echo chambers … in a world where everybody says what they like to hear, and they de-friend you if you say something else. A lot of the world is just moving in that direction. But they are not our target audience. If you already know everything, we can’t convince you otherwise. You’re going to turn off the video when you hear something you don’t like and that will be the end of it. My target audience is authentic people. They actually care and are willing to listen to new ideas they’re not familiar with.”
While an 18-minute video is hard for some people to get through, Zimmerman has been finding that, organically, Talk17 has been successful by having speakers who are on the frontlines of change-making. He gave as an example an exchange he’d had just before his interview with the Jewish Independent – an artist had happened upon Talk17’s Facebook page and was very excited about the concept. The artist runs an organization that uses the arts as a form of intercultural dialogue and they and Zimmerman are now working on plans for an arts-themed program, including an exhibition, at the end of April.
“It was just a preliminary conversation today,” said Zimmerman. “But, the thing is, these are the kinds of people who can help us open new doors.”
Since starting Talk17, 90% of the views, as it happens, have been from Arab-speaking, self-identified Palestinians, said Zimmerman. “We’re reaching across the aisle,” he said. “There’s something very real to this.”
While Palestinians, Israelis and Canadians are open to listening to talks in languages other than English, Zimmerman has found that Americans are less willing to do so. Because of this, he has decided to stick with English for Talk17.
“We automatically limit ourselves to English-speakers,” he said. “They don’t have to be native English-speakers. We try to get a fair balance of Arab and Palestinian voices among the Jewish and Israeli voices. We try to get a fair balance of women and men.
“We try to find people that have a unique story … so, it’s not just a personal story, but there’s a new concept to it. If you follow the first videos we’ve been launching, you’ll see each story is very different. We’re also trying to work on themes, events with themes.”
He said an upcoming theme will be diplomatic options for the future. “For 50 years,” he said, “we’ve heard about the two-state solution, we’ve heard about it since the 1947 Partition Plan. But, the point is, it’s not going anywhere. So, people are saying that, if not that, then what? So, we want to examine that.”
Zimmerman hopes that, by the end of the process, he will have been able to create a video archive that people can access to deepen and broaden the conversation about the region, so they can realize there is more to the story than they thought from just reading a short article or hearing a news clip.
Zimmerman also hopes that, in the future, visitors to Israel will be more willing to venture out of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and will come visit Ariel to experience firsthand the beauty of the region and its people.
“We all need to remember that, regardless of the terms of the deal that one day will hopefully be reached between Israel and the Palestinians, and regardless of where the lines will be drawn, Jews and Arabs will be neighbours forever,” said Zimmerman. “With that in mind, we need to figure out how to work with them directly, and we’d appreciate it if the world would allow us to do so, by appreciating the dynamics between us … by having this window into our interactions.
“However, the objective of Talk17 is not for me to have a better relationship with my Palestinian neighbour. That’s an added value … something we do anyway. We don’t need Talk17 for me to meet with my friend on Wednesday. We need Talk17 for the relationship between the Israelis and the international community, and the Palestinians and the international community.”
The replica of the Ma’agan Michael ship took its first voyage on March 17, near where the original vessel was discovered in 1985 by Ami Eshel, a member of Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, some 70 metres from the kibbutz. Organized by the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority, the replica has been built over the past two years, using the same materials and methods as 2,500 years ago. The ship was removed from the water in 1988, and is on display at the university’s Hecht Museum. Most of it had been covered in sand, so the keel, numerous wooden plates, 14 crossbars and the base of the mast were all preserved, offering researchers rare insight into the method used to construct the ship. In addition, a carpenter’s toolbox was found, which sparked the dream of building a replica using the same methods as the original shipwrights. After two year’s work, the project was completed and the replica was taken to Israel Shipyards and then to Kishon Harbour. Prof. Yaacov Kahanov, the leading spirit behind the project, passed away just before the work was finished. (Edgar Asher)
פלילים כמו כמו בסרטים 1: שוטר שנקרא לאירוע פלילי באונטריו רקד מול המצלמה
בדרך כלל שוטרים לא גורמים לאזרחים להרגיש בנוח והם מעדיפים להתרחק מהם עד כמה שאפשר. בוודאי שאף אחד לא מצפה שלובשי המדים המפחידים ירקדו ככה סתם ברחובות. אך מתברר שמה שקורה בדרך כלל רק בסרטים, קרה באחד הרחובות הסמוכים לקמפוס של המכון הטכנולוגי של אונטריו, במרכז העיר אושווה.
המשטרה הוזעקה על ידי אחד מהתושבים המקומיים שדיווח על מריבה אלימה מרובת משתתפים באחד הרחובות. השוטר ששמו ג’רוד סין, נהג במהירות למקום בניידת שלו מלווה כרגיל במקרים שכאלה, עם תאורה מהבהבת וסירנה. הוא החנה את הרכב בצד רחוב וכשיצא ממנו במהירות הבחין בבחור צעיר שזז בצורה מוזרה, מתחת לתאורת הרחוב, ומסביבו מתגודדים מספר גדול של צעירים סקרנים. לאחר כמה שניות של אבחנה קלט סין שלא מדובר בכלל באירוע אלים, אלא שהצעיר פשוט רוקד בסגנון היפ פופ וחבריו עומדים סביבו ומסתכלים, ואחד מהם אף מצלם אותו במצלמת וידאו.
סין שלמד לרקוד בתקופה כשהוא היה סטודנט, לא התבלבל לרגע והצטרף אל הצעיר ורקד עימו, אל מול הצעירים הנדהמים שליוו אותו במחיאות כפיים סוערות. לאחר שסיימו לרקוד והצעיר התחבק עם השוטר והודה לו, הוא הסביר את הרקע למעשיו: “אני סטודנט מהמכון הטכנולוגי המקומי שמתאמן בימים אלה לתחרות ריקודים חשובה מאוד. כן. אני רוצה לזכות בה”. אחד מחבריו העלה לרשתות החברתיות בהן יוטוב ופייסבוק את סרטון הווידאו של השוטר היפ פופ הרוקד עם הסטודנט, שזכה איך לא לצפיות רבות מאוד.
פלילים כמו בסרטים 2: בן 14 צבר כבר ארבעה עשרה הרשעות בדומה לגנגסטר
ילד בן 14 נמצא בדרך הנכונה והבטוחה לקריירה של גנגסטר אלים. הוא הספיק לצבור כבר לא פחות מ-14 הרשעות רק בשנה האחרונה. השופט במשפטו האחרון דיבר אליו ישירות ואמר לו בצורה ברורה: “אתה רק בן 14 ומדבר ממש כמו גנגסטר. מה טוב בזה. אין שום זוהר בחייהם של הגנגסטרים. אילו הם אנשים שנמצאים בצרות צרורות. אל תשכח זאת”.
הילד (שהמשטרה לא מפרסמת את שמו מפאת גילו הצעיר) מקמלופס נשפט בבית המשפט המחוזי בעיר, לאחר שממש איים לירות באחד מחבריו. הוא לא פחד לכתוב בדף הפייסבוק שלו את הדברים הבאים נגד אותו חבר: “באמת שלא אכפת לי אם יקח לשוטרים מספר חודשים למצוא אותי. אני אהרוג אותך לפני שאתפס על ידי כוחות המשטרה”. הילד המאויים שחשש לחייו טען בחקירתו במשטרה, כי חברו שאיים להרוג אותו נושא אקדח כל הזמן. הוא אף מאמין שהוא משתייך גם לאחת מכנופיות פשע של אזור קמלופס.
עורך דינו של הנאשם ציין במשפט כי מרשו פשוט כעס מאוד על חברו, שדיבר בגנות אמו. וכן הוא סובל מעת לעת מהתפרצויות כעס. עורך הדין הציע לשופט שהנאשם יבצע עבודות שירות לטובת הקהילה המקומית וכך ילמד את הלקח לעתיד. השופט חשב אחרת ולא קיבל את הצעת הסנגור של הילד. הוא החליט להטיל על נאשם מעצר בית למשך שבעים וחמישה יום תחת פיקוח הדוק בשעות הלילה. בנוסף הוא אסר עליו להחזיק בנשק וכן אסר עליו לבוא במגע עם הילד שהוא איים עליו. עם תום מעצר הבית הילד יהיה בפיקוח קצין מבחן במשך שמונה עשר חודשים. השופט הוסיף וציין עוד כי אם הילד המסוכן יפר את תנאי העונש שנקבעו לו הוא ישלח הישר לכלא, ממש כמו גנגסטר.
Adeena Karasick has donated her archive to the Collection of Contemporary Literature at Simon Fraser University’s Bennett Library. (photo from Adeena Karasick)
Critically acclaimed poet and Vancouver native Adeena Karasick was in her hometown last month to celebrate the donation of her archive to Simon Fraser University.
The Collection of Contemporary Literature at SFU’s Bennett Library contains one of the biggest selections of avant-garde poetry in North America. “The collection has been building since 1965,” said Tony Power, the librarian-curator who oversaw the addition of Karasick’s works. “The collection features many of the poets whose tradition Karasick is associated with, such as Michael McClure and Robin Blaser. Karasick was influenced by her teacher, Warren Tallman, who also influenced, for example, Fred Wah, George Bowering and Daphne Marlatt. These are all poets who are featured in the Bennett Library collection.
“Karasick has a very high profile for a poet,” Powers added, “and a certain amount of notoriety for her more daring works.”
Karasick told the Jewish Independent that the Feb. 23 event, in which her personal notebooks became, in effect, public artifacts, was “surreal.”
“I was honoured to be included in this collection, one of the greatest collections in North America of contemporary poets and avant-garde renegades, provocateurs and risk-taking challengers of esthetics,” she said.
Karasick, whose work has been called “beautiful linguistic carnage” by Word Magazine, specializes in non-narrative, intimate works that are most concerned with the play of language itself.
“I am interested in using language to create different effects of meaning production, highlighting language as a physical, material, construct. Play, jouissance [delight], as Jew-essence,” she explained with a smile.
Karasick regularly plays with Jewish themes in her work, whether it’s the invocation of the Kotel (a wall made of words in more ways than one) at the heart of Dyssemia Sleaze, or the Hebrew letter mem, which inspires Mêmewars.
“In the kabbalah, the world is created through language,” she said. “That’s also the way I view things.”
Karasick’s speech is peppered with words like “intervention,” “transgression,” “disruption,” “nomadicism” and “vagrancy.” She aims, she explained, to “destabilize and subvert linguistic power structures with the hope of instigating new ways of seeing. My poetry uses playfulness and celebrates a sense of creative homelessness, a mashing up of poetry, critical theory and visuality.”
Asked how she felt about being a postmodern artist whose work has been called “an impressive deconstruction of language and meaning” by Canadian Literature, in an age where the American president, it could be said, was much maligned for engaging in similar activity, she pointed to Jewish postmodern philosopher Emanuel Levinas (1906-1995).
“I’m not saying there’s no truth. There is truth. There is what happened,” she said. “The search for the truth cannot be solitary or uniperspectival though, and cannot be an imposition of ‘the truth’ on others in a totalitarian way. Levinas said that truth itself arises out of discourse … it rests in the ethical relation between people, where a search for the truth can take place. Truth requires humility and multiplicity.”
Born in Winnipeg, Karasick’s family moved to Vancouver when she was six months old, and she grew up here. She had her bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth Israel and was very much a part of the local Jewish community. She went to the University of British Columbia for her undergraduate degree, did her master’s at York in Toronto and her doctorate at Concordia, in Montreal, in “French feminist post-structural theory and kabbalistic hermeneutics.”
Karasick now teaches at Pratt Institute in New York and is enjoying a growing distinction as one of the premier avant-garde poets of her generation. She is becoming known for her innovative use of video as well as the printed page.
In 2018, Karasick will release a new book, Alephville, a poem composed of faux Facebook updates. “I was un-nerved by the timing,” she said, referencing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, “by the fact that it is basically a poem composed of ‘alternative facts.’”
Also next year, Karasick will debut her “spoken-word opera” Salomé: Woman of Valour, a feminist reinterpretation of the biblical character. She co-wrote the piece with Grammy Award-winning musician Frank London of the Klezmatics. They met through KlezKanada, an annual klezmer camp that has been meeting in the Laurentians for 20 years, the poetry division of which Karasick has been director for the last six years.
Karasick wrote the libretto for Salomé: Woman of Valour and London composed the music, an original score that blends Arabic, klezmer, jazz and bhangra. The nomadic and subversive piece will première at next year’s Chutzpah! Festival.
Matthew Gindinis a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He writes regularly for the Forward and All That Is Interesting, and has been published in Religion Dispatches, Situate Magazine, Tikkun and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.
The following joint statements were issued by the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. They can be read in full at jewishvancouver.com, where readers can also find out more about the community’s security initiatives. On March 14, JCCGV, Federation and the Centre for Jewish and Israel Affairs announced that the Government of British Columbia will provide $100,000 to fund security infrastructure at Jewish community institutions.
March 12:
At approximately 9 a.m. … Sunday, March 12th, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) received another email bomb threat – the second in less than a week. The JCC followed its security protocols and evacuated the building. The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) was on site and cleared the building, which [was] reopened [the same day]. Other community institutions have been alerted.
Both bomb threats remain under investigation by the VPD, who had already increased their patrols of Jewish community institutions last week. We would like to thank the VPD again for their immediate response, their concern for public safety and their ongoing support.
Anytime a threat is received we take it very seriously, and we encourage you to stay vigilant. If you see something suspicious, say something….
March 7:
At approximately 9 p.m., Tuesday, March 7th, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) received an email bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax. While there was never a real threat to personal safety, we take all matters concerning security very seriously – in fact, the JCC had just conducted a drill last week. When the email was received, JCC followed their established protocols and evacuated the building without incident. It was after regular building hours and so offices and services were closed, however, there was a concert taking place in the theatre at the time.
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) conducted a thorough search of the building and declared the building safe to be reopened…. The incident remains under investigation by VPD, and we will continue to work closely with them. We would like to extend our appreciation to the VPD for their immediate response and concern for public safety.
False alarms such as this are a good reminder to us all to stay vigilant, and we are taking the following extra precautions: we have asked VPD to step up their patrols of Jewish community institutions; we have notified all Jewish community organizations and advised them to ensure they have updated protocols in place; [and] Jewish Federation’s Community Security Advisory Committee is staying on top of the situation and will update Jewish community organizations as needed.
We remain committed to working together to keep Jewish community institutions safe and welcoming places where you and your family can feel comfortable taking part in community activities.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) lauded the House of Commons’ March 8 passage of a private member’s bill to prevent genetic discrimination, which survived a last-minute push by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to oppose it on jurisdictional grounds.
Bill S-201, which was put to a free vote, passed 220-60, with dozens of Liberals joining the Conservatives, NDP and Green Party in support of the legislation. It now goes to the Senate for technical amendments and is expected to become law by the spring.
The bill was introduced by former senator James Cowan and spearheaded through the House by Liberal MP Rob Oliphant. It is designed to prevent insurance companies and employers from denying coverage and employment to people who have a genetic predisposition to various illnesses. It also prohibits any person from requiring an individual to undergo a genetic test or to disclose the results of a genetic test as a condition of providing goods or services or entering into or continuing a contract. The enactment amends the Canada Labour Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act.
The Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness (CCGF), which had been lobbying for a change to the law for six years, applauded its passage. “It’s a good day because of the vote. It’s been a long time coming,” said Bev Heim-Myers, chair of the 18-member CCGF and chief executive officer of the Huntington Society of Canada.
People have been denied rental accommodations, insurance coverage and have been let go from jobs because of concerns they might one day contract serious diseases. “Many people are refusing to get a genetic test for fear of discrimination,” but the benefits of testing can be substantial, leading to early diagnosis, prevention in some cases and early, targeted treatment, she said.
CIJA, a member of CCGF, also applauded the vote. The bill’s passage is “a milestone in protecting the health and well-being of all Canadians,” said CIJA chair David Cape. “Everyone should feel comfortable to take potentially lifesaving genetic tests without fear of punitive consequences.
“As this is an issue of overlapping federal-provincial responsibility, we encourage the provinces to bring forward complementary legislation to provide full protection against genetic discrimination for all Canadians,” he added.
Trudeau opposed the bill on constitutional grounds, arguing that, by regulating insurance companies, the bill was intruding into areas that come under provincial jurisdiction.
Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault introduced motions to remove several of the bill’s sections that arguably were areas of interest to the provinces, but those amendments were rejected. Prior to the vote, he told the House that the federal government had received letters from the governments of Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia voicing concern that the bill infringed on provincial jurisdiction on regulating contracts and on the provision of goods and services. However, a House committee that studied the bill heard from constitutional lawyers who said it did not intrude on provincial jurisdiction.
Noah Shack, CIJA’s director of policy, said the Jewish community in particular should benefit from the new law. Once enacted, “It’s something that will save lives,” he said.
Ashkenazi Jewish women have a greater chance of carrying a mutated BRCA gene than women in the general population, giving them an increased risk of developing breast cancer or cervical cancer; men carrying the gene have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. Because of concerns they might be turned down for insurance, people refrain from getting tested for the mutation, increasing the chances they won’t take preventive measures to address the disease, Shack said. “It creates a disincentive for getting tested in the first place.”
Heim-Myers said that, after the bill passes, CCGF’s efforts will turn to the provinces, which will be urged to amend their human rights laws to prevent genetic discrimination.
Igor Sadikov, the McGill University student under fire for his “punch a Zionist today” tweet more than a month ago, resigned his remaining student government post, thereby preempting a vote by his peers on his removal.
On March 8, Sadikov stepped down from his position as arts representative on the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) legislative council, a day before that body was set to debate a motion to impeach him. The action was “for impropriety and for violation of the provisions of the [SSMU] constitution” related to the tweet.
Sadikov cited “personal reasons related to mental health” for his decision to go. On Feb. 23, when the council motion was tabled, the third-year mathematics and political science student resigned from the SSMU board of directors, claiming pressure was being exerted by the university administration. He has not elaborated on his departure, and even the McGill Daily, of which he is a former news editor and frequent contributor, could not reach him for comment. He also didn’t comment about the resignation on his social media accounts.
It was on his personal Twitter account on Feb. 6 that Sadikov posted the infamous tweet, for which he apologized, calling it an ill-considered joke. While he is anti-Zionist, Sadikov described himself as Jewish and noted that his parents are Zionists, and he vowed to gain a better understanding of differing views on the political philosophy.
Nevertheless, pro-Israel groups on and off campus continued to call for his ouster, decrying the tweet as hateful and an incitement to violence, and they were unconvinced Sadikov had shown true remorse.
Both the Daily and another student newspaper, the McGill Tribune, reported that Sadikov’s March 8 resignation came days after allegations that he had been psychologically abusive in a relationship with another McGill student.
The day following his resignation, SSMU president Ben Ger resigned, citing personal reasons. Two other directors have also left. At press time, the SSMU was in the midst of executive elections.
On Feb. 22, the Arts Undergraduate Society voted not to oust Sadikov, while, nine days prior, the board of directors defeated an impeachment motion, but did formally censure Sadikov. On Feb. 15, following a meeting convened by McGill principal Suzanne Fortier, the SSMU executive “recommended” that Sadikov stand down.
Meanwhile, names continue to be added to an online petition demanding that Sadikov be expelled from McGill for incitement to violence. It was launched last month by Montrealer Murray Levine, who identifies himself as an activist and fundraiser who attended McGill.
By March 10, there were more than 2,000 signatures. The majority appear to be from outside the McGill community. Levine said that, when 3,000 names are collected, the petition will be presented to Fortier.
In June 2016, it became legal in Canada for a doctor or nurse practitioner to assist someone with their death, as long as they meet certain criteria under the law.
“We’ve been providing this service here ever since,” said Dr. Stefanie Green, who lives and practices in Victoria. “I am one of the medical-assistance-in-dying providers here in British Columbia. Before that, I was primarily a maternity doctor for 20 years, where I took care of babies and newborns.”
As it happened, the Jewish Independent caught up with Green at the end of a day she spent doing circumcisions. The doctor explained that she finds it uniquely interesting dealing with both the beginning and end of life. “There are a lot of similarities to me,” she said. “There’s a lot of overlap in terms of the emotion and skills involved.”
Growing up in Halifax and then doing her medical training in Montreal, Green made her way west almost 15 years ago.
Helping patients die on their own terms has been an increasing part of her practice, with about 70% of people choosing to end their lives at home, and the rest in a care home or hospital.
Medical assistance in dying is only available to people who meet specific criteria in Canada. These criteria include:
The patient needs to be an adult, over the age of 18.
The patient doesn’t have to be a Canadian citizen, but they must be eligible for Canadian health-care insurance.
Patients need to be suffering from what is considered a grievous and irremediable condition; for example, a serious illness, disease or disability in an advanced state that is irreversible, causing unbearable suffering, and, ultimately, leading to the person’s natural death in the foreseeable future.
The request needs to be made voluntarily; there can be no coercion by family, doctors or anyone else. It has to come directly from the patient and be made by the patient when she/he is capable mentally of doing so.
“If someone is interested, they have to make the request,” said Green. “There’s a specific form in every province that has to be filled out … that has to be witnessed as a legal document.
“Once the request is made legally, then someone like myself – a physician or nurse practitioner – would do an assessment with them, with the family, with the family doctor or specialist, with their records, and make sure they meet the criteria.”
If satisfied at this point, a second assessment is conducted by someone else. Only if both assessments find that the patient meets the criteria, can the patient then be considered eligible and have the power to give the go-ahead if they so choose.
The law stipulates a 10-day waiting period after the request is made before the procedure can happen, unless there are very specific circumstances that require it be otherwise. The procedure itself can be done in one of two ways.
The patients themselves can administer the medication by drinking a liquid the doctor or nurse practitioner provides. The mixture is made by a pharmacy, picked up by the doctor or nurse practitioner, and given to the patient. The nurse practitioner or doctor stands by to ensure all goes smoothly. “It’s not the tastiest of drinks and takes about an hour-and-a-half to be complete,” said Green.
The other option, which more people in Canada are currently choosing, is the physician-administered route. In this case, the doctor picks up the medicine from the pharmacy and brings it to the patient wherever they are. The physician administers it intravenously into an arm and the process takes about 15 minutes.
In the IV procedure, it is a mixture of medications. The first medication is an anti-anxiety medication to relax the patient. Due to its strength, it causes most patients to fall into a light sleep. The second medication is a local anesthetic used to numb the vein being used in order to avoid the chance that it could irritate the patient when the rest of the medication is administered. The third medication moves the patient from a light sleep into a deep sleep and then coma. Many people pass away during that sleep, but not always. The fourth medication paralyzes the body, so if anything is moving, like the respiratory muscles, it will be stopped. The heart will stop soon thereafter.
According to Green, there are a number of countries around the world that have some form of a medical-assistance-in-dying (MAID) team, but Canada is one of only four countries that allows both the patient-administered and physician-administered options.
“I think we allowed it and pushed forward on the law because Canadians feel very strongly that this is a very humane act,” said Green. “It’s something they want to have available.
“What our Supreme Court has decided is that this is actually a constitutional right of Canadians for this care. This is the ability of a physician or nurse practitioner to help someone who wants to end their life at the very end of their life, and who needs help to do so. That’s what this is – a very humane, peaceful and dignified act.
“I think the last poll I saw, 87% of the Canadian public supports this kind of care. I think that this is very respectful of the idea of patient autonomy. That’s what drives this.
“I think that, from an ethical point of view, as a physician, I have the duty to help heal people and to do the best I can to promote healthy life. At the same time, I’m also bound to reduce suffering. There’s a bit of a dichotomy there as a physician. In Canada, the law is reflective of the right of the patient; it’s not about the conflicted duty of the physician.”
From a Jewish perspective, Green does not anticipate any issue from the community. So far, she has done one case within the Jewish community (of a total of 31) and has not had any trouble.
At the time of her interview with the Independent, the MAID program had overseen two to three percent of all deaths on Vancouver Island over the previous six to eight months.
“People ask me a lot about how I feel about this work and what it’s like to do this work,” said Green. “I just want to stress that I do really believe this is a deep privilege to be involved in this care. I feel like I’m helping people. I find it very rewarding at the end.
“I don’t do it for the reward,” she said, “but have been absolutely overwhelmed by the gratitude expressed by the patients I work with and their families. It’s been surprising to me, the extent of that. I want people to know that the service is available and that it’s legal. There are people out there willing to provide this care, and I think it’s a great step forward in Canada. I’m very proud of the work I do.”
Israel’s Knesset last week passed legislation against the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, representing just one of several setbacks this month for BDS around the world.
The Israeli bill, which passed its third and final reading with a 46-28 vote, grants the interior minister authority to deny entry visas to non-Israeli citizens who actively support boycotts of the Jewish state.
Conveying the rationale for the anti-BDS measure, Member of Knesset David Amsalem (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Interior Committee, said that, “if someone demeans me, I do not let them into my home.” Responding to critics of the legislation, Amsalem said the new law is not intended to stifle free speech, but was implemented to combat antisemitism and enemies of the Jewish state. These opponents of Israel, he said, “are not talking about boycotting only the settlements; they are talking about boycotting the state as a state, without any distinction. We are talking about antisemites here.”
One of the bill’s initiators, MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), expressed similar sentiments, saying, “In recent years, a new antisemitic front has been initiated against Israel. Our enemies carry out a campaign to delegitimize and boycott Israel. Banning BDS supporters that come here to harm us from within is the minimum we can do against those Israel-haters.”
Left-wing Knesset members and several American Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Reform and Reconstructionist movements, were highly critical of the new anti-BDS law. MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) said the law “is against freedom of expression” and “is meant to silence people.” The American Jewish lobby group J Street claimed the law “damages Israel’s democracy and helps the BDS movement.” The American Jewish Committee said it is “troubled” by the legislation.
Despite the controversy, Israel’s new law represents just one of several recent setbacks for the global BDS movement….