Podcast appearances and mentions of michael fraiman

Just in time for Jewish Heritage Month, the team behind the iconic Heritage Minutes—60-second short films about notable Canadians throughout history—is spotlighting Bora Laskin, the first Jewish justice appointed to the country's Supreme Court. Laskin became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court soon after. He served from 1970 until his untimely death from pneumonia in 1984 at the age of 71. The son of Jewish immigrants to Fort William (now Thunder Bay) in Northern Ontario, Laskin was a gold-medal law student in Toronto during the 1930s. With widespread antisemitism in the profession in those days, it was challenging for Laskin to find an articling position, which he ultimately did—with a Jewish firm. Laskin then went on to complete multiple degrees, including from Harvard. After nearly two decades teaching law at the newly founded U of T law school–where the library now bears his name-Laskin was appointed to the provincial court in Ontario, where he developed a reputation as a champion of the labour movement. After former prime minister Pierre Trudeau appointed Laskin to the Supreme Court, Laskin's judgments led to patriating the Canadian Constitution, enshrining the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and equalizing women's marital property rights. This new minute-long short film stars veteran Canadian Jewish actor Victor Garber, who was reportedly eager to take on the role due to his own heritage. It will be broadcast on more than 70 television stations and also online beginning May 7. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by Sam Rosenthal, one of the creative team members behind the project, who explains the drive and meaning behind the project. Shelley Laskin, his niece and a Toronto school board trustee, also joins. Related links Watch the Bora Laskin new Heritage Minute by Historica Canada on YouTube beginning May 8. Learn more about Bora Laskin, in The CJN. Read more in The Canadian Encyclopedia. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

About 200 Canadian students, their chaperones and nearly a dozen Holocaust survivors were going through airport security at Ben Gurion International when they heard the blast. It happened on Sunday May 4, as the group was returning from a March of the Living trip–which took them to Poland and Israel–when a Houthi missile launched by Islamic terrorists from Yemen evaded Israel's air defences and exploded on the airport's access road. The Canadian group, along with thousands of other travellers, were ordered to scramble into safe areas or bomb shelters inside the airport until authorities gave the all-clear about a half-hour later. While eight people were taken to hospitals in Israel, none of the Canadians was injured. Many international airlines have cancelled or suspended flights for coming days. The March of the Living group used charters to reach Warsaw, then boarded a LOT Dreamliner aircraft, which landed in Toronto on Sunday night. The Houthi attack came after a tumultuous trip for the group, who had experienced the country's biggest wildfire, which burned the forests between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem before Israel's Independence Day on May 1. On top of that, the Iran-backed forces in Yemen have been escalating their ballistic missile attacks. Sunday's hypersonic missile was the only one the IDF failed to intercept, leaving a significant crater in the airport roadway and damaging part of Terminal 3. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from anxious March of the Living parents Jasmine Albagli of Ottawa; Mark Diamond and his wife Sharon, also from Ottawa; and Adam Cohen of Toronto. Aviva Klompas also joins: the Toronto-born author and Israel advocate, also happened to be at Ben Gurion airport when the attack struck. What we talked about: Hear how anti-Israel protestors at Auschwitz tried to spoil the 2024 annual March of the Living while one Edmonton family showed resilience, on The CJN Daily. Read why fewer participants joined the 2024 March of the Living since it was the first after October. 7, and how the itinerary changed, in The CJN. Read about the 2023 March of the Living when the late Alex Buckman, a Vancouver Holocaust educator, accompanied the trip, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Friday May 2 has been declared an official day of remembrance and mourning in British Columbia after last weekend's horrific attack on a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver. To date, 11 people died and dozens more remain wounded after a 30-year-old man drove an SUV into a crowd at the city's Lapu Lapu festival on April 26. The suspect has been charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder, but the investigation continues. Leaders of the Filipino community say they feel deeply touched by the heartfelt outreach and solidarity being shown by Canadian Jewish groups. In Vancouver, Jewish residents have mounted prayer vigils and also set up an emergency fundraising campaign. The outpouring of support is being described as an example of kapwa, the Filipino tradition of solidarity and unity, as that community processes the grief while seeking answers on how the mental health system failed so badly to prevent the massacre. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by two members of Canada's Filipino community, who also share deep ties with the country's Jews: David Decolongon, who works in Vancouver for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), has family and friends who attended the festival and witnessed the horrific attack; and Primrose Madayag Knazan, from Winnipeg, is an award-winning Filipinx-Jewish author and playwright with expertise on how the Philippines helped rescue European Jews during the Holocaust. Related links Where to donate through the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver's  Filipino Community Emergency Support Fund. When Canadian Jews fundraised in 2013 to help disaster relief efforts in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan struck the country, in The CJN. When the Philippines rescued 1,200 European Jews during the Holocaust, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Most Jewish holidays date back thousands of years. We commemorate the time when an ancient Persian with a triangle hat tried to kill the Jews, when the Maccabees rededicated the temple in Jerusalem, when we escaped slavery in Egypt and the seas parted ways. But in the past century, Jews have added three new holidays, all of which fall in the span of a week. We're now at the tail end of the trilogy of "memory days": Yom HaShoah, Yom ha-Zikaron and Yom ha-Atzmaut. And, perhaps because they're recent additions, the way in which we mark them is susceptible to shifting, particularly after Oct. 7. Just this week, former hostages and survivors of Oct. 7 marched in the March of the Living in Poland. The USC Shoah Foundation is expanding its mission beyond the Shoah, collecting testimonies of antisemitism in the modern world. It begs the question: How do you memorialize events when you're still living through them? That's the topic for this week's episode of Not in Heaven, a podcast about the future of communal Judaism. Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat and Matthew Leibl join to discuss these traditions, memory engineering, and how the stories we tell about the past shape our present—and our future. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Marc Weisblott (editorial director), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

It will be a very different kind of Yom ha-Zikaron in Israel for the family of Ben Brown. In July 2024, a Hezbollah rocket injured the 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., while he was on duty with the Israel Defense Forces' Golani army unit at a strategic base overlooking the Lebanese border. No one else was hurt, or killed. Now, as the Jewish State remembers more than 25,000 soldiers and also victims of terrorism who've fallen throughout Israel's history, Brown's family is commemorating in their own way—on the ground in Israel, where there son is still in hospital. Brown has spent months receiving treatment, after being in a coma, with a traumatic brain injury. The former yeshiva student is out of danger now, but he still receives hours of daily therapy. His family and friends keep a constant vigil, as he cannot yet speak properly for long, or walk distances unassisted. Despite a controversial progressive media website publicly listing Ben Brown among 85 Canadians who've served in the IDF over the years, Brown's family says they're not focusing on the unwanted negative attention. Instead, the family is marking Israel's Memorial Day together in Israel, and plan to attend local events—including the 77th anniversary of Israel's independence the following day. They want Canadians back home to understand why their son felt he had to defend the Jewish State—especially after Oct. 7. On today's The CJN Daily, Ben Brown's father, Jeffrey Brown, joins from Israel to explain. Related links Read more about Ben Brown's injury after Oct. 7, in The CJN. Hear how the Jewish community in Toronto came together to support Ben Brown's family through prayer, on The CJN Daily. Why those Canadians who served in the IDF and were on a new list published by an anti-Israel paper are fighting mad, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

It's Election Day in Canada. By last count, there are at least 26 Jewish candidates running in the 2025 federal election for all major parties, including the Conservatives (10), Liberals (7), NDP (5), People's Party of Canada (2), Green (2). Despite polls pointing to a Liberal victory, several Jewish candidates are running in ridings deemed too close to call. On today's show, we're zooming into a few of those ridings, to take a better look at what the issues are on the ground. In Mount Royal, incumbent Anthony Housefather has been fending off attacks about his party's perceived anti-Israel stance from new challenger Neil Oberman; in Toronto–St. Paul's, Conservative Don Stewart won a tight by-election less than a year ago, but may lose if the longtime Liberal stronghold returns red. To talk about those ridings and others—including races to watch in Winnipeg, York Centre, Outremont, Davenport, Thornhill, Eglinton-Lawrence, Toronto Centre and elsewhere—we'll hear from two reporters with The CJN. Joel Ceausu is our Montreal correspondent, and Jonathan Rothman has been reporting from Toronto. Both join The CJN Daily for an election-day preview of what are the issues at stake. Related links The CJN's Jonathan Rothman takes the temperature of Jewish voters across Canada ahead of the April 28 federal election. The CJN's Joel Ceausu reports from the riding of Mount Royal where incumbent Anthony Housefather faces off against Neil Oberman for the Conservatives. Lila Sarick reports on York Centre, in The CJN. Phoebe Maltz-Bovy on why she voted Liberal, in The CJN. What's at stake in Winnipeg, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

With just a few days left in Canada's federal election campaign, U.S. president Donald Trump has once again inserted himself onto the ballot question: the American leader repeated on Wednesday that Canada would “cease to exist” without the United States. Trump also threatened to further increase tariffs on Canadian cars and auto parts. The sabre-rattling about Canada's future, on economic independence and our status on the world stage should be top of mind for voters in Monday's election, says Alan Kessel. And he would know: Kessel has spent more than 40 years as one of the Canadian government's most senior legal advisors and diplomats. Kessel, of Ottawa, recently retired from the public service, leaving him to speak more freely about some of the critical international files he's handled, and what's at stake, especially the North American free trade agreement Canada signed in 2018 with the U.S. and Mexico—which Trump now wants to blow up. Kessel also worked on cases involving Israel that were brought to the United Nations' International Court of Justice, and to the nearby Criminal Court, which recently issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Alan Kessel joins to discuss why Trump's trade war on Canada is illegal, what Canada's next leader should do about it, and what's behind the recent Liberal government's completely different approaches when it comes to supporting Ukraine, but not Israel. Related links Read more about the impact of Trump's tariff trade war on Canadian Jewish business owners, in The CJN What Canadian leaders think about the ICJ's ruling on Israel's conduct in Gaza, in January 2024, in The CJN. Why rising antisemitism is convincing some Canadian Jews to vote Conservative this election. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

It's election season in Canada, with a record-breaking 7.3 million voters having already cast their ballots ahead of April 28. And between Passover seders and weekly Shabbat sermons, there's been no shortage of opportunities for Jewish communal leaders to weigh in on federal affairs during this high-stakes election cycle. But should they? An Israeli think tank recently used AI to analyze 4,400 sermons from 2021 to 2024. Across denominations, about half of all sermons focused on politics—with a clear jump to roughly two-thirds post-Oct. 7, including 80 percent of modern Orthodox sermons. Rabbis are divided. Some see it as their duty to guide their community and stand up for values they believe to be in the best interest of the Jewish people; others prefer to keep divisive topics out of synagogues, focusing instead on what binds us together. It's a ripe topic for our first-ever episode of Not in Heaven, The CJN's new podcast about the future of communal Judaism, taking over our previous weekly debate program, Bonjour Chai. Avi Finegold returns with a new panel of rabbinic voices: Yedida Eisenstat is a scholar, writer and associate editor at the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization in Washington, D.C.; and Matthew Leibl is a freelance rabbi in Winnipeg with a background in sports radio. "How should your Jewish values affect your vote?": Read the new On One Foot column by Avi Finegold in the Spring 2025 premiere issue of Scribe Quarterly Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold, Yedida Eisenstat, Matthew Leibl Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Marc Weisblott (editorial director), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Not in Heaven (Not sure how? Click here)

Eighty years after a Holocaust survivor from Canada saved a wounded, young Jewish orphan by hiding him in his crawl space underneath a washroom in Warsaw, a ceremony in Israel this week will honour the late Peter Jablonski's wartime heroism. But it won't be part of the official annual state Yom HaShoah ceremony run by Yad Vashem, the organization in charge of Holocaust Remembrance for the State of Israel. They confer Righteous Among the Nations medals only to non-Jews, not to ordinary Jews. They do spotlight Jews who saved Jews, especially Jewish partisans and resistance fighters, in their museum and education programs. Instead, Jablonski's courage for rescuing that young boy, Walter Saltzberg of Winnipeg, and a handful of others, will be honoured by B'nai Brith International and the KKL/Jewish National Fund at a gathering Thursday April 24 in the Martyrs' Forest in Jerusalem. The two groups created the event decades ago to honour Jews who rescued Jews, and they have been campaigning ever since for Yad Vashem to change its policy. Jablonski was 23 when he rescued Walter Saltzberg, who was just 13 at the time–and was badly injured by falling German bombs that destroyed the pair's first hiding place. Jablonski treated the boy's injuries, protected him from other hidden Jews who wanted to kill the boy when his moans risked giving their new location away to the Nazis. After five months, they were liberated, in 1945. Jablonski helped arrange surgery for Saltzberg to fix his deformed leg, and eventually Saltzberg was able to leave Poland for his new home in Canada, where as luck would have it, the two survivors reunited decades later. On today's The CJN Daily, we speak to the late Walter Saltzberg's son, George Saltzberg, of Toronto, who is in Israel now where his late father's rescuer will posthumously receive the Jewish Rescuers' Citation. He joins to explain why he's made it his mission to ensure Jablonski's selfless acts aren't forgotten. Related links Watch the B'nai Brith International/KKL-JNF ceremony honouring the heroism of the late Peter Jablonski live from Israel on Thursday April 24, 2025. Read more about Peter Jablonski's Holocaust story, and buy the book written by the young cousin he also saved, George Mandelbaum. Watch the Yad Vashem Yom HaShoah national ceremony live broadcast from Israel on Wednesday April 23, 2025. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

With just a week left in the 2025 federal election, it remains unclear which way Jewish voters will lean. Will they give stock to the parties' promises on the economy, housing and sovereignty? Or will they be single-issue voters and focus on security within their own community? And how will they decide which party's stance is more aligned with their views on Israel and the ongoing conflict with Hamas? Although Canadian Jews make up just one percent of the population, surprisingly, all the main federal party leaders have made promises about these very issues, including during both of last week's nationally televised debates. While many polls are predicting a Liberal majority government, the members of The CJN Daily‘s political panel are not unanimous in their prognostications. On today's episode, we assemble David Birnbaum, is a former Liberal member of the Quebec National Assembly; Emma Cunningham, a former NDP riding executive in Pickering, Ont., who now serves as a school board trustee east of Toronto; and Dan Mader, a Conservative party strategist with Loyalist Public Affairs in Toronto, who also volunteers for CJPAC, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee. Related links The CJN's Jonathan Rothman takes the temperature of Jewish voters across Canada ahead of the April 28 federal election. The CJN's Joel Ceausu reports from the riding of Mount Royal where incumbent Anthony Housefather faces off against Neil Oberman for the Conservatives. Get The CJN political columnist Josh Liebleine's Passover take on the election campaign, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Fresh from a hectic Passover weekend of assisting in conducting services at his Beth Sholom Synagogue in Toronto, and also leading a community seder there, Rabbi Louis J. Sachs says he has been trying to ignore the “noise” of the surprise lawsuit brought against him late last month by his previous congregation. Sachs' former synagogue, Beth Torah congregation–about a ten-minute drive north from his new job–filed a lawsuit March 27 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice alleging breach of contact and suffering financial losses from their former rabbi's conduct before he moved. Beth Torah wants the court to award them $750,000 in damages, including future lost membership. While none of these allegations have been proven in court, Rabbi Sachs insists he disagrees with what Beth Torah is saying about him–that he violated his contract by slacking off on his duties for them, while doing a series of events for the new shul before officially leaving his old one. In his view, he gave Beth Torah plenty of notice. He left after a little more than two years because he says he was unsatisfied he had to do so much administration work: the new place has more staff, which would allow him to focus on carrying out the rabbinical and pastoral work for which he was trained. Sachs joins The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner today to explain why he intends to “clear his name” in court and what his message is to both congregations. Also on the episode, we hear from Beth Sholom's president Margaret Lindzon and from Rabbi Avi Finegold, The CJN's resident rabbi, on why rabbis leave. Beth Torah declined to do any interviews with The CJN. Related links Read Beth Torah's allegations in the lawsuit filed March 27, 2025 in the Superior Court of Justice, and what Beth Shalom and our resident Rabbi Avi Finegold think, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Eighty years ago, on April 15, 1945, the notorious Nazi death camp Bergen-Belsen, in Germany, was liberated by Allied troops. To their horror, British artillery crews discovered about 60,000 starving and deathly ill survivors, as well as 10,000 corpses lying, unburied, on the ground. It was a sight and smell that the late Jack Marcovitch never forgot. The Ottawa veteran had only turned 22 when he arrived there as an army private in the closing weeks of the Second World War. His family believes he played a role in one the war's most iconic scenes: the arrest of Bergen-Belsen's commandant, Josef Kramer, notoriously dubbed "The Beast of Belsen". Marcovitch rarely spoke about his experiences at Bergen-Belsen, where Anne Frank had died of typhus just a few months earlier. Now, on the milestone anniversary of the camp's liberation, Marcovitch's daughters—Linda Eisenberg and Gloria Borts—join The CJN Daily to share what their father brought home with him and how the trauma marked him for life. Related links Watch Jack Marcovitch at Bergen Belsen on an old CBC interview. Learn about some of the Canadians who survived Bergen-Belsen including the late Cantor Moshe Kraus of Ottawa, Learn about some of the Canadian soldiers who helped the survivors of Bergen-Belsen, on the Veterans Affairs Canada website, as well as about Bernie Delson, and Sol Goldberg. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Andrea Varsany (producer),Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

It's that time of year again, when all of us at Bonjour Chai reach out to noteworthy, interesting, prominent Canadian Jews to share their thoughts, stories and memories of Passover. This is the fourth annual Great Canadian Seder, featuring political musings on national borders, Donald Trump and Israeli hostages; nostalgia for a bygone Canada; and one very unique love letter to Moses. Plus, to kick things off, we're sitting down with the new hosts of this soon-to-be-rebranded podcast, Rabbi Matthew Leibl and Yedida Eisenstat,. Stay tuned later this month for the launch of Not in Heaven, a podcast discussing the future of Jewish communal life, right in this same podcast feed. In this year's seder, you'll hear from: Jonathan Rothman, staff reporter at The CJN Jacob Samuel, comedian Diane Flacks, actor and writer Mike Wilner, sports columnist and broadcaster Maya Ben David, performance artist Rabbi Susan Tendler, Beth Tikvah Congregation Talia Schlanger, singer and radio host Rabbi Sean Gorman, executive director of Mercaz Gary Topp, countercultural promoter Bryan Borzykowski, chair of The CJN board Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

Just in time for Passover, Fern Levitt has a message of freedom for Canadian audiences—about elephants. On April 11, her new documentary, Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants, will begin streaming nationwide on CBC Gem. The film casts a harsh spotlight on nearly two dozen elephants owned by parks and zoos in Canada, most notably Lucy, of the Edmonton Valley Zoo, whom protesters have called to be released in recent years due to her age and declining health. To make this film, Levitt spent three years reporting on what she and others believe are irrefutable animal rights abuses. And it isn't the first time she's done it: her last film focused on the mistreatment of sled dogs in Alaska's iconic Iditarod race. After learning that some sled dogs were gassed to death, she couldn't help but draw comparisons to the Holocaust, which had been a previous artistic focus of hers. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Levitt joins Ellin Bessner to explain why she went undercover to document the treatment of elephants around the world, including Lucy and the approximately 20 living at Ontario's African Lion Safari—whose management she says has since threatened to sue her. Related links Watch the documentary “Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants”, on CBC Gem, beginning April 11. Learn more about the volunteers lobbying for Lucy's freedom, on their website Leap for Lucy. Read about Fern Levitt and her family volunteering to help an orphanage in South Africa, in The CJN, in 2008. Read the transcript on our website at Thecjn.ca Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Mark Weisblott, editorial director. Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Sobeys, one of the three biggest grocery store chains in Canada, has vowed to “rectify any issues" after allegations that the manager of its longtime kosher food store in Thornhill, Ont., crossed the line as part of an ongoing feud with the CEO of a rival supermarket. In the first week of April, just ahead of a hectic Passover shopping weekend for Canadian Jews, the CEO of the Olive Branch—a five-month-old kosher market in the Promenade mall, just a four-minute drive down the same street from the Sobeys in question—alleged that the nearby Sobeys manager had threatened kosher caterers looking to do Passover business with both companies. According to a widely distributed letter, Olive Branch's Justin Lesnick alleged that vendors he hired to sell prepared Passover take out food such as meatballs and kugels at his store were told they would lose their much larger contracts with Sobeys if they did so. The confrontation bled out into social media, where Lesnick's complaints about corporate bullying took the story viral. Now many customers are vowing to boycott Sobeys over what happened. But is this a true David-versus-Goliath fight? Or is it the latest in a long-simmering war between the two businessmen—neither of whom is Jewish? And what should customers know? On today's episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner digs into the story. She spoke to Lesnick and Sobeys and some concerned customers to understand how the face-off is dividing the community before Passover. Related links Learn more about when the U.S. based Savours company entered the Toronto kosher food scene by buying Hartmans, in 2017, in The CJN. When Montreal's MK Kosher and Toronto's COR Kashrut organization were feuding over hechsher for Sobeys' Thornhill location, in 2013, in The CJN. Why Passover food will be exempt from Trump's extra tariffs this year, on The CJN Daily. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer),Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

As this chapter of my podcast journey comes to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude to The CJN for the incredible opportunity to share these stories and conversations. With their support, I was able to highlight voices in our community that are not often heard. Thank you to my producer Michael Fraiman. Michael took a complete and sometimes challenging beginner and guided me on this journey. To my listeners—thank you for tuning in, sharing, and engaging in these discussions. Your support has meant everything. But this isn't goodbye! Stay tuned for the next chapter of Rivkush, coming soon wherever you get your podcasts. I can't wait to continue this journey with you. Until then, take care and keep the conversations going!

Today, on Monday April 7, the human rights advocacy group B'nai Brith Canada is set to release its annual antisemitism audit, tracking what's likely to be another record level of online hate speech, graffiti, threats, arson and gunshots targeting Canada's Jewish community. Last year, the group revealed its highest ever tally: 5,791 incidents happened in 2023–double the year before. And while those numbers may seen surprisingly high, they did come during the surge in antisemitism on Canadian shores after Oct. 7. But experts say that number doesn't tell the whole story. A new Statistics Canada report on hate crimes handled by Canadian police–4,777 total, including 900 hate crimes against Jews—contains some disturbing findings. According to the data, 72 percent of all hate crimes didn't get solved in 2023, and more than half of all alleged suspects are known to police as repeat offenders. If there is any good news in the new report, Statistics Canada says that no one got hurt, in the vast majority of hate crimes against Jews in recent years, or 90 percent. Most were crimes of mischief against property, including synagogues and other Jewish community buildings. So what do the numbers mean, and what message should Canadian Jews be demanding of politicians, law enforcement and the courts? On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by two of Canada's leading experts on police-reported hate crimes: from Statistics Canada, Warren Silver—himself a former Montreal police officer—and Mark Sandler, a criminal lawyer who chairs the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism. Related links Read Statistics Canada's new report on police-reported hate crimes for 2023 and early 2024. Why antisemitic hate crimes top the police charts in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.), while Jews in British Columbia report being victims of one or more antisemitic incidents. B'nai Brith's annual audit of antisemitic incidents has surprisingly high numbers. How can this be? On The CJN Daily from 2023, Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director). Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Quick editorial announcement: after four years of weekly shows this will be the final regular episode of Bonjour Chai. After Passover, this podcast feed will be relaunching as Not in Heaven, a series focusing on the future of Jewish communal life in Canada and beyond. Avi Finegold will remain as host, and he'll be joined by a panel of bright, funny, critical Jewish minds. Phoebe Maltz Bovy is excited to launch a new series with The CJN: The Jewish Angle. Hear the trailer and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Over the past month, two works of documentary activism have been put into duelling positions in the box office. No Other Land, which documents the destruction of a Palestinian village in the West Bank, and which won the Oscar for best documentary, has been getting North American cinema owners in hot water: the mayor of Miami threatened to evict a theatre that screened it, while Jewish communities across Canada and the U.S. have held protests with similar outrage. The industry counterargument is Oct. 8, which details the emergence of campus antisemitism after the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and features interviews with Bari Weiss, Michael Rapaport, and Sheryl Sandberg, among other pro-Israel voices. Paying to see either film—or supporting one while calling to ban the other—has made movie theatres the latest venue in the broader divide between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian communities. Avi Finegold saw No Other Land in theatres, and came away with many thoughts. After that, Phoebe Maltz Bovy dives into the Jewish Yale professors ostensibly "fleeing" the U.S. for Canada in the wake of Trump's election... even though the reality may not be as drastic as it seems. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

For decades, the Canadian government has held more than a million pages of war-criminal investigation files secret, citing privacy laws and international agreements with foreign countries. Many Canadian organizations, including Jewish ones, have lobbied—unsuccessfully—for the government to release the names, which include many suspected Nazis. It turns out, the names were already public. Jared McBride, a history professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently led his students on a class project that discovered more than a thousand pages of historic Royal Canadian Mounted Police war crimes files—all freely available online. These typed and handwritten files from the 1980s show suspects' names, locations, case numbers, alleged crimes, and the results of the Mounties' investigations, including collaboration with Israel, Germany and Soviet authorities. They appear to match the still-secret parts of Canada's official 1986 Deschênes Commission of Inquiry's records on alleged or actual Nazi war criminals who got into the country. Not knowing about these publicly available documents, Jewish groups and some media outlets still have lawsuits pending to force Library and Archives Canada to release its war crimes holdings. But, as the UCLA students found out, the archives already released the RCMP documents five years ago. And nobody did anything with them—until now. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Jared McBride joins to to unpack what, and how, he and his students uncovered in this breakthrough moment for national justice. Related links Hear B'nai Brith Canada's former legal director, and a former war crimes investigator turned historian both weigh in on the importance of Canada releasing the names of suspected Nazi war criminals who entered the country, on The CJN Daily. Why Canada was reluctant to prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals who entered the country, in The CJN. Get the secret RCMP war crimes files officially released by Canada in Jan. 2020, after an Access to Information request. The files are all hosted now on the Canadian-based Investigative Journalism Foundation's public database collection. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

When Elliot Gluck recently tried to figure out how to vote in the upcoming Canadian election from abroad in Israel, he was left scratching his head. The 23-year-old Vancouver native, currently interning at a green tech company in Tel Aviv, knew there had to be a better way to help his fellow Canadians exercise their democratic rights. So the political science graduate spent a few days last week creating a new website, IsraelVotes.ca, which is already live. His goal is to make it easier for those eligible voters among the estimated 40,000 Canadians currently living in Israel to receive their ballots and cast their votes in what he's calling "one of the most consequential elections in recent memory," scheduled for April 28. Gluck's website is non-partisan and completely free, and facilitates ballot delivery, including to and from the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv. He joins Ellin Bessner on The CJN Daily to explain his motivations, the nasty antisemitic comments he's received online, and why it matters that Jewish Canadians make their voices heard this month. Related links Check out IsraelVotes.ca to learn more about how to vote from Israel in the April 28, 2025 Canadian federal election. Elections Canada's website also explains about how to vote in Canadian elections if you are Canadian abroad, no matter how long you've lived outside of Canada. When Canada originally barred citizens living in Israel from voting from abroad, in The CJN, from 2015. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Andrea Varsany (producer), Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Canadians have been bracing for a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump for months—and this week, it might actually kick into high gear. Washington has already imposed 25-percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and is expected to add auto parts to the list as early as April 3. These acts are having devastating effects on Canada's economy—especially Canadian entrepreneurs. Many domestic business owners are pivoting. Some are focusing more on the Canadian market. Others are looking to expand in Europe and Australia. At least one Jewish business owner in Quebec moved his product assembly to Vermont, helping him keep his Canadian factory open. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we check in with two Canadian Jewish business owners, who give us their perspective on the trade war. Noah Tepperman is the co-owner of Tepperman's, a furniture and appliance retail chain headquarted in Windsor, Ont., celebrating its centennial this month; and Michael Wiesel joins from Knowlton, Quebec to explain how he's trying to save his DIY craft kit business, Kiss Naturals, which relies on U.S. customers for 80 percent of its business. Related Links Hear how this Vancouver kosher grocer prepared to handle expected tariffs on imported U.S. Passover foodstuffs (which have since been exempted) on The CJN Daily. Why tariffs might send more Jewish poor to food banks, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

In 1942, while Nazis were forcing the Jews of Krosno, Poland to move into the local ghetto, they missed at least one: an eight-month-old Jewish infant, left in a ditch by her frantic mother, wrapped only in a blanket, with just a birthdate and false first name pinned to the wool. A passing Polish couple found the child, brought her home and raised her as a Christian. She never knew her real name or identity, despite—she told people years later—always feeling that she was Jewish. It wasn't until 2017 that a band of keen Jewish genealogy researchers, including the late Stanley Diamondof Montreal, managed to crack the mystery and confirm that Maria Vasitinskaya was really Rivka Silber. And despite her parents and two older siblings being murdered in the Holocaust, Diamond was able to reconnect the child survivor, then 78, with her extended family, including approximately 100 relatives in Israel and around the world. In April 2025, this remarkable true story is being published as a new non-fiction book, One in Six Million, by Amy Fish, a Canadian author. Fish joins The CJN Daily to explain how the tale fell into her lap—and how an unexpected genetic twist made telling it literally part of her own DNA. Related links Learn more about the book One in Six Million here. Read about the late Stanley Diamond's passion for reuniting Holocaust survivors, in The CJN. Hear Stanley Diamond profiled on our newest Honourable Menschen podcast. Learn more about free DNA tests for Holocaust survivors. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Just 24 hours into Canada's federal election campaign, The CJN has put Jewish issues on the agenda. On Monday morning of Mar. 24, in a hotel near the Toronto airport, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre met with about 40 journalists from significant diaspora communities as part of a media roundtable reserved for “ethnic” news outlets—one of the first media opportunities since the federal election was called over the weekend. Poilievre fielded questions from outlets publishing in Mandarin, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Arabic and Vietnamese—and The Canadian Jewish News was there, too. While the focus was on Poilievre's general platform—including why he would be better to handle Canada's trade war with the U.S. than newly elected Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney—he also explained how he plans to tackle hate crimes against Canada's Jewish community and address the Liberals' recently announced $100 million in aid for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Hear what he has to say, on today's episode of _The CJN Daily _with host Ellin Bessner. What we talked about: Why the families of the Oct. 7 victims are suing the Canadian government for funding UNWRA, as is the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in The CJN. How Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre spent the spring of 2024 courting Canada's Jewish community, on The CJN Daily. In 2023, Canada committed $100 million over four years in funding for UNWRA, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

About 2,000 anti-Israel protesters turned up in downtown Toronto on March 23 for the annual Al-Quds Day march in support of a free Palestine. Ahead of the event, calls to ban these events in cities across Canada were especially loud this year. The rallies—which happen globally—have seen protesters dressed up as suicide bombers, explicit calls for the destruction of Israel, Holocaust distortion, and flags for nationally-banned terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Samidoun and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. While Toronto police had vowed, days earlier, to beef up their presence at the event and look out for hateful activity, their response has been called a “Band-Aid” approach to address spiking antisemitism in the country. Police did ensure that roughly 25 pro-Israel counter-protesters stood peacefully across the street from the main activity, playing “O Canada” loudly, on repeat, while waving Israeli and Canadian flags. The CJN Daily‘s host Ellin Bessner went to cover the event and clearly heard antisemitic chants of “Go Back to Europe” aimed at the tiny but loud group of Jews. She saw anti-Israel Jews calling Zionism Satanism. And she herself was followed, harassed and chased out of a public city sidewalk and street by anti-Israel protesters when they discovered she worked for a Jewish news organization. Related links Why Jewish groups and some politicians feel the annual Al-Quds marches in Canada need to be banned as hate fests, in The CJN. Why is Canada doing nothing about terror-banned group Samidoun leaders travelling to Beirut for Hezbollah leader's funeral, in The CJN. How to submit your opinion before May 1, 2025 to Toronto city council about how they should police protests outside places of worship, the so called "bubble legislation." Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

For years, Heeb was the Jewish hipster's answer to _Vice—_an early 2000s-era counter-cultural protest in print form, dripping with satirical comedy and anti-establishment sentiment. Sometimes, the editorial team would push the envelop too far—the magazine was famously criticized for publishing photos of Roseanne Barr dressed as Adolf Hitler, holding a tray of burnt cookies—but it encompassed a cultural moment for North American Jews that now feels somehow nostalgic. The last print edition came out in 2010, and the website has been dormant for years. Until now. Mik Moore, a creative director and digital media campaign strategist who often works with the Democratic Party, has decided to pick up where Heeb left off and revitalize the brand for a new generation. And as a collector of nearly every edition ever printed, Bonjour Chai host Avi Finegold couldn't be more excited. Moore joins the podcast to explain why he's bringing it back and address what's changed since those erstwhile days of two decades ago. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

On Monday March 17, Toronto Police Services announced that they arrested and laid 29 charges against a suspect allegedly behind a spree of hate-motivated attacks on Toronto's Jewish community in 2024—and then, revealed a judge had released him on bail. Amir Arvahi Azar, 32, was arrested on Jan. 11, 2025, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto. He was kept in custody for two months, until this week's release order. Police highlighted the fact that they brought three “very rare” hate-speech charges against the suspect, including advocating genocide against Jews, wilful promotion of genocide and public incitement of hatred. The Ontario attorney general's office had to agree to lay these charges, but went further than that and tagged the charges as “terrorist activities” under the Criminal Code, opening the door to a life sentence if convicted. There is a publication ban on revealing too many details about the case. All this has led Jewish leaders to ask: why was the suspect released on bail at all? On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we speak to Rivka Campbell, executive director of Beth Tikvah Synagogue, whose premises were hit by arson in April 2024, and also with Guidy Mamann of the Tiferet Israel congregation, where a pro-Israel sign was torched in August. Related links Read more reaction in The CJN from Jewish leaders about the arrest, charging with hate crimes, and then court-ordered release on bail of a suspect alleged to be behind terrorism-related spree of attacks on Toronto Jewish community buildings and people last year. Read the Toronto Police Service's news release announcing the suspect's arrest and bail conditions, March 17. Hear how Toronto's most targeted synagogue, Kehillat Shaarei Torah on Bayview Avenue, became more resilient after each of its eight attacks, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

On the second Honourable Menschen of 2025, we pay tribute to five Canadians from four provinces who left a mark on our community and who passed away in recent months. Dianne Kipnes, an Edmonton clinical psychologist and philanthropist who, together with her husband Irving fought to find and fund better treatment for people with cancer-related conditions. Sandy Keshen, executive director for 41 years of Toronto's Reena organization, which was created to help her own daughter and other persons with disabilities find facilities and inclusion in the community. Michael Mostyn, the former CEO of B'nai Brith Canada, a Toronto lawyer who revitalized the Jewish advocacy organization to fight antisemitism on a national stage, while also assisting seniors, youth and the poor. Lou Hoffer, a Holocaust survivor from the less well known area of Transnistria in Romania, who became a tireless advocate for the victims of the Nazis murdered in that part of Europe. And Stanley Diamond, a Montreal genealogy expert whose quest to learn more about his family's genetic blood disease, Beta thalassemia, helped so many Jewish people find their lost European relatives roots after the Holocaust, including Douglas Emhoff, Gwyneth Paltrow and Alan Dershowitz. On this episode of The CJN Daily‘s Honourable Menschen, we're joined by our obituary writer Heather Ringel and also by Lila Sarick, The CJN's News Editor, for more insights into the community leaders we have lost.     Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Last week, a senior Israeli official told the media that the country's goal is to establish full diplomatic relations with Lebanon soon, a move that follows a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that has kept Northern Israel relatively safe in recent months. In that light, the Israeli government has been urging displaced Israeli families from the region—more than 60,000 people who fled after Hezbollah began firing rockets at them after Oct. 7—to finally come home. But not everyone is convinced. Some fear the ceasefire won't last. Even the mayor of Metula, where 60 percent of the buildings were damaged—including the Canadian-built hockey and sports complex—has warned residents not to return yet. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by Michal and Nir Zamir, a Metula couple with deep Canadian ties. She's returned to her empty home in northern Israel just recently, while he stays in Edmonton,where some of their children live. Then we'll hear from Dr. Esther Silver, a former Torontonian who toughed out the war in her home in Kfar Vradim, a small town about an hour to the southwest of Metula in the Upper Galilee. Related links Why Israel's military escalation with Hezbollah impacts Canadians in Northern Israel on The CJN Daily from Jan. 2024. What Esther Silver said after the IIHF banned Israel's national hockey teams (temporarily) in 2024 from international competition, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Some people might argue there's nothing funny about what's happening in the Middle East. But try telling that to Eric and Ryan Turkienicz, the Toronto-based brothers who created the Jewish parody news website The Daily Brine after Oct. 7. Some sample headlines: “Hamas' Work-From-Tunnel Policy Absolutely Ruining Office Culture.” “US Proposes Letting Hamas Rule The Country On Weekends Plus Every Other Thursday.” “Jewish Voice For Peace Excited To Decolonize Shavuot Just As Soon As Someone Explains To Them What Shavuot Is.” The Daily Brine started off as a side gig, an outlet for Eric Turkienicz—a lawyer by day—to leverage the time he spent performing and writing comedy at The Second City. Ryan, who works in real estate, handles the graphic design and social media. Now, with more than 20,000 followers across Instagram and Twitter, the Canada brothers have grown their part-time hustle to the point that the president of Israel invited them for an in-person meeting last week. On today's The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner meets the Turkienicz brothers to discuss the real meaning behind the project: to provide uplifting, biting, and amusing pro-Israel content that punches up at the antisemites and the powers that be. Related links Follow The Daily Brine on their website, or on Instagram, Facebook and X/Twitter. Learn more about buying their merchandise, including T-shirts. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

A pro-Israel student is suing Toronto Metropolitan University for $1.3 million, arguing the school allowed violations of campus policies that created a toxic atmosphere for Jews—and even cost her a job. Eslewhere, Jewish members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada—whose dues get donated to Palestinian causes like the United Nations Relief & Works Agency—are outraged that a senior official in the union has been posting pro-Hamas slogans to social media. What connects these stories, and more than 500 others? These Canadians sought help from the new CIJA Legal Task Force, a free initiative created by the lobbyist organization the Centre for Israel Jewish Affairs. Created years ago as a professional development group, the task force has, since Oct. 7, evolved into a “rapid response” pro bono legal team that combats antisemitism directly—by taking the issues to court. Officials behind the group say that politicians, police officers, school boards, unions and hospitals have failed to take the problem seriously, prompting them to take matters into their own hands. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by former federal crown prosecutor Nanette Rosen, who co-chairs the legal task force, and Richard Marceau, a lawyer and CIJA's general counsel. Related links Learn more about the CIJA Legal Task Force and how to apply for help. Why CIJA is helping some families of the Canadians murdered on Oct. 7 to sue Ottawa for resuming funding to UNRWA, in The CJN. Read the legal brief filed at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last April by a Toronto Metropolitan University student against her school, alleging toxic antisemitic conditions. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here) Read transcript

Canada is exempting key imported Passover foods from the current diplomatic trade war with the United States. The ministry of finance sent The CJN a list of kosher-for-Passover products imported from the U.S., which are going to be allowed into Canada without being hit by the extra 25-percent retaliatory import tariffs that Ottawa began imposing on March 4. The list includes matzah and related matzah products, cake mixes, chocolate, margarine, most juices (but not apple), gefilte fish, and canned fruit and vegetables. However, U.S. exports of nuts, spices, dairy, wine, coffee, chicken and meat products are not exempt. The development comes after Canada's biggest kosher food importer recently predicted that the on-again-off-again tariff dispute would rocket prices for imported kosher-for-Passover food by up to 60 percent. Canadian Jewish leaders have been lobbying Ottawa to give relief to the country's Jewish community as it heads into the holiday season. While the news will likely bring a sigh of relief to consumers, it is only a temporary reprieve: its lasts only until the end of Passover. For more on how these food tariffs are impacting Canadian kosher food stores and suppliers across Canada, and what advice they have for you, we're joined on today's episode of The CJN Daily by the owners of Vancouver's Kosher Food Warehouse, Tal Kinstlich and Stephanie Schneider. Jack Hartstein also returns: he's the vice president of Montreal-based Altra Foods, the largest importer of kosher foods in Canada. Related links Read the list of imported Passover items to be exempt from Canadian tariffs, posted on the Canadian government's website. Why kosher food prices for Passover are likely to jump by up to 60 percent this year, on The CJN Daily. Learn more about the Kosher Food Warehouse in Vancouver. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Two antisemitism summits occurred this week: one hosted by the Anti-Defamation League in the United States, and the other by the federal government in Ottawa. And while, in both countries, there is an understanding that these sorts of summits and conferences rarely lead to change—is the alternative any better? As the world backslides into populist-style illiberalism, can we safely assume that "antisemitism is bad" is a shared belief? To discuss these trends, and how to achieve real results, The CJN's podcast producer Zachary Judah Kauffman joins co-hosts Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. They begin with one of the most eye-popping pieces of digital content to come out of the ADL's conference: self-described "Jewish women with big racks" out to combat antisemitism online. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Michael Fraiman (producer), Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

While tariffs on steel and energy in the Canada-U.S trade war are currently dominating the news headlines, Montrealer Stephen Bronfman has been paying very close attention to a different sector now under the microscope: the environment. Bronfman, a longtime "green" campaigner, runs his family's private investment firms and supports the Birthright outfit, which his father founded 25 years ago. He has been watching Donald Trump's return to power south of the border with some alarm, because of his plans to roll back many laws that protect the environment, fire tens of thousands of government environment agency staff, lift restrictions on building pipelines, slow the electric vehicle trend, and permit unfettered development of the oil and gas industry, again. Or, as Trump called it during his Tuesday night speech to Congress, "Drill, baby, Drill!!" Those are all red flags for Bronfman, which is why he is urging wealthy Jewish donors to step up and make it their business to protect the environment and mitigate climate change, now that it's no longer part of the Trump business agenda. (Also in Canada, the carbon tax is on its way out, no matter who is elected prime minister.) This month, Bronfman is launching a new Jewish Climate Trust, with funds going to support climate solutions in North America and also in Israel, harnessing that country's eco-tech "start-up nation" know-how. The new climate trust already has "a minyan" of investors, as Bronfman jokingly puts it, including some prominent Canadians. He joins The CJN Daily's Ellin Bessner to explain how his fund can also secure the future of Jews in Israel and build bridges in the region. To read the transcript of the interview, go to the episode at www.thecjn.ca What we talked about: Learn more about the Jewish Climate Trust. Read more about Stephen Bronfman's efforts to promote the environment, in The CJN archives, from 2009. Bronfman's initial board includes his father Charles, and also Montrealer Jeff Hart, the co-founder of the Climate Solutions Prize, honouring Israeli environmental research, through JNF Canada, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

For the last two months, listeners around the world have been hearing a deeply reported true-crime podcast investigation – the first of its kind – into the notorious Canadian case of a mild-mannered Ottawa sociology professor, Hassan Diab, who France recently convicted of being the terrorist who blew up Paris' historic Copernic Street synagogue in 1980. Although Diab has no intention of serving out that life sentence in a French prison for the murders of four victims, and the wounding of many others: the professor from Carleton University claims he is innocent, was nowhere near Paris, was never mixed up in terrorism and is the wrong man. And, despite already spending nearly 27 years under suspicion, including some locked behind bars or on tight bail conditions, Diab's fight to prove he's a scapegoat has now received some renewed support. The Canadaland _news platform has published a six-part series called “The Copernic Affair”. It raises serious questions into how French officials prosecuted the case, using incomplete or inadmissible evidence, a weak Canadian extradition system, and by France's historic need to bring someone, anyone, to justice for a terrorist attack that's deeply etched into their national memory. Diab's many supporters, including some Jewish Canadian leaders, regret how the man's life has been ruined, facing calls for him to be fired at work, and ongoing death threats to his family in Ottawa. On today's episode of _The CJN Daily, Ellin is joined by the two journalists behind the unique investigative series: Alex Atack is a senior audio producer, often for The Guardian, and Dana Ballout, an Emmy-award winning documentary producer, with bylines on This American Life, National Geographic/ Disney+, The Wall Street Journal and Al-Jazeera. To read a transcript of the episode, go to our website: https://thecjn.ca/podcasts/hassan-diab/ What we talked about: Read some of The CJN's coverage of the Hassan Diab saga, and hear The CJN Daily's interview on the Copernic bombing with Israel's Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed . Hear the Canadaland investigation podcast series The Copernic Affair. Read the Canadian government's own scathing report on Canada's extradition of Diab to France in 2018. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Joseph Fish (chase producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

On Thursday March 6, in Ottawa, the Trudeau government is holding a national antisemitism forum to help better protect Jewish Canadians from what it calls “a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents, threats, and hate crimes.” It's by invitation only, and is expected to bring together police, prosecutors, politicians and Jewish leaders for a one-day confab on how Ottawa, the provinces and municipalities can work better together to ensure Jewish Canadians feel safe to go to synagogue, school and live in their communities. The timing of this forum has prompted some skepticism in some corners: it's being held just three days before the federal Liberals elect a new leader and prime minister–and only weeks before Canada could be sent into a general election, which puts any political pledges made at this conference at risk. It's also being held a full seventeen months post-Oct. 7, which unleashed an explosion of antisemitism in this country that's continued unabated, with synagogue fire bombings, gun shots at religious schools, vandalism against Jewish businesses, doxxing of Jews in health care and academia, and supporters of designated terror groups continuing to operate openly, including on campus, online and on the streets. Some groups, including CIJA, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, who pushed for the forum, say unless concrete action is announced, it will be of little value. So who's attending? Why weren't the Conservatives invited? What will Canadian police and politicians hear? Will Canada promise Bubble legislation? On today's episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner gets a preview from one of the forum's panelists, Toronto criminal defence lawyer Mark Sandler, who's also the founder and chair of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism. What we talked about: Learn more about the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism. Read more about what Jewish leaders are expecting from Ottawa's Antisemitism Forum, in The CJN. Hear why Ottawa has been urged to convene a national summit focusing on law enforcement and antisemitism, in The CJN.Example Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

For decades, it has been broadly accepted in the Jewish community that Meir Kahane—founder of the Jewish Defense League, accused terrorist in Israel and the United States, ultra-nationalist character—is an extremist outlier whose ideas are decidedly not mainstream. And yet, because ultra-nationalism is in vogue again, perhaps it was only a matter of time until Kahanism picked up steam on social media. In this week's episode of Bonjour Chai, hosts Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy focus on influencer Lizzy Savetsky's controversial post in support of Meir Kahane—and how the lifestyle content creator, like others in her field, have pivoted towards hardline pro-Israel advocacy post-Oct. 7. How seriously should we take their endorsements? Or should we be more worried about the mainstreaming of fringe ideas? Turning abroad, the hosts then speak with Till van Rahden, a professor of German and European studies at the Université de Montréal and the author of Jews and other Germans: Civil Society, Religious Diversity and Urban Politics in Breslau, 1860 to 1925, about similar pro-nationalist trends in Germany. He sheds light on the recent German elections and the rise of the Alternative for Deutschland party, including its evolution from a conservative group to a radical right-wing entity, raising concerns of neo-Nazi affiliations. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (editor), Michael Fraiman (producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

Some released bouquets of orange balloons. Others wore Batman costumes. Some did mitzvahs or studied Talmud. These were just some of the ways that Canada's Jewish community came together in recent days to mourn the deaths of the two young Bibas children, Ariel and Kfir, and their mother, Shiri, who were murdered while in captivity in Gaza since Oct. 7. The official handover ceremony of the coffins carrying the boys' remains on Feb. 20 triggered an outpouring of worldwide grief tinged with rage. That rage peaked the following morning, when news broke that Hamas had actually sent back a different body of a random Palestinian woman in lieu of the boys' slain mother. Also returned was the body of Oded Lifshitz, 84, whose niece lives in Vancouver. His funeral is set for Tuesday at Kibbutz Nir Oz, while the Bibas family's funeral is being held privately the next day, on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Jews around the world, including here in Canada, needed an outlet to express their deep sadness. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner describes her own private memorial, and brings you sound from vigils that occurred coast to coast, including in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal. What we talked about: Read more reaction from Canadian Jews and others to the news about the two children of the Bibas family's murders last week, in The CJN. Read more about the Vancouver relatives of slain Nir Oz hostage Oded Lifshitz, whose body Hamas returned on Thursday, in The CJN. Meet the Canadians who are running, knitting and lighting candles for the hostages, on The CJN Daily. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Ontarians are heading to the polls on Feb. 27 to elect the province's 44th government after Premier Doug Ford called a snap election. The Conservative leader, who has twice been elected since taking office in 2018, says he need a new four-year mandate to take on U.S. President Donald Trump and his threats of crippling import tariffs that, Ford warns, could cost Ontario half a million jobs. Amidst debates over tariffs and inflation, however, Jewish topics aren't getting much attention. Which party would most value protecting synagogues and Jewish schools from vandalism and protest? Which party would tackle anti-Zionism in public schools? Which party would address campus antisemitism? For answers, we turn to a special Ontario edition of The CJN Daily‘s political panel. Today we're joined by Ari Laskin, a former Conservative political staffer and strategist in Premier Doug Ford's office—who, in 2014, happened to run the current Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie's successful campaign for mayor of Mississauga—and Emma Cunningham, a former Ontario NDP riding president who left that party over its refusal to tackle internal antisemitism. Related links Read why “bubble legislation” is now a hot-button campaign issue for some Jewish candidates in the Ontario election, in The CJN. The CJN's political columnist Josh Lieblein opines on a winter election, with Trump's tariffs part of the campaign. A close race in Toronto-St. Paul's by Jonathan Rothman, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Last week, the Toronto District School Board held two virtual meetings that lasted seven hours each. In those 14 hours, trustees were set to vote on whether to receive a report on antisemitism in the county's biggest public school system—a report that offered 32 recommendations for confronting and mitigating antisemitism in public schools. Once again, this was to vote on whether to receive the report. Not to enact all 32 recommendations, but simply to accept that it was done. Why did it take 14 hours to discuss? The meetings—which The CJN's education reporter, Mitchell Consky, attended—were bombarded by mostly anti-Zionist delegates who argued that the report should not consider anti-Zionism as a contemporary form of antisemitism. On the other hand, the community saw pro-Zionist activists slam the report for trying to shoehorn antisemitism into a "diversity, equity and inclusion" framework that create a hierarchy of victimhood. Consky joins Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy on Bonjour Chai to explain what went on in those titanic meetings and the shifting politics at play. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Joe Fish (producer & editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

On Feb. 10, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada published its decision on whether Library and Archives Canada was justified to block the release of the full, un-redacted 1986 report on suspected Nazi war criminals and collaborators who came to Canada after the Second World War. The government archives department claims it can't release everything, because Canada received some key information after the war from an allied foreign government—who wouldn't like it published, even all these years later—and doing so could jeopardize Canada's international relations. Plus, releasing RCMP file numbers could be dangerous. The OIC ruling suggested that B'nai Brith Canada, who has been lobbying for decades to unlock the Canada's murky wartime immigration policies, should take the case to the Federal Court of Canada. And that's just what B'nai Brith Canada has done. On Jan. 21, lawyers for the Jewish human rights group filed documents asking for a judicial review of keeping the so-called "Deschenes Report" secret. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by Sam Goldstein, former legal counsel to B'nai Brith Canada, and by historian and author Howard Margolian, a former war crimes investigator who thinks Canada let in relatively few hardcore Nazis back then—but wants the names released as well as their entire case files. Related links Read B'nai Brith's legal application to the Federal Court for a judicial review of Ottawa's refusal to release all the classified war criminals documents. Read the Office of the Information Commissioner's ruling on B'nai Brith's appeal. Read how Pierre Trudeau opposed prosecuting Nazi war criminals who had entered Canada–revealed in the most recent batch of 1986 Deschenes Commission war crimes documents, released by Ottawa in February 2024, in The CJN. Hear why B'nai Brith Canada and historian Alti Rodal continued to push for all the files and names to be released, on The CJN Daily from Oct. 2023 and from September 2024. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Valentine's Day, for most people, is a day to celebrate love. For the more neurotic among us, we might be inclined to spend the day analytically dissecting our romantic lives and partnerships. There are conflicting truths about modern relationships: we have to accept that our partners are special, sacred and worth fighting for; and, at the same time, that modern marriage was never meant to be like this. Throughout history, our co-parents, best friends, cooks, nannies and confidants were different people; today, we expect everything from our partner. It's no surprise that couples therapy has risen dramatically, and that the shifting role of men in society—more depressed, anxious and lonely—has played a role in this. Daniel Oppenheimer knows this well. The writer and podcaster recently published a lengthy personal feature in the New York Times Magazine, "How I Learned That the Problem in My Marriage Was Me", in which he details undergoing couples therapy quasi-publicly with the acclaimed therapist Terry Real. He joins Bonjour Chai, our weekly current affairs show, to discuss the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions and the complexities of modern masculinity—especially through the lens of Jewish identity. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Joe Fish (producer & editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

Since 2023, the Toronto District School Board has been working on an updated strategy to combat several categories of hate and racism in its nearly 600 schools. The update will cover hatred against more than a half dozen minority communities, including Black, Asian, Trans, Indigenous, and Jewish-but when the board suddenly added anti-Palestinian racism to the list last summer, hundreds of Jewish community members including Jewish parents, students and staff have slammed the school board for ignoring rampant Jew-hatred since Oct. 7 in classrooms, halls and field trips. Now, after consulting with 125 Jewish students and with members from 35 diverse Jewish community groups, the authors of a new report—”Affirming Jewish Identities and Addressing Antisemitism”—are tabling it in front of a committee of school board trustees on the evening of Feb. 12. The trustees will then vote on whether or not to send it along to the entire board for approval the following week. The report includes many suggestions, such as beefing up training about Jews beyond Holocaust education; making sure Jews are part of diversity, equity and inclusion work; recognizing anti-Zionism as a new form of antisemitism; and hiring more Jewish professionals for senior management positions. While some Jewish leaders are praising the report, others feel the whole concept is flawed by the board's focus on identity, and want geopolitics removed from schools entirely. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by Shelley Laskin, a trustee representing the heavily Jewish neighbourhood of Eglinton-Lawrence-St. Paul's, who calls the meeting a historic moment for the school board; and also by Tamara Gottlieb, co-founder of the Jewish Educators and Families Association (JEFA), who has serious reservations about the report. Related links Read the proposed Toronto District School Board antisemitism policy documents and the detailed report being presented Wednesday Feb. 12, 2025. Learn more about the controversy that erupted last summer over proposed anti-racism strategies at the Toronto District School Board since Oct. 7, in The CJN.  Hear how Jewish students at Toronto District School Board schools have experienced antisemitism and anti-Israel hate after Oct. 7, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Over the last six months, residents of Whitby, Ont., have discovered multiple Nazi swastikas around towbn, including carved into the walls of their main library's washroom and burned with chemicals onto a popular soccer field. Police are investigating, but no one's been caught. The antisemitic incidents have shocked the local Jewish community of 1,000 families, members of which say, by and large, that most people feel relatively safe in Whitby. They're also grateful for the latest support from the mayor, town council, Durham regional police and local faith groups. In response to the events, last week, the Town of Whitby voted to ask Ottawa to ban the Nazi swastika, also pledging to develop better internal protocols to handle future hate symbols when discovered. The town's motions have had a domino effect, and politicians in neighbouring communities are taking notice. Durham Region councillors will consider the same swastika ban on Feb. 12, while the Pickering will consider it at the end of the month. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from Rabbi Tzali Borenstein, spiritual leader of Chabad of Durham; Whitby town councillor Chris Leahy, who brought the original motions forward; Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy; and professor Tessa Troughton, whose child has witnessed Nazi salutes at her local high school, including students mimicking Elon Musk. What we talked about: Read the motions passed by Whitby Town Council on Monday Feb. 3, 2025 to a) support the call to ban the swastika and b) to develop a protocol to react better to cases of antisemitism when municipal staff discover it. Learn more about B'nai Brith Canada's campaign to ban the display of the Nazi swastika by modifying the criminal code. Hear more from Durham District school trustee Emma Cunningham about antisemitism in Whitby, on The CJN Daily's political panel, from Dec. 2024. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Karina Gould says she is a Zionist; she is raising her kids to know the Jewish traditions, and she is fiercely proud of her Jewish heritage, including the legacy of her grandparents who survived the Holocaust. With just under a month to go before the federal Liberals choose a new leader on Mar. 9, Gould—the only candidate of Jewish heritage—announced she had cleared her party's $225,000 fundraising hurdle before the deadline last Friday. But she will have to come up with an additional $125,000 by Feb. 17 to remain in race. Gould is campaigning against front-runner Mark Carney, formerly governor of the Bank of Canada; former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland; and also former Liberal MPs Ruby Dhalla and Frank Baylis. Gould was first elected in Burlington as part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's majority sweep in 2015. At 29, she became the youngest female cabinet minister in Canadian history when Trudeau appointed her minister for democratic institutions in 2017. But after nine years in office, Gould says Canadian voters have lost faith in the Liberal party. She also recognizes that traditional support from Jewish Canadian voters has all but evaporated because of her government's recent wavering stance on Israel and the spike in domestic antisemitism. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Gould joins host Ellin Bessner to explain how her Jewish identity shaped her and outline her policies on Israel and Jewish issues: why she would continue funding UNRWA, for now; how she wants to see all hostages released unconditionally; how she'd handle the arms embargo on Israel, and why Trump's plan to rebuild Gaza is a hard "No". Related links Read a 2021 profile of Karina Gould when she was Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, in The CJN. Learn more about Karine Gould at her campaign website. Read what CJN political columnist says about the main candidates in the Liberal leadership race, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

U.S. President Trump's threats of tariffs and making Canada a 51st state has sparked a resurgent nationalism across Canada. In progressive neighbourhoods, Canadian flags have replaced Palestinian ones; in Conservative messaging, federal leader Pierre Poilievre has stopped claiming Canada is "broken" and started defending it from our southern neighbours. One tangible fallout from the schism—and eventual trade war, should it actually happen—will be an even higher cost of living than what Canadian have grown accustomed to. This is specifically true of kosher food products, many of which are imported from the United States. With this backdrop, a growing number of Canadians who once admired Trump—including Canadian Jews, but also Ontario Premier Doug Ford—are now realizing their mistake. On this week's episode of Bonjour Chai, Avi and Phoebe break down the ways in which Donald Trump is reshaping Canadian politics, from a Jewish perspective and beyond. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Michael Fraiman (producer), Zachary Kauffman (editor) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

The recent announcement of a temporary 30-day pause in the Canada-U.S. tariff war came as a relief to this country's largest importer of Kosher foods made in the United States. Montreal-based Altra Foods spent the earlier part of the week scrambling to place rush orders from suppliers south of the border, after Canada vowed to slap 25% retaliatory duties on some of the company's 3,000 kosher imported brands, such as Sabra, Geffen, Streit's, Hadar and even Bush Beans. But Altra's vice president ,Jack Hartstein, worries that if the negotiations collapse,and the Canadian tariffs kick in next month-just ahead of Passover–prices will rise by between 50 and 60 percent for kosher food imports from the key U.S. market. That's why Canada's kashruth organizations COR and MK,and the Hasidic community have teamed up with political advocacy group CIJA, and with help from several Liberal MPs, to urge Ottawa to exempt kosher foods from this current trade war. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by Jack Hartstein, of ALTRA Foods, on how his company is bracing for the impact, and what to expect next. What we talked about: Read the list of U.S. products slated for Canadian-imposed 25% import tariffs. Why the 2025 proposed Canadian import tariffs will be much worse for kosher food consumers than the previous 2018 trade war, in The CJN Learn more about ALTRA Foods. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

A U.S. Senate committee is voting on Tuesday, Feb. 4 whether to recommend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should go forward as President Donald Trump's new secretary of health. If he makes it through, RFK Jr. would have a wide-reaching impact on a particular Canadian export: canola oil. Long considered a loud voice in the anti-vaccine movement , and pushing other conspiracy theories, RFK Jr. now on a crusade to ban the signature Canadian oil, along with other seed oils. He claims they are toxic, cause obesity and poison Americans. Notably, he is pushing McDonald's to fry their foods in beef tallow instead. All this makes professor Michael Eskin shake his head. Eskin is an internationally renowned food scientist at the University of Manitoba who helped develop Canada's $35-billion canola industry, including canola oil, as a heart-healthy part of our diet. Eskin's nearly 60 years of research—spanning 19 books and 150 scientific papers—have earned him an Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, and countless professional awards, including, most recently, induction into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. Eskin is a fan of some of RFK Jr.'s other pet peeves: he is similarly critical of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's handling of COVID, for example, and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the CDC But on the canola oil file, the professor thinks the future health czar is giving out the wrong diagnosis. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Eskin joins host Ellin Bessner to explain the benefits of canola oil, share its origin story, and discuss what's at stake should Canada slap tariffs on exports of canola to the U.S. What we talked about: Read more on why Canada's Agricultural Hall of Fame inducted Prof. Michael Eskin into the Class of 2024, for his decades of research on canola oil as a heart-healthy staple. Watch Prof. Michael Eskin's rap video on lipids, on YouTube. Read why Eskin won the Order of Canada, in 2016. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

By day, Avrom Charach works for a property management company in Winnipeg. But since Oct. 7, the prominent Jewish community leader has been working even longer hours on a one-man clean-up crew, removing hate-fuelled graffiti from the streets of his home city. So far, Charach has wiped away more than 100 messages from a synagogue, community centre, sidewalks, public buildings and even street lamps. Winnipeg's police department calls Charach a "community angel" for removing the tags, stickers, posters and slogans himself—for free—sometimes before the city's own clean-up crews can get to the scene. It's all happening since hate crimes have hit a historic high in the city after Oct. 7: in 2023, the last year with available figures, there were 46 cases of hate crimes, including 18 against Jews and five against Muslims. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Avrom Charach joins host Ellin Bessner to explain how this act of tikkun olam has made him an unpaid go-to graffiti buster. What we talked about: Watch the Winnipeg Police news conference announcing the arrest in connection with antisemitic graffiti on Jan. 14, 2025. Read why Avrom Charach helped his Etz Chayim synagogue move to a bigger building, in the south end of Winnipeg, in 2024, in The CJN. More on the historic move from Winnipeg's North End to the south side, where more Jews live, in The CJN. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Last week, billionaire internet troll Elon Musk made headlines (including several at this publication) for making what appeared to be a Nazi salute at the inauguration of Donald Trump. When, in the following days, he was accused of being a Nazi by many people and organizations, he responded with a series of Nazi puns in a tweet, a la, "Some people will Goebbels anything down!" The post was noteworthy because it was unclear where Musk stood on the topic of Nazism, surprising as that is to say. Once, in the not-so-distant past, people could reasonably assume that anyone making jokes about Nazis were making fun of Nazis—not Nazis themselves. But with the rise of online troll culture and a widespread disregard for historic events-turned-memes, it's no longer obvious that the person making the Nazi salute is anti-Nazi. On this week's Bonjour Chai, hosts Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy are joined by The CJN's director of podcasts, Michael Fraiman, who once wrote a column on Jewish comedy for The CJN, and has many thoughts about the evolution of online, right-wing, male-dominated troll humour. Credits Hosts: Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy (@BovyMaltz) Production team: Michael Fraiman (producer), Zachary Kauffman (editor) Music: Socalled Support The CJN Subscribe to the Bonjour Chai Substack Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to Bonjour Chai (Not sure how? Click here)

Monday Jan. 27 was a busy day for Canadian politicians pledging to remember the Holocaust, fight antisemitism, and, in some cases, stand by the embattled State of Israel. The historic day—80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz—also provided a convenient ramp for some early campaign pledges as the country heads into a federal election later this year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made one of his final international visits, to Poland to visit Auschwitz and attend the official commemoration ceremony, where he spoke with two Canadian survivors of that infamous death camp. Back in Canada, his minister of addictions and mental health, Ya'ara Saks, visited the Toronto Holocaust Museum to explain how $3.4 million federal dollars will go toward six organizations to combat Holocaust denial and antisemitism while a million more goes to UNESCO; in Ottawa, his minister of official languages, Rachel Bendayan, revealed the date of the forthcoming second national summit on antisemitism while speaking at Canada's official national Holocaust monument. At the same event, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre attacked the Liberal record on protecting Canadian Jews and standing up for Israel. On this episode of The CJN Daily, you'll hear all these voices and more—including Canadian survivors Howard Chandler and Miriam Ziegler, and U of T law student Pe'er Krut, who had a front row seat in Poland—part of a sweeping glance at what the monumental day sounded like across Canada and beyond. Related links Learn more about the federal funding for Holocaust education and museums in Canada, announced on Jan. 27, in The CJN. Read Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's speech. Listen to Calgary's Daniel Pelton's launch of three new compositions of music inspired by “The Tattooist of Auschwitz:, and recorded using the Violins of Hope, once owned by Holocaust survivors, on The CJN's Culturally Jewish podcast. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer) Music: Dov Beck-Levine Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)