News – Page 58

Provincial campuses roiling

On Nov. 1, about 200 Jewish students and their supporters engaged in a low-key demonstration at the University of British Columbia, with many holding posters of kidnapped Israelis. Since the terror attacks of Oct. 7 and the start of the Israel-Hamas war, universities and colleges worldwide have been hotbeds of conflict. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Jewish students and their supporters at the University of British Columbia celebrated a victory last week after the student government overwhelmingly rejected motions that critics say were openly antisemitic.

The Alma Mater Society (AMS), which represents UBC students, voted in the early hours of Feb. 29 not to include a number of referendum questions on the ballot during upcoming student elections.

One proposed question accused Israel of genocide and called for an end to UBC’s exchanges with Israeli institutions. It would have also invited students to vote on whether they believe Hillel BC, the organization that has represented Jewish students, faculty and staff at the university since 1947, should be evicted from campus. (Hillel’s lease is with the university and the AMS has no jurisdiction over whether Hillel does or does not remain on campus.) This question was rejected by a vote of 23 to 2.

A second proposed referendum question would have asked students to massively revamp the governing structure of the AMS, adding dozens of additional elected representatives of marginalized groups. The change would have assigned designated groups representation on student government, including the Social Justice Centre, UBC Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, UBC Trans Coalition, Black Student Union, Indigenous students, and the Women’s Centre. Explicitly excluded from representation were Jewish students and groups that represent them. This proposal was rejected 25-0.

Referendum questions can be submitted anonymously, so it is not known from which individuals or groups these proposals emerged, though they had support from the Social Justice Centre, which calls itself “a resource group that works toward progressive social change, inclusivity and equity through a survivor-centric, harm-reduction, radical, feminist, decolonial, anti-oppression framework.”

“I was very pleased and relieved that the AMS leadership chose not to include what I would say are very antisemitic referendum questions on the student voting ballots,” Rob Philipp, executive director of Hillel BC, told the Independent. The intention of the proposed ballot question was to intimidate Jewish students and the vote is a reassurance to Jewish students, he said. “It’s surprising that it took them close to five hours to discuss this. But the vote, in the end, was pretty overwhelming to turn it down, so that was very heartening for us.”

A few hours later, across town at Simon Fraser University, referendum results were announced, with an anti-Israel ballot question receiving overwhelming support. The compendious policy, adopted by the Simon Fraser Student Society in 2022, was put to a vote by the broader student population, endorsing the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign and repeating the boilerplate condemnations of Zionism as “a colonial ideology” bent on “ethnically cleansing the Indigenous population.”

The referendum question passed 1,801-442 and, while the statement of results did not indicate percentage turnout, there are around 40,000 students at SFU. It appears perhaps one in 20 students voted in the elections, in which a new president was elected with a tally of 878 votes.

These are just two of the foremost fires the Jewish community has been attempting to put out on campuses across the province recently. Universities and colleges worldwide have been hotbeds of conflict since the atrocities of Oct. 7 and the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas. Administrators have struggled to balance preservation of free speech with often dangerously inflammatory, sometimes clearly antisemitic expressions. The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University were forced to resign after their remarks before a congressional hearing late last year were viewed as insufficiently condemnatory of overt calls for violence against Jews.

Philipp emphasized that postsecondary administrators in British Columbia have all been supportive of the Jewish community’s concerns – the administrations are not where the problems are coming from, although they are inevitably placed in the middle of these dramatic conflicts.

At Langara College, a months-long controversy over the fate of Natalie Knight, an English instructor who called the Oct. 7 mass murder of Israeli civilians “an amazing, brilliant offensive,” may not be over. Knight was put on leave while the college undertook an internal investigation. She returned to work, albeit in a non-instructional role, after the investigation determined her comments were “not clearly outside the bounds of protected expression.” She then spoke at a rally on campus, where she declared: “I’ve been reinstated as an instructor with no disciplinary actions, which means we won. It means we won. It means I did nothing wrong.”

Knight was then fired. While not mentioning her by name, the college said that an employee had engaged “in activities contrary to the expectations laid out by the college and as a result this employee is no longer an employee.” Her union has taken up her case.

Philipp commended Langara’s president, Dr. Paula Burns, for her leadership.

At Emily Carr University of Art and Design, some instructors have encouraged students to leave classes to attend pro-Palestinian rallies, and what Philipp calls “very, very aggressive posters” have appeared on campus. Hillel has been in conversation with administrators there.

“They understand the issue and they are in process right now of making changes to help protect the student body,” said Philipp.

“All our relationships are pretty strong,” he said of administrators at the many institutions at which Hillel BC has a presence, adding that he was recently in Victoria and had dinner with the president of the University of Victoria.

“These administrators,” he said, “are encountering very, very challenging situations that are really stressing their organizations at different levels. Nobody’s able to figure out exactly how to handle these very tricky situations.”

Hillel is also dealing with a lawsuit from the Social Justice Centre, about which they are unable to speak publicly except to say that an independent contractor, not acting on behalf of the organization, participated in the distribution of contentious stickers around the UBC campus. Hillel terminated its relationship with the contractor but is facing a case that attempts to hold the organization responsible.

These are not easy times for Jewish students, but, in some cases, individuals are finding resources they did not know they have.

Rachel Seguin, a graduate of Vancouver Talmud Torah elementary and King David High School and a second-year psychology student at UBC, has become an accidental activist.

“Since Oct. 7, I’ve seen a new part of me that I didn’t even know existed – neither did my parents, honestly,” she said. The anti-Israel actions of the Social Justice Centre and the repeated stonewalling by the AMS in response to her complaints have driven Seguin to become a public voice against antisemitism on campus, including addressing the council last week in opposition to the referendum proposals.

“I didn’t imagine myself doing something like that,” she said. The fact that the AMS did what Seguin believes is the right thing was, she said, “really refreshing and satisfying.”

Tri-Cities Chabad Siyyum Sefer Torah on March 10

Moshe Denburg, founder of the musical ensemble Tzimmes. (photo from Tzimmes)

Tzimmes will take part in the Siyyum Sefer Torah celebration of Tri-Cities Chabad, as the community marks the completion of a Sefer Torah on March 10, 2:30 p.m., at Old Orchard Hall in Port Moody.

Rabbi Mottel Gurevitz, the driving force behind this year-long project and the spiritual leader of Tri-Cities Chabad, expressed the significance of completing a Torah: “The completion of a Sefer Torah is a monumental occasion in the Jewish tradition. It represents the unity of our community, the passing on of our heritage to future generations and the commitment to our shared values. It is a symbol of strength, resilience and continuity.”

– information from Tri-Cities Chabad

Call for human “books” – share your lived experience with community members

(image from dirtdaubber.wordpress.com)

Do you defy a stereotype? Have you faced prejudice or stigma in your life? Do you have unique life experience, or a story to tell? Apply now to be a human book for the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library’s Human Library event on Sunday, April 7, and share your lived experience with others.

The Human Library originates in Denmark and has spread across the globe. The program is based on the idea of “unjudging” others, and seeks to challenge our preconceived notions of people through conversation.

The local Sunday event will run from noon to 4 p.m. Community members will come in and ask to take out certain “books,” meaning they’ll have the opportunity to have a conversation with certain volunteers. To give an example, the library currently has three volunteer books and their titles are “Child Holocaust Survivor,” “Brain Cancer Survivor” and “Police Officer,” which indicates the facet of their lived experience/identity that they are willing to talk about. Each volunteer can expect to have four to seven sessions with “borrowers,” either one-on-one or in small groups. There will be a lot of breaks and snacks, and volunteer books are empowered to decline talking about anything that makes them uncomfortable. There will be a training session prior to the event to help everyone prepare.

A Human Library is a way for people to reach out and connect with individuals in their community with whom they might not normally engage. Human Libraries promote tolerance, celebrate differences and encourage understanding of people who come from varied cultural or lifestyle backgrounds.

Apply to be a human book at bit.ly/WaldmanHumanLibrary2024 within a few days of March 8. Email any questions to library@jccgv.bc.ca.

– Courtesy Waldman Library

A creator of unique places

You may not know his name, but you certainly know his work. Vancouver Jewish architect Richard Henriquez has designed iconic local buildings including Eugenia Place in English Bay (the one with the pin oak on its penthouse terrace), the Sylvia Tower, the Sinclair Centre and the BC Cancer Research Centre. He designed New Westminster’s Justice Institute of BC, the UBC Michael Smith Laboratory, the UBC Recreation Centre and the Presidio. And that’s just scratching the surface of his 53 years of work in Vancouver, and well beyond.

photo - Richard Henriquez — Richard Henriquez *(photo from Richard Henriquez)*

Henriquez, 83, was born in Jamaica in 1941. That same year, his father, Alfred George Henriques, aware of the danger facing the Jews of Europe, joined the Royal Air Force as a bomber pilot. He did not survive the war.

One of Richard Henriquez’s earliest childhood memories is of a powerful hurricane that brought wind speeds of 150 miles per hour, devastating Jamaica’s north coast. At the time, the 3-year-old Henriquez was living on the north coast with his mother, grandmother and sister. “I still remember the sound of the metal roofing being torn off the roof, the screaming of the wind and the crashing of crockery being blown off the kitchen shelves,” he told the Independent. “The next morning, there were fish all over the yard and trees flattened everywhere.”

With their family home ruined, Henriquez and his sister joined their grandparents on a citrus plantation in Greenwood, Jamaica. Later, they moved to Buff Bay, to a new home with their mother and stepfather. Henriquez attended boarding school and Hebrew school in Jamaica. “Over the High Holy Days, I’d go to synagogue but I was never very religious,” he said.

By age 10, Henriquez had already decided on a career in architecture, a choice influenced by his grand-uncle Dossie, an architect, engineer and artist who would take him along on building visits. Rudolph “Dossie” Henriques, whose firm was Henriques and Sons, had designed the Kingston synagogue in 1912, after the original was destroyed by a 1907 earthquake. He also won a competition to design and build Jamaica’s Ward Theatre in 1912, and worked on the structural drawings for New York City’s Grand Central Terminal.

In 1958, after graduating from high school, Richard Henriquez left Jamaica to study architecture at the University of Manitoba. He returned to Jamaica after graduation and spent a couple of years working there before returning to North America to do a master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967. He then settled in Vancouver.

“My wife, Carol, is from Saskatoon, and she didn’t love Jamaica. She preferred to come back to Canada,” said Henriquez, whose time in Jamaica had a lifelong influence on his architectural style.

“In Jamaica, materials are expensive and labour is cheap, so I tend to want to renovate rather than tear down a house,” he explained. “I think that’s much more interesting than creating a new building. Later on in my career, I designed a couple of buildings that look like they were built a long time ago and renovated, like the Sylvia Tower in the West End.”

His talent as an architect has won Henriquez many accolades. In 1994, he won a Governor General’s Medal. In 2005, he won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s gold medal. And, in 2017, he received an Order of Canada for his contribution to Canadian architecture.

“To me, architecture is about creating a unique place in the world,” he reflected. “Unlike West Coast modernists, who were inspired by light and connection to the outdoors, I was more interested in the specificity of a site, in researching the history of a site and incorporating it into the concept for a building.”

photo - Richard Henriquez’s Eugenia Place, in English Bay, is topped with a 35-foot pin oak, brought to Vancouver from Oregon, representing a first-growth forest that covered the area decades ago — Richard Henriquez’s Eugenia Place, in English Bay, is topped with a 35-foot pin oak, brought to Vancouver from Oregon, representing a first-growth forest that covered the area decades ago. *(photo by Andrew Bowden / flickr)*

The Eugenia is a perfect example of Henriquez’s respect for the specific history and culture of a community. That 35-foot pin oak, brought to Vancouver from Oregon, represents a first-growth forest that covered the area decades ago. By incorporating it into the building, he paid homage to the landscape.

Henriquez’s son Gregory has followed in his footsteps and works alongside him at Henriquez Partners Architects in Vancouver, where Gregory Henriquez is overseeing the Oakridge Park complex in Vancouver, valued at over $5 billion. Richard Henriquez’s grandson is completing a master’s degree at the University of Toronto and will soon be joining the firm as the newest architect in the family.

Among his varied works, Henriquez designed Vancouver’s Temple Sholom Synagogue and, at one time, he had hoped to build something in Jerusalem, a goal that now seems remote.

These days, there are many projects competing for his time. A man keenly interested in genealogy, he traced his family history back more than 12 generations to Portugal, learning that his eighth-great-grandmother, Anna Rodriguez, was burned at the stake in 1643. He’s working on his second book on that family history, while also devoting time to art and sculpture, lifelong passions. Some of his work was on display at the Monica Reyes Gallery in Vancouver last month.

To learn more about Henriquez’s work, watch the 30-minute documentary Richard Henriquez: Building Stories on Shelter, an architecture streaming service. Commissioned by Marcon Developments, it celebrates his 53rd year of work in Vancouver and beyond. Also interesting to peruse is henriquezpartners.com/work.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.

Selina Robinson’s resignation letter to the BC NDP caucus: You broke my heart…. Silence is not leadership – it’s cowardice.

My colleagues,

You broke my heart – not just on February 5 when the Premier told me that after the caucus talked about me he did not see a way back, that folks were wondering why I hadn’t already resigned and that the only path forward was a resignation. Resigning was not my choice but I told the Premier that if this was what he wanted and what caucus wanted I wouldn’t fight him on it – but let’s be clear – others asked for my resignation, so I gave it.

You actually broke my heart in the days after October 7 – the day terrorists went into Israel and brutally murdered, slaughtered, raped, mutilated, killed and kidnapped 1,200 civilians. These terrorists didn’t target the military, they killed children, concert goers, grandmothers, peace activists and a young British Columbian named Ben Mizrachi.

The Jewish community was in shock – we are about 40,000 here in British Columbia and we were reeling.

I had offered to the Premier that as a member of the Jewish community, I could speak at a vigil that was being planned a few days after the massacre – this was my community and our two Premiers had tasked me with strengthening the NDP relationship with the community. I put out the call for you to join me. The community was grieving, in mourning and we needed to show them as a caucus and as a government that we are there for them.

I sent out a group email. Two maybe three responded – that’s it. How is it that with more than 35 lower mainland/valley MLAs only three or four would be on stage with me – I had no idea how many UCP would be there and a poor showing would not reflect well on us. I did not have the emotional capacity to reach out individually, so Alissa offered to help … still not much response. My heart cracked.

In the end there were 7 or 8 of us, two came from the island but I was terribly embarrassed.

And then, within days of the massacre, Aman and Katrina decided that it was appropriate to ‘reply all’ to my initial email asking folks to stand with the Jewish community in grief and mourning, and ask that government make a public statement about the plight of the Palestinians.

We just witnessed the slaughter, rape, mutilation and murder of 1,200 mostly Jews. We watched as the terrorists celebrated this horrific act. Ben Mizrachi hadn’t yet been buried. The IDF hadn’t yet taken any action. The world was stunned. And two of my colleagues wanted to move quickly past what had happened and refocus government on a geopolitical conflict that has been going on for years.

But it wasn’t their antisemitism that broke my heart. It was your silence to their antisemitism that hurt the most. Not a single one of you responded to their insensitive, disrespectful and inappropriate email. No one.

Your silence broke my heart that day.

You abandoned me and my community that day.

I would have hoped that someone, anyone would have replied all to Aman and Katrina and suggested that their email was inappropriate – your silence spoke volumes to me and suggested that either you agreed with them or that you just didn’t want to deal with it because it’s messy.

It is messy. It’s complex. It’s emotional. It’s hard. You just want it to go away. I understand. I want it to go away too – but my community needed you in that moment to be there in their grief and in my grief and none of you were prepared or willing to stand up to colleagues who were antisemitic – minimizing the Jewish experience, the slaughter of innocent civilians by terrorists countering with mirrored message about the plight of Palestinians. In that moment it was not so complex – People were murdered because they were Jewish and people here in British Columbia were needing us to mourn with them.

How eager you all are to join in the #NeverAgain campaign – that the crime of being Jewish that resulted in the death of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis should never happen again. That we should fight against Jew hatred – a hatred that repeats itself over and over and over again throughout history. How eager you all are to join the few remaining Holocaust survivors as Nicholas plays Kol Nidre on the cello and we bow our heads, light candles in honour of those murdered – yet when the hordes gather and chant “from the river to the sea” – a Hamas mantra referring to their desire to destroy Israel and the Jews, you are nowhere to be found.

Holocaust survivors have been retraumatized and some have wound up in hospital in the days and weeks after the massacre as they relive the horrors they experienced some 75 years ago. They see the marches, the chanting in our streets, the threats to Jews around the world and they say “it’s happening again.”

Where are you when protesters, their faces covered, march through our campuses intimidating young Jewish adults who now hide their Jewish identity? Where are you when young Jewish students who get trapped in bathrooms on campus because the marching is happening in hallways, and they are afraid to step out into the hall for fear of becoming a target of their hate? Where are your ideals of a broad, inclusive society? How have you been standing up for your declared values?

Almost 300 Jewish physicians signed a letter calling on UBC medical school to address antisemitism on campus. Students are bringing their hate into healthcare and they were speaking on behalf of their Jewish patients and their families. In fact, it was so bad that Ted Rosenberg, a prominent physician quit, citing a toxic work environment and antisemitism in the Faculty of Medicine – I am not sure how we expect to train more physicians when almost 300 of them are refusing to work with students coming from UBC’s faculty of medicine. It was a public leaving and I heard nothing from any of you – not the Minister of Health who committed to more physicians in the system, not the Premier – no one.

In December the four Tri-Cities MLAs received a letter from the Coquitlam Teacher’s Association rife with rhetoric, misinformation and lies about the modern state of Israel. The letter was also posted on their website (which has since been taken down). Jewish parents in SD 43 are now considering pulling their children from public schools because they don’t have faith that teachers in the district will keep their Jewish children safe. I asked Fin if he received the same letter. He did and when I asked him what he was planning to do with it he said, “nothing – I am going to ignore it.” Ignore the fact that Jewish constituents feel unsafe – Is this how we stand up for our constituents?

In January the Vancouver Police Department publicly shared a startling report about the dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents since October 7. And what was government’s response to this report?

Silence.

Shortly afterward I reached out to the Attorney General, as the racism file is under her ministry. Niki had been assigned the point of contact for the Jewish community given the historical antisemitism that the Jewish community has experienced from Mable, the parliamentary secretary for antiracism.

Let me refresh your memory, in 2004 during an interview with Seven Oaks, Mable claimed “we have vocal Zionists in our work sites, and we have had to battle them” regarding her anti-war activism in her union. Carole James, as leader, had to disavow and apologize for the comments. But the Jewish community carried on noting a certain mistrust of Mable, as she never apologized for her comments and when Mable’s recent 2-minute statement in November alarmed the community again of Mable’s antisemitism and asked for her resignation the Jewish community was merely told that Niki would now be the point of contact for anti-racism work in the Jewish community.

So I reached out to Niki at the end of January, two months after she became the designated point of contact for a community that is experiencing a spike in antisemitism, a community that is grieving and fearful. It turns out that the community leadership hadn’t even heard from her. And when I asked her what she is doing about the rise in antisemitism all she could talk about what legislation she is working on, collecting data and the small amount of money that I worked on with PSSG and the PO to make available for additional security measures that the community needed.

Her response to my query was a response you would give the opposition.

There was no acknowledgement of my personal connection to the community or how my contacts and relationships could be useful. There was no sense of understanding that this community is feeling threatened, that people are afraid, that antisemitism was on display in civil society, that Jewish parents don’t want to send their children to public school, that Jewish post-secondary students are being terrorized on campus, that Jewish owned businesses need additional security, that Holocaust survivors are reliving trauma, that plays with Israeli content that actually help to provide dialogue about the conflict are being silenced, that hundreds of Jewish physicians are calling on UBC leadership to address antisemitism on campus, that members of our own public service have started incorporating the Palestinian flag in their email signature and even making a Palestinian land comment when doing a First Nation land acknowledgement at the beginning of meetings resulting in discomfort and fear. No acknowledgment and no action.

Over the past five months a few of you have reached out after caucus discussions about me without me in the room, the first right after Aman and Katrina sent their emails and then again after the February caucus meeting, offering hugs and heart emojis. My response to many of you is that I don’t need your hugs and your emojis. What my community needs however is for you to stand up to antisemitism. When I shared this with Lisa just a few weeks ago, she responded “of course, we always do.” As a government we have not been standing up to antisemitism. If you believe that then it would appear to me that you haven’t been paying attention or you don’t know what antisemitism is or what Jew hatred looks like.

Antisemitism is calling for the destruction and annihilation of Israel, where half the world’s 15.8 million Jews live. Antisemitism is making Jewish people afraid to show their identity. Antisemitism is silencing an openly identified Jewish person who is speaking out about antisemitism. Your collective decision to silence me is antisemitism and you don’t even know it.

Antisemitism is the double standard that we have consistently shown. When any of my colleagues have made antisemitic remarks it was expected that apologies should suffice. It’s not only Mable who has made antisemitic comments. In 2012 Jennifer Whiteside shared content from the anti-Israel website the electronic intifada and posts from Occupy Wall Street that attributed Israeli ‘theft’ of Palestinian land to capitalism and in 2014 shared articles that accused Israel of ‘pinkwashing’ for their acceptance of LGBTQ2S+ community and again in 2016 shared content promoting the BDS movement and was forced to apologize and distance herself from her past support of the BDS movement.

In 2017 it came to the attention of the Jewish community that Ronna Rae invited people to support Haneen Zoubi, a former Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset who negated the existence of Israel. Ronna Rae also compared the police to Nazis in 2013.

Jagrup quoted Goebbels in 2020 when he was pushing back at the Official Opposition during a speech in the house saying “Someone has said – if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it” – he apologized the next day for his offence, retracted his comments and that was to be sufficient.

Last year Janet Routledge apologized for comments of Holocaust minimization by comparing the criticisms by the official opposition to Nazi rhetoric when she said “the Holocaust ended in death camps, but started with words.”

I raise these examples not to humiliate or shame any of you, but to point out the double standard. When an elected person says something that harms the Jewish community whether the comments or position is intended or unintended, the expectation is that a simple apology is sufficient. But when a Jewish elected person says something she “has deep work to do” according to the Premier and is no longer trusted. This double standard is antisemitism.

The final straw came for me last week.

I pitched an idea to the Premier 10 days after I was asked to resign that perhaps government could show leadership on this hate and division we are seeing in two hurting communities by bringing these communities together. I suggested that perhaps I could work with the Jewish community and engage with the Arab Muslim community to facilitate dialogue – find a different path for two communities in agony. As part of that work all of caucus could participate in anti-Islamophobia and antisemitism training – set an example of how as leaders we could better understand their respective pain and fear. And government could show leadership by bringing people together.

Last week Matt Smith told me that this work was ‘too political’ and that government was not interested at this time. Antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiment are at an all-time high and government doesn’t see itself as having a role in helping these communities.

This shattered what was left of my broken heart.

This is not the party I signed on with – it has become a party that is afraid to stand with people, people who are hurting. It is now a party that puts politics and re-election before people.

It is with all of this in mind that I am leaving caucus to sit as an independent. I can no longer defend the choices this government is making, and I need to mend my broken heart and I can’t do that when you simply offer me hugs and heart emojis but don’t care to educate yourselves or understand the fear and anguish of being Jewish in this moment.

Silence is not leadership – it’s cowardice.

And I cannot be silent.

הקלות לישראלים בהגירה לקנדה

קנדה מקילה באופן זמני על ישראלים המעוניינים להגר למדינה. זאת עקב מלחמת חרבות הברזל הארוכה המתנהלת כבר למעלה מארבעה חודשים בין ישראל לחמאס. המסלול הזמני והחדש יתקיים בשלב זה למשך כארבעה חודשים – עד לסוף חודש יוני

על פיו יוכלו ישראלים המעוניינים בכך לקבל ויזת עבודה בקנדה במשך שלוש שנים. מדובר בויזה פתוחה שתוכל לסייע בהמשך הדרך לקבלת אישור תושבות קבוע. ולאחר מכן אף לקבל אזרחות קנדית לכל דבר. מסלול זה שנפתח עתה עבור ישראלים כאמור בעקבות המלחמה, שימש בעבר כסיוע הומניטרי עבור אוקראינים ואוכלוסיית היזידים שנרדפת על ידי דאעש וכן גורמים איסלאמיים קיצונים

הקלות עבור ישראלים המעוניינים להגר לקנדה ניתנות עבור אלה שהם בעלי אשרת תייר המבקרים כאן (ללא קשר למועד הגעתם לקנדה). וכן לאלה שהם קרובי משפחה של אזרחים קנדיים, או אלה שמחזיקים בתעודות של תושבות קבע

עד תחילת מלחמת חרבות הברזל הקריטריונים להגירה לקנדה הקלו בעיקר על בעלי מקצועות מבוקשים וכן על בעלי השכלה גבוהה (בעלי תארים מתקדמים). אך בתנאי שכל אלה הם מתחת לגיל שלושים. וזאת, על פי שיטת הנקודות. מדי מספר חודשים משנה קנדה את גובה רף הניקוד אשר ממנו כל הבקשות מתקבלות

מסלולי ההגירה בקנדה מחולקים על פי הפרובינציות השונות. על פי השיטה על המבקש להגר לכאן מוטל להציג מספיק נקודות שנקבעות לפי מספר קריטריונים. ובהם: מקצוע, גיל ורמת האנגלית. מי מבקשים להגר לקנדה שהציג מספיק נקודות, יכול להגיש בקשה לתושבות קבע, לאחר מספר שנים לעבור מבחן (באזרחות) ואז להפוך לאזרח קבוע. כידוע אזרחים יכולים לבקש דרכון קנדי, נחשב לאחד הדרכונים המבוקשים ביותר בעולם במשך שנים

את הגשת המועמדות להגירה ניתן להגיש באופן עצמאי או להשתמש ביועצי הגירה המומחים לנושא, שיעזרו במילוי הטפסים הרבים. את הטפסים לבקשות הגירה ניתן להגיש מישראל, או מקנדה למי שנמצא כאן על פי ויזת עבודה או אלה שלומדים כאן

זמן ההמתנה לקבלת האישורים להגירה יכול להימשך כשנה ואף יותר מכך, בהתאם לרמת הנקודות של המבקש

באופן כללי מסלולי הגירה לקנדה נחלקים בגדול למסלולים זמנים ומסלולים לתושבות קבע. וזאת על פי קריטריונים שונים ובהם: הגירה לצעירים ומשכילים, הגירה על פי תוכניות של הפרובינציות השונות, מקצועות מבוקשים, הגירה לצורכי לימודים. וכן מסלולים למשקיעים פיננסים, קרובים מדרגה ראשונה ועוד

ניתן לקבל אשרות שהייה זמניות לצרכי לימודים גבוהים או עבודה. אם מעסיק קנדי מציע למועמד הצעת עבודה שעומדת בתנאים של משרד העבודה הקנדי, אפשר לקבל אשרת עבודה למשך מספר שנים. בדרך כלל אשרת עבודה מתקבלת מהר וניתן להאריכה בסך הכל עד שבע שנים. כמובן אם המשרה של העובד עדיין בתוקף. לאלה שעובדים בקנדה, העבודה תקנה להם נקודות כך שבתוך שנתיים הם יוכלו להגיש מועמדות של תושבות קבע במסלול המהיר. מי שקיבל שהתקבל ללימודים במוסד להשכלה גבוהה בקנדה (אוניברסיטהי או קולג’) למשך חצי שנה או יותר, יוכל לקבל ויזת לימודים. בתום סיום הלימודים המועמד יהיה זכאי לקבל ויזת עבודה בקנדה, למשך של שלוש שנים. זאת תלוי במסלול הלימודים ובאישור שהתקבל על ידי מוסד הלימודים. יש לזכור שעל מוסד הלימודים להיות מאושר על ידי מערכת ההגירה של קנדה. הלימודים או העבודה לאחריהם יכולים להקנות מספקי נקודות כדי להגיש מועמדות לקבלת תושבות קבע, במסלול המהיר

לפרובינציות השונות יש מסלולים מקוצרים ומהירים לקבלת תושבות קבע

קנדה: תיירות כשרה – מידע למטייל היהודי

וונקובר
צילום Henry C Wong

אתר טוטל ג’ואיש טרבל שמיועד למטיילים יהודים שומרי מסורת האוכלים אוכל כשר, מפרסם מידע אודות קנדה

בחלק הראשון מתפרסם מידע כללי על קנדה

קנדה היא מדינה בחלקה הצפונית של צפון אמריקה, היא המדינה השנייה בעולם בגודל בשטח ואוכלוסייתה מונה קרוב לארבעים מיליון איש. קנדה מחולקת לעשר פרובינציות ושלוש וטריטוריות. המדינה היא מונרכיה חוקתית ודמוקרטיה פרלמנטרית. לקנדה גבול בודד עם ארצות הברית ומדובר על הגבול היבשתי הארוך בעולם, באורך של קרוב לתשעת אלפי קילומטרים. עיר הבירה של קנדה היא אוטווה בה נמצא הפרלמנט ומקום מושבה של הממשלה הפדרלית וכן של המושל הכללי, שמייצג את ראש המדינה – המלך של אנגליה. קנדה היא מושבה בריטית לשעבר והיא המדינה הגדולה ביותר בחבר העמים הבריטי. ברוב המדינה יש מזג אוויר קר בחורף, ובכלל מזג אוויר קר מאפיין את המדינה, אולם באזור דרום המדינה חם בקיץ. קנדה מאוכלסת בדלילות, רוב השטח הכפרי מיוער ובמדינה ישנם גם את הרי הרוקי. רוב תושבי המדינה גרים בערים גדולות ובינוניות, למעשה מדובר במדינה עירונית מאוד כאשר כשמונים ושניים אחוזים מהתושבים מתגוררים בערים. שליש מהאוכלוסייה חי בשלוש הערים הגדולות: טורונטו, מונטריאול, וונקובר. קרוב לשלושים מיליון תיירים מבקרים בקנדה מדי שנה. סיבות ההגעה שלהם למדינה מגוונות. ספורט החורף במדינה מפותח מאוד ומביא תיירות רבה למדינה, בקנדה יש גם הרבה פסטיבלים בחורף ובקיץ המושכים אליהם תיירים רבים מכל רחבי העולם

בחלק השני מתפרסם מידע על היהודים בקנדה

בקנדה גרים כארבע מאות ועשרים אלף יהודים שמהווים קצת יותר מאחוז מתושבי המדינה. מוצאם של רוב יהודי קנדה הוא אשכנזי אולם במדינה חיים גם יהודים ממוצא ספרדי, מזרחי ומגוירים. בקנדה ישנם מוסדות תרבות יהודיים רבים המשרתים את הקהילות הרבות במדינה על זרמיהם השונים. למרות היותם מיעוט קטן במדינה, נוכחות יהודי קנדה במדינה מתקיימת כבר מאז סיום מלחמת שבע השנים. רוב אוכלוסיית היהודים במדינה מתגוררת בערים הגדולות. בטורונטו ובמונטריאול חיות הקהילות היהודיות הגדולות במדינה, כאשר בטורונטו חיים כמאתיים וחמישים אלף יהודים ובמונטריאול למעלה ממאה אלף יהודים. אלו גם הערים בהן ניתן למצוא מסעדות כשרות וחנויות לממכר אוכל כשר. קהילות יהודיות חיות גם בערים אחרות אך אוכלוסייתן קטנה יותר, וגם הסיכוי למצוא בהם אוכל כשר קטן ונעשה קשה יותר לאיתור, אולם עדיין גם מחוץ לערים אלו ישנן מסעדות וחנויות כשרות גם מחוץ לטורונטו ומונטריאול

בחלק השלישי מתפרסם מידע על ונקובר

המדריך המלא למטיילים יהודים ולשומרי כשרות בוונקובר מפרסם מידע למטייל אודות מקומות כשרים (כגון מסעדות כשרות, בתי קפה, מאפיות וחנויות), וכן ומידע מגוון על מוסדות בקהילה היהודית בוונקובר או בסמוך אליה, כוללי בתי כנסת, מקוואות, בתי מלון כשרים או מוסדות המתאימים למטיילים דתיים, הקשורים לקהילה היהודית בוונקובר או לשאר חלקי בריטיש קולומביה. מוזכרים בין היתר שני ארגונים: הג’ואיש קומיונטי סנטר והכולל-אוהל יעקב. שני מקוואות: אחד בארגון של חב”ד ואחד בבית הכנסת שערי צדק. מוזכרים מספר בתי כנסת נוספים בעיר: בית המדרש, עץ חיים וטמפל שלום. ישנם גם שלושה בתי מלון בעיר המספקים אוכל כשר: הולידי אין, פארק אין-רדיסון והייקרופט סוויטס. בוונקובר יש גם מקומות שמספקים אוכל כשר: קפה ארבעים ואחד בג’ואיש קומיונטי סנטר, הקייטרינג של חב”ד, מאפיית גארדן סיטי בריצ’מונד, מסעדת מייפל גריל בקומת הקרקע של הכולל-אוהל יעקב, קפה נאווה, מאפיית סברה וחנות שהיא בעצם מחסן לאוכל כשר

Mishpacha comes together

The weekly rally for Israeli hostages at the Vancouver Art Gallery Sunday, Feb. 18. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Family was the theme at the weekly rally for Israeli hostages at the Vancouver Art Gallery Sunday, Feb. 18, the day before British Columbians marked the Family Day holiday. Speakers took to a stage at the edge of the gallery’s north face out of respect for a makeshift memorial to Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died in custody two days earlier.

“Family Day will be celebrated here tomorrow,” said Daphna Kedem, organizer of the weekly vigils for the hostages. “But this year casts a heavy shadow over the day for some families of our community here and in Israel…. It is difficult to be happy when families are waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, or for many families who have lost their loved ones.”

Dr. Michael Elterman, a psychologist, spoke of the psychological effects of what is happening in Israel and worldwide.

“We see the indescribable anguish in the families and we easily feel ourselves in their shoes and intuitively imagine what we might feel if that happened to us,” he said. “There has developed a related construct of post-traumatic stress disorder over the past decade … this is the sadness, anger and sometimes spiritual distress that arises from moral outrage. It is a broader set of reactions that arise even when the individual themselves were not present at the trauma but rather are morally outraged and left furious and depressed by events. This is even more likely where we identify so strongly with those who are personally impacted by Oct. 7.”

This anxiety is heightened by increases in antisemitic rhetoric and attacks, including in Vancouver.

“Some of you may be experiencing the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, such as disturbed sleep, intrusive thoughts, trouble concentrating and being easily startled,” Elterman said, adding that help is available through Jewish Family Services and other resources. Getting involved in the community response can help ease feelings of helplessness and he directed people to the Community Toolkit on the website of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.

“Remember to practise self-care in small ways, like proper nutrition and sleep,” he said. “Continue to do the things you previously enjoyed, even if you don’t feel like doing them. Finally, hug each other a little longer and a little tighter.”

Aviya Kones, who works at Jewish Family Services, spoke not about the services offered by that organization, but about the people of Kfar Aza, where she grew up.

photo - Aviya Kones speaks about the people of Kfar Aza, where she grew up — Aviya Kones speaks about the people of Kfar Aza, where she grew up. *(photo by Pat Johnson)*

“Kfar Aza was a desert oasis,” said Kones. “It was home, it was love and life, it was filled with unique and quirky and hilarious traditions and it was generations of family. It was also savagely and brutally destroyed after countless and seemingly endless hours of horrors.”

Her own childhood home was destroyed on Oct. 7.

She shared memories of three people who died that day.

“Smadar, a year above me, was tall, slender, so elegant,” she said. “Even as a child, I recall looking up to her. She had big, beautiful brown eyes and thick brown hair. I remember being awed by her grace, kindness and gentle nature.

“Nadav was two years older than me,” she said. “He knew how to make everyone laugh in every situation – not at anyone’s expense but maybe his own.

“Yoav was my age group,” she continued. “He had blue eyes, blond hair and a genuine smile. All the girls thought he was cute and all the guys wanted to be his best friend. He was shy, kind, creative and athletic. He loved his family. He was so close with his parents, his siblings and the many, many cousins he had living on the kibbutz.

“All three, amongst many others, tragically, brutally and with unimaginable cruelty, lost their lives on Oct. 7,” said Kones. “They were living in our beautiful oasis, our safe place, our home. They are survived by a broken and mourning community, generations of family that absolutely adored them and … all three were also survived by their young children. Nadav had two daughters, Smadar had three children and Yoav was a first-time dad to a little girl who was only 10 days old on Oct. 7.”

Rabbi Jonathan Infeld, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel and head of the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver, said that Oct. 7 was not just an attack on Israelis or those living in Israel.

“It was indeed the beginning of an attack on the entire Jewish people,” he said. “It was a catalyst for antisemitism across the world that we have felt even here in Vancouver…. Too many of us have felt the antisemitism that began to boil over on that day.”

Gordon Shank, a First Nations member, a business innovator and a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, which saw Indigenous children abducted from their families and placed with white families, spoke of the centrality of family and the trauma of separation.

“I’ve known the pain of separation from family, being torn from the embrace of loved ones, albeit under different circumstances,” he said. “The Sixties Scoop and the current crisis in Gaza might stem from vastly different contexts yet, at their core, they resonate with the universal cry for the right to family, to unity and to belonging. This parallel is not to equate the experiences but to underline the shared understanding that every individual deserves to grow, to dream and to thrive within the warmth of their family’s love.”

Of the hostages and their families, Shank said: “Their pain is our pain. Their hope is our hope. Let our gathering today send a powerful message that we stand together across cultures and histories, united in our resolve to bring the hostages home.”

The march through downtown streets that has been a feature of the weekly events since October will be a monthly activity only for the coming weeks, Kedem told those gathered. The crowd then moved to the sidewalk adjacent Georgia Street for a demonstration, with a brief disruption by an individual waving a Palestinian flag.

Kedem has organized the weekly events since October and, early on, affiliated with the ad hoc international group Bring Them Home which, in turn, is affiliated with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, in Israel.

Recently, Kedem also associated her activities with another international group, Run for their Lives, which encourages groups as small as a single individual to demonstrate solidarity with Israel and its hostages by walking, biking or running.

A new voice for BC elders

Dan Levitt has been appointed to be British Columbia’s new seniors advocate (photo from Dan Levitt)

Dan Levitt is set to become British Columbia’s new seniors advocate. The appointment was announced last month by BC Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“Dan Levitt has championed the rights of seniors for 30 years and with his extensive experience he is an excellent choice for BC’s seniors advocate,” Dix said in announcing the appointment. The Office of the Seniors Advocate is an independent branch of the provincial government, which acts in the interest of seniors and their caregivers.

Levitt becomes only the second person to hold the role, replacing Isobel Mackenzie, who will retire April 5 from the position she initiated a decade ago.

Levitt spoke with the Independent over lunch in the community centre that is part of KinVillage, the Tsawwassen continuing care retirement community he has headed as chief executive officer since 2021. Over the din of an adjacent bingo game, Levitt spoke of his career, the footsteps of his father and his plans for the new job.

The role of seniors advocate is unusual, he explained. British Columbia’s was the first in Canada, being created by legislation in 2013. To date, only two provinces, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, have followed suit, though others are considering it.

The purpose of the advocate’s office, which has a staff of 17, is to look at systemic issues that impact seniors and make recommendations to government.

“The five areas that we look at are transportation, housing, health care, income supports and community services that are geared around older people,” said Levitt. While the office has no authority to force governments to take steps, Levitt said his predecessor, Mackenzie, has recommended many proposals that have found favour with those in power. Not all recommendations will be adopted, he said, but “it usually helps to move the needle in a direction.”

“There isn’t that power, if you will, to say, ‘This must happen.’ But, many times, the recommendations are ones that are introduced and taken forward because they are the right things to do,” said Levitt, noting that his predecessor initiated a great range of measures that the government has taken up.

“Isobel and the office have been real pioneers in shedding lights on challenges and opportunities with an aging population,” he said. “That’s the purpose of these independent offices. They can reflect, in this case, what matters most to seniors, what are their concerns, and then move that agenda forward in helping to influence public policy.”

The position is nonpartisan and independent from government.

“In the recruitment process, no political official was involved,” said Levitt.

Levitt is not the first in his family to work in the senior care field. His father, Ken Levitt, was a longtime administrator of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, during a time of significant expansion, including the development of the Weinberg Residence. The elder Levitt is now, among other things, past president of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver.

“I am following in his footsteps, for sure,” said the son. “And I think I am honouring, as he did, our parents by ensuring the health and well-being of older adults.”

As his new position requires he hold no outside affiliations, Levitt recently resigned from roles on the boards of directors of CommonAge, which advances the interests of older adults in the 53 Commonwealth countries, and the International Federation on Ageing. He has also given up adjunct professorships in gerontology at Simon Fraser University and in the school of nursing at the University of British Columbia, and a sessional instructor position at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Levitt’s undergrad degree in psychology is from UBC and he graduated from the University of North Texas, Centre for Studies in Aging, with a master of science.

“I need to dedicate 110% of my working time to this role,” he said of giving up his other gigs, which included speaking engagements worldwide on topics of aging and extensive public commentary on related subjects.

The vetting process for the seniors advocate position was a lengthy one – and Levitt compares getting the final word on his selection with the feeling of elation he gets when he places well in his avocation of competitive running.

“Probably like anybody else who’s been through a job search like this, when you get that nod, it feels pretty good,” he said. “I am a competitive runner in my age category and, when I place well in a race, you are elated. So, when I got the message, I was pinching myself, making sure I heard what I thought I heard. You feel this elation. Soon this wears off and you start realizing the responsibility, start realizing what this means now, and people are depending on you to make their lives better.”

Caring for seniors also means helping the people in their lives, he said.

“It’s not just the older people that we’re trying to support, who are directly impacted, but it’s their family members,” said Levitt.

Although he is not yet in the job – he’ll have to move to Victoria, coming home to Vancouver on weekends – he already has the first few months scoped out.

“I’m going to be doing a tour around the province of BC [meeting with seniors],” he said. “I’ll be asking them questions around what are those policies that help or hinder them in those five areas of transportation, housing, health care, income supports and community supports. We’ll be looking at those issues, listening to them, then we’ll come back to the office, synthesize the information and then we will release a report on what we found. That report will give us a mandate of what the biggest concerns are that seniors have and we’ll make recommendations to the government on how we can improve different aspects of seniors’ lives.”

In the statement announcing Levitt’s appointment, his predecessor had kind words for him.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as seniors advocate for the Province of BC,” said Mackenzie. “Our population is aging and seniors need the ability to live independently at home, knowing the programs and services to support them are easily accessible to everyone. As issues such as dementia, housing and elder care become more complex, it’s crucial to advocate for strengthened seniors services throughout the province. I know Dan is ready to continue the cause and his efforts will make a difference in the lives of seniors for years to come.”

“I have big shoes to fill,” said Levitt, “because Isobel Mackenzie has done a phenomenal job starting the Office of the Seniors Advocate and really setting a very high bar, really pushing forward the agenda of older people, shining a light on some of the inequities and some of the systemic issues that impact older people and making recommendations that have stuck and changed just about every aspect of life for seniors.”

Levitt has spoken out on issues in the past, weighing in, for example, on the controversy around Lisa LaFlamme, whose firing as CTV National News anchor was blamed on sexism and ageism, and in challenging the ageism of birthday cards. While he will be taking on systemic issues on the larger stage of provincial policy, he urges individuals to speak up against ageism in everyday life and to celebrate aging.

Be aware of even subtle language that debases older people and their experiences, he advises.

“Don’t use the language that demonizes or goes into the negative stereotypes we often will see,” he said. “For example, ‘I’m having a senior moment.’ No one who is young says they’re having a junior moment.”

He encourages everyone to reject negative connotations around aging.

“Embrace your own age,” he said. “Embrace who you are and enjoy those birthdays and celebrate them and celebrate getting older. Don’t hide your age.”

Tikva campaign to start

The most vulnerable members of the Jewish community are struggling. The lack of affordable housing and a persistent high inflation rate are causing individuals and families to exhaust their income, which can lead to homelessness. The reality poses a major crisis that affects more than 350 people in the Jewish community who need a safe, secure and affordable home.

photo - Anat Gogo, executive director at Tikva Housing — Anat Gogo, executive director at Tikva Housing. *(photo from Tikva Housing)*

The Jewish community witnessed Tikva Housing’s significant growth in 2023, as the organization’s portfolio grew from 98 to 168 units. Also, in keeping with its mission, it increased the monthly maximum rent subsidies available for families, couples and individuals in an effort to reduce the effects of market rental increases. But such hopeful news is overshadowed by growing demand. Vancouver’s vacancy rate is below 0.9%, and, as an example, two-bedroom rents grew by 8.6% on average. Substantial increases in rents of units at turnover drove this growth, and the outlook is not encouraging. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported: “Affordability worsened for low-income households: vacancy rates for the most affordable units were lower than average, and these households already spend a greater share of their income on rent.”

“In the last three years, we saw an increase of 458% in people registered with the Jewish Housing Registry,” said Anat Gogo, executive director at Tikva Housing.

The Jewish Housing Registry (JHR) was launched in 2020 to provide affordable-housing seekers with a convenient point of application. It also serves housing providers with demographic information, therefore, a studied approach to future housing developments and partnerships.

“Today, we know that, among those over 350 individuals and families waitlisted, 84 are families with children, 72 are applicants with disabilities, and 129 are seniors over 65 years old,” said Gogo.

Housing is a human right, and we all have a role in ensuring that more people have the dignity and safety of an affordable home. From Feb. 26 to March 11, support Tikva Housing’s annual fundraising campaign. Visit tikvahousing.org.

– Courtesy Tikva Housing