By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted Sept. 23, 8:49 pm) I was coming out of the Asper Campus today around 5:30 pm when I saw a familiar figure – my second cousin Marty Green (son of the late Sid Green) standing on the sidewalk. Marty was walking around quietly. He seemed to be holding some kind of papers in his hand.

I called out to him, he came over and handed me a purple leaflet that had a drawing and some printing on it. I read what was on the leaflet and thought: “Okay, this is reasonable enough. Surely he’s entitled to express his opinion.”
Boy, was I wrong! In short order three police cars arrived on the scene. There must have been at least eight police there at one point, along with two cadets. Wow! All this for distributing leaflets?
I continued watching what ensued – but I’m not exactly sure what happened. All that I know is that at one point Marty was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and put into a police car. What the hell was going on? I wondered.
Had Marty said something to the police? I should note that, in all fairness, Marty has a track record of getting himself into trouble with the law.
But still, is it now a crime to hand out leaflets in a public space? I again wondered. I stayed around for about 1/2 hour, but I had to go somewhere else for a while. I did return though about 1/2 hour later and there was still one police car there. I saw two policemen engaged in conversation with Ruth Ashrafi, who’s Regional Director for B’nai Brith in Manitoba. I asked one of the policemen whether Marty had broken any laws.
His response was: “Read Section 319 of the Criminal Code, Subsection 2.”
I waited unit I got home to look up Section 319 of the Criminal Code, Subsection 2. Here’s the Google description of what that section of the criminal code is about: “Section 319(2) of the Canadian Criminal Code governs the wilful promotion of hatred. It is a criminal offence to intentionally promote hatred against an identifiable group through statements made outside of private conversation. [1, 2, 3]”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I thought. A Jew handing out a leaflet that’s critical of what fanatic settlers are doing on the West Bank is guilty of a hate crime?
Surely there must be more to this than that.
So I called WPS and asked whether there was a report of an incident outside the Asper Campus between 5:30 and 6:30 this evening? The person answering the phone said there was an incident, but said they couldn’t provide any further information.
I did call the media line and left a message, asking someone to call me because I was interested in learning more about what had happened – and why so many police were at the scene for what, for all intents and purposes, seemed nothing more than one person handing out leaflets.

I was so perplexed by what I had seen that I also posed this question to Google: “Is it against the law to hand out leaflets outside the Asper Campus?” (I thought that maybe there was some new kind of bylaw that had been passed of which I was unaware.) Here’s the answer I got:
No, it is not against the law to hand out leaflets on a public sidewalk outside the Asper Campus. Under Canadian law, peaceful distribution of leaflets on public property is a constitutionally protected right under Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of expression. [1]
However, the legal landscape shifts significantly based on exactly where you are standing, what your leaflets say, and how you behave.

Where You Stand Matters

I •	Public Sidewalks: If you are on the public city sidewalk outside the perimeter of the campus, you have the legal right to distribute pamphlets peacefully. A City of Winnipeg proposal in early 2026 (the Safe Access to Vulnerable Infrastructure Bylaw) attempted to ban "nuisance demonstrations" within 100 metres of community and cultural hubs, but after a major public outcry regarding Charter rights, the city councillor withdrew the proposed law. No such buffer zone exists today.

[1, 2, 3]
•	Inside the Campus Property: The Asper Jewish Community Campus in Winnipeg's Old Tuxedo neighbourhood is private property. Private property owners have the legal right to control or ban the distribution of materials on their premises. If you step onto campus property (such as their courtyard, parking lot, or inside buildings) to pass out leaflets, campus security can legally ask you to stop or leave. Refusing to do so can result in a fine under provincial trespassing laws. [1, 2]

Legal Limitations on Leafleting
While you can hand out leaflets on the public sidewalk, you must follow general laws regarding your conduct and the content of your message:
• No Obstruction: You cannot physically block or trap people, prevent them from entering the building, or obstruct pedestrian or vehicle traffic. [1]
• No Harassment or Intimidation: Leafleting must be peaceful. Loudly shouting, using unauthorized megaphones, or intimidating visitors can lead to police intervention or local noise violations. [1]
• Hate Speech Laws: The content of your leaflets cannot cross into criminal territory. Under Canada’s Criminal Code, distributing materials that promote hatred or contain antisemitic or defamatory statements against individuals can trigger police investigations and criminal charges. [1, 2]
Okay, with all that in mind, you be the judge. Do you think the leaflet Marty was handing out would constitute “hate speech?”
I’ve placed a call to Marty, asking him to call me to let me know what actually happened once the police came over to talk to him. At this point I know nothing more about the matter, but gee, is this what it’s come to: A citizen quietly handing out leaflets that I dare suggest have nothing at all to do with hate speech is apprehended by WPS?
And sure, I got an earful from one of the police who said to me that after what happened in Belleville you can’t be too careful these days, but come on, show a little common sense fellas – (and they were all men except for one female cadet).

(Updated Sept. 23 10:54 pm and amended Sept. 24 5:02 pm) I just got off the phone with Marty Green. He gave me a further clarification of what happened. Apparently he had been at the Campus on several other occasions – handing out the same leaflet. Marty said that he had received a lot of angry comments, but it wasn’t going to dissuade him from handing out the same leaflet as you’ve already seen. Until today though, the police hadn’t shown up.

This time they told him he was going to be charged with a hate crime and disturbing the peace. It was at that point he was handcuffed and put into a police car, he told me.

It seems though that, after some discussion among various officers who were there – and from what I could see it was two older, grey-haired police who seemed to be the ones in charge (Correction Sept. 24: Marty says it was two younger officers who arrested him, not the older guys) – the decision was taken to release Marty (Correction Sept. 24: Marty says: “They released me on an “‘undertaking’ that I wouldn’t go within 200m of 123 Doncaster, but I refused to sign the undertaking. So I didn’t agree to it. But I would be arrested immediately if I violated it. I’ll have to talk to my lawyer to see if I can challenge the undertaking (that’s why I refused to sign it). I was unable to contact a lawyer while I was in custody and was told that the hate crime charge would be dropped.”

The disturbing the peace charge, however, Marty was told, will still stand, and he can expect to have to make a court appearance at some point in the future. (He guessed it would be some time in December.)

Marty said that he thought there had been strong pressure put on the police to do something about his handing out leaflets, although when I asked him if he could give any specific names as to who might have exerted that pressure, he said he didn’t know.

I’ve deliberately avoided editorializing as I’ve been writing this, but my last word on what happened today is that if we can’t allow peaceful criticism of some aspects of Israeli policy – and I’m not talking about the kind of sloganeering we’re all so used to hearing and seeing from true haters of Israel, such as condemnation of Israeli “genocide,” “settler colonialism,” “apartheid”, and similar epithets, then we’re not the democratic Jewish community Winnipeg used to be.

I hope to have more on this story – which to me represents the kind of fissure that has developed within Jewish communities in so many parts of the world. So, keep checking back (and it’s not so that I can make any money by having you read this story. If you haven’t noticed yet, there are only two ads on this website. I maintain this website to provide an alternative point of view from the kind you’re going to get from all our established community organizations in Winnipeg.)

(Added Sept. 24): I have phoned the WPS media line twice now trying to get some understanding how an individual walking on a public sidewalk in front of the Asper Campus, handing out leaflets to anyone who was willing to take them – and not confronting or yelling at anyone, can be charged with “disturbing the peace,” let alone a “hate crime.” (At least the WPS officers who were going to charge Marty with a hate crime came to their senses on that one and dropped that charge.)

Look, I can understand people being on edge – especially with what happened in Belleville. I’m not naive or deliberately trying to downplay people’s nervousness. But heck, are we now at a point where anyone handing out leaflets in front of the Campus can be arrested? I realize members of the WPS are under tremendous pressure to “do something,” and I could tell by that comment from the young officer who told me to go read Section 319 Subsection 2 of the Criminal Code that members of the WPS have been given lessons about “hate crimes” and particular instruction to be on the watch for anything that might look like a potentially dangerous situation for members of the Jewish community, but come on fellas – use some common sense. Is that all it takes to get someone arrested: An individual or individuals say that they don’t feel “safe” – simply because someone is exercising his lawful right to hand out leaflets in front of the Campus?

(Note: I don’t allow comments on this website because when I activate the “Add comment” module I get inundated with spam, but if you want me to publish a comment, send me an email at jewishp@mymts.net, and I’ll add it to the end of this story. So long as the comment isn’t defamatory I’ll print it.)

Introduction by BERNIE BELLAN Perry Rosemond was a well- known television producer who grew up in the North End of Winnipeg before moving to Toronto and establishing himself as one of Canadian television’s brightest talents in the 1960s, later to go on to even greater success in the US before returning to Canada in the 1980s.

Rosemond passed away in Toronto on August 20 at the age of 89.

In August 2020, Gerry Posner interviewed Rosemond for the Jewish Radio Hour. I contacted Rochelle Zucker, the longtime producer of that show, to see whether she could send me an audio file of that interview – which she was able to do. Following is a complete transcript of the often hilarious interview Gerry did with Perry Rosemond:

Gerry Posner: Welcome to the Jewish Hour radio show. This is Gerry Posner, and I’m delighted to be back on the radio once again with a guest whom I believe you will find interesting and informative. So today I feel very fortunate to have on the show a real Winnipeg legend, a man who has made his way in the world of the arts, and that is no small achievement. He has been a big name in the field of entertainment as a writer, a director, a producer for many years. I speak of Perry Rosemond. Perry, welcome to the Jewish Hour radio show.

Rosemond: Thank you, Ger.

Posner: I imagine you might have even listened to this show when you were a youngster.

Rosemond: Well, I have to tell you that my grandmother would call us every Sunday when I was about seven years of age, and she would say, “Turn on the French station at 1 o’clock and you’ll hear a very beautiful program.” And that was Noah Whitman’s show. And here I am, a mere 73 years later, on the show. Remarkable.

Posner: Well, I’m glad you made it. Tell me something, Perry. Who were your parents?

Rosemond: My parents were Max and Mona Rosemond, two of the most beautiful-looking people on the face of the earth, and where is genetics when you need it? But we lived in my grandmother’s house. You called it your grandmother’s house, even though there was a grandfather there. But she ruled the roost. And there were 14 of us in a house that wasn’t that big. But my dad was a clothing designer. My mother was a showroom model. And my mother wore a girdle, but she was never fat. And I later learned in life that the reason she wore the girdle was so that when the buyers in the showroom pinched her, it didn’t hurt as much. Those were my parents.

Posner: Well, where was the house that you grew up in?

Rosemond: The house I grew up in was at the corner of Manitoba and Andrews in North Winnipeg.

Posner: So you spent quite a few years there.

Rosemond: Oh, yes. I spent quite a few years there, but we moved. My parents were sort of upwardly mobile, and we moved from Andrews and Manitoba to Lansdowne Avenue. That was an improvement. Oh, my goodness. I had my own room.

Posner: Were there more of you than just Perry? I mean, were there siblings?

Rosemond: No, there was just me. But I was surrounded by cousins who were as close as brothers and sisters, really. And we stayed close for our entire lives. So there was a huge, huge sense of family at 193 Andrews.

Posner: Who would these cousins be?

Rosemond: My cousin Sonny and my cousin Mickey.

Posner: Both Rosemonds?

Rosemond: No, they were on my mother’s side.

Posner: What was her (maiden) name?

Rosemond: Magid.

Posner: MAGGOT. Really? Okay.

Rosemond: And Sonny and Mickey were four years older than me and exploited me at every opportunity. My uncle Dave Rosemond used to manage the Beacon Theater in Winnipeg.

Posner: In the North End.

Rosemond: Yes. And they would go to the Beacon Theater with me and get in for free because of me and still take my 10 cents that my mother gave me for the popcorn. So their mission in life was to exploit Perry Rosemond.

Posner: And you remember it, too.

Rosemond: I do indeed. I do indeed.

Posner: So you went to school where?

Rosemond: William Whyte School.

Posner: And then did you go to (St. Johns) Tech?

Rosemond: I went to Aberdeen and then to Tech. And at William Whyte School, I would go to sleep at night and pray to wake up Ukrainian so that the daily beatings would stop. But it was 50% Ukrainian and 50% Jewish.

Posner: Yeah, you knew what it was like to be a Jew.

Rosemond: Absolutely.

Posner: Did you do any studying in Hebrew or Yiddish?

Rosemond : I did. I went to Hebrew school. And in those days, I sounded like Georgie Jessel, for God’s sakes. In those days, I can’t believe I said that. If you’re going to cut anything, cut “in those days.” Please, Ger, do me a favor. But in those days, the instructors were measured by how much pain they could inflict on the students.

Posner: And you had a bit of that.

Rosemond: A bit of that. I was once thrown against a radiator by Mar Gross, and I still bear the pains to this day.

Posner: But you weren’t a product of Cantor Brownstone’s choir.

Rosemond: No, that was Alan Blye, and he was my friend and my roommate when I moved to Toronto to become an actor.

Posner: Who were some of your buddies in Winnipeg growing up? I guess Blye was one of them.

Rosemond: Blye was very close. Bugsy Lavich was very close, very close, and probably the leading bookmaker of his generation.

Posner: He’s well-known.

Rosemond: Indeed, and remains today my closest and dearest friend. And whenever I think about Bernie, I say to myself, how advantageous is it to have a friend who is the smartest human being in the world? I mean, if I need to know anything, he knows it. He knows it.

Posner: Did you go to university in Winnipeg at all?

Rosemond: I went to the University of Manitoba, and that’s where I got the bug to go into theater because I was Troilus in “Troilus and Cressida.” I was Cassius in “Julius Caesar,” and I was hopeless in the classroom. But it just took me by storm. It really did. And I ended up going to Toronto.

Posner: Well, just hold on a second. Were you not involved in some fashion in the creation of the MTC, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, in its very early days – with John Hirsch?

Rosemond: I was a founding member of the Manitoba Theatre Centre with Gordon Pinsent and Len Cariou – who went on to win a Tony, and Donnelly Rhodes, who went on to be a terrific influence in theatre in Canada. And I was one of the founding members. And you know what was strange, Gerry, is that I thought, boy, if this guy John Hirsch is in Winnipeg, what must they be like in New York or the West End in England? And I never met his match. But boy, could he intimidate me. I was in a play, “Death of a Salesman.” I was playing Bernard, and he came up to me and he said, “Mr. Rosemond, don’t you think you ought to reconsider your interpretation of that lawyer you’re playing?” And it would have been a fair note, except it was given to me after dress rehearsal. I’ve never seen a man customize performance the way he did — everybody got exactly what they needed. He was beyond brilliant. He went to his demise as my mentor and my idol and my friend.

Posner: So he was your introduction to the world of arts.

Rosemond: Absolutely. And strangely enough, we hooked up later when — oh, many, many years later — when he was head of drama at CBC, and he brought me back from Los Angeles to create the program “King of Kensington.”

Posner: When you made that decision somewhere in the ’50s, you’re in your, I guess, 20s, and you make a decision, “I’m going to move to Toronto, and I’m going to go into the arts as a career.” Your parents must have looked at you like you were out of your head.

Rosemond: Do you know, Gerry, it was funny, because beyond the initial beating about the head and shoulders that my father laid on me, they never stopped supporting me. They stood by me, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that. 100% support. Let me chart my own course.

Posner: But the odds were stacked against you. Come on.

Rosemond: Oh, tell me about it. I mean, it was about 15 minutes before I realized I wasn’t a very good television actor. I remember sitting in the basement of 42 Bedford Road in Toronto with Gordon Pinsent, who was my other roommate, with Alan Blye, and we were watching a guy who stole a part from me. He was playing the part I was born to play. And I watched it for about 10 minutes, and I said, “You know what, Gordon? He’s better than I would have been.” And Gordon said, “Perry, get out of acting. You don’t have the ego for it.” And I’d been sneaking in and out of control rooms all this time, Gerry. So I got bitten by the behind the scenes. And that’s where I headed.

Posner: So you actually gave up the acting. You went into production.

Rosemond: Exactly, exactly.

Posner: Well, maybe you were fortunate that that happened early on in the career. In your career, as I gather, you’ve touched the lives of some pretty big names. Tell me if I’m wrong here. Dick Van Dyke?

Rosemond: Yes. Len Cariou, Cloris Leachman, Julie Andrews, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Donnie and Marie, Johnny Cash, and the list goes on.

Posner: How does this all come about?

Rosemond: Oh, Johnny Cash. That was the best time of my life. Two years in Nashville. I’ll tell you how it came about. Johnny wanted documentary elements in his variety show, and I had trained in both in Canada. So I wasn’t the best documentary filmmaker, and I wasn’t the best comedy variety producer, but the fact that I could do both got me the job directing his show. And when they introduced me to him — it was during the hippie era, so I had the long hair and the whole nine yards.

Posner You weren’t exactly a feature presenter. You didn’t present well.

Rosemond: No, I didn’t present well because Johnny said, “Where are you going to film this week?” And I said, “I’m going to Hazard, Kentucky to film coal miners.” And Johnny said, “Perry, if you go into Hazard, Kentucky on a Saturday night with that long hair and them bell-bottoms, they’re going to kill you.” So this whole Hollywood invasion of middle America was absolutely hysterical. But the show was a big hit.

Posner: Give me the career path. You came here (Toronto) in the ’50s.

Rosemond: OK, I came here in the ’50s, late ’50s, as an actor. Right. Shared a room with Gordon Pinsent and Alan Blye. Right. We were very competitive, but Alan really won because he had a role on a continuing starring role on one of the big variety shows. And if I’m not mistaken, he actually declared Gordon Pinsent and me as dependents on his 1959 tax form. So he definitely was the more successful of the group. Then I went back to Winnipeg in 1960, and I applied as a production assistant. And there were no openings, but there were producer-directors that had quit, and so they gave me a job as a producer-director.

Posner: So I get this is at CBC in Winnipeg, correct?

Rosemond So I got 4,200 bucks for the year, and I did Metro News and a talk show, and then I did a show called “Red River Jamboree,” which was fully sponsored by Kraft Foods, always in the top ten. And, Ger, I’ve been going downhill ever since.

Posner Well, I wouldn’t say that. I don’t know hardly that, based on what I’ve read about you. I’d say you’re climbing the ladder, and you’ve climbed to the top. And then, so how long were you back in Winnipeg?

Rosemond: I was back in Winnipeg until ’63. What happened was I was doing this variety show and I looked eastward and the third best variety producer at CBC in Toronto was a guy by the name of Norman Jewison. And so I thought, oh, my God, I’m never going to get to Toronto, which was Mecca, as a variety producer. So I went to my supervisor and said, “Look, I want to do children’s programming. My heart is with the children.” And so I got transferred to the children’s department in Winnipeg, took two kinescopes under my arm and headed to Toronto, and got a transfer to children’s programming in ’63. ’63 to ’68 Toronto, ’68 to ’85 Los Angeles.

Posner: But what were you doing in LA?

Rosemond: Well, I came out of the Cash show and did Bill Cosby’s show. You might not have heard of him. He hasn’t been in the news much these days. But I did Bill Cosby’s variety show, and from then, Donnie and Marie (then) a situation comedy called “Good Times.” But what happened is I had three shows going in Canada at the same time. I had “Bizarre” on CTV. I had “Tom Jones” on Global TV, and I had “King of Kensington” on CBC. So I thought, well, what am I doing in America?

Posner: So back you came to Canada?

Rosemond: Back to Canada, where I’ve been since ’85.

Posner: Now, in those years, those five years that you alluded to, that you were doing work in children’s programming, you were pretty involved, from what I gather. You did some work on “Children of the World?”

Rosemond: Yeah, that’s probably something of which I’m most proud. It was a series on children in developing nations, and it drew an audience of over 600 million people just in audio-visual distribution.

Posner: Wow. And if I had to say, what’s the number one thing you’ve accomplished? That would be it?

Rosemond: That would be it.

Posner: Really?

Rosemond: Absolutely.

Posner: I understand it won (something called the Japan Prize). I mean, I hadn’t heard of this, but I gather it’s pretty significant. The Japan Prize is (for) the best children’s program.

Rosemond: That’s correct.

Posner: So, you know, that’s saying something. That’s a long way from the North End.

Rosemond: Well, you know what we say. They say, how come there’s so many great people from the North End? And my answer is always the same. It’s a deep and abiding desire to get the heck out of the North End.

Posner: Now, I think, correct me here, in some fashion, not only did you do this program that won this prize, “Children of the World.” But you also were connected, and maybe you can tell me how, to “Mr. Dressup” and “The Friendly Giant?”

Rosemond: That’s right. I was head of children’s programming for a period of time and worked with Mr. Dressup and the Friendly Giant. Friendly Giant, I remember once being in a room with him, and I was giving him some notes, and he turned around and he walked away from me. I thought, well, that’s rude. And then I looked, and a group of schoolchildren had come into the studio. And he was deathly afraid of being seen as anything but a giant. Which he was, by the way. He was a gigantic personality.

Posner: Well, you were the executive producer of those shows, right?

Rosemond: Correct, correct, yeah.

Posner: And in some way you got connected to Sesame Street, too?

Rosemond: That’s right. I was living in Los Angeles, and they asked if I would come back and Canadianize Sesame Street.

Posner Canadianized Sesame Street? I didn’t know there was a Canadianized version.

Rosemond: Well, what we did was we took out the Native American segments and the Spanish segments, and we substituted them with Native Canadian and French. And then gradually we took over and did our own version, a Canadian version of Sesame Street. Again, very gratifying. Back to Winnipeg to do it — that was my blackmail. I said, I’ll come back and do it if I can do it in Winnipeg, because I like the graphics artists in Winnipeg, and I felt I’d get a better product.

Posner: Okay, that’d be what, sometime in the ’80s?

Rosemond: That would have been earlier. That would have been in the ’70s.

Posner: Wow. Well, you kept up your links to Winnipeg.

Rosemond: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Posner: Now, so you’ve had children’s programming. And you also got into, I gather, documentary and public affairs.

Rosemond: Right, yes. “The Way It Is.”

Posner: “The Way It Is” was the Sunday Night flagship show. That was the big show on CBC Sunday night, wasn’t it?

Rosemond: That’s right. It was the big show on CBC Sunday night, and I worked with an executive producer called Ross McLean. I didn’t last too long on that, Gerry. I remember Ross had a very constructive way of winning arguments. We had one argument. And I can’t even remember what it was about, but he won it hands down by throwing a Coke can at my head. And I took a hike, and I never came back to “The Way It Is.”

Posner: That’s the way it was.

Rosemond: That’s the way it was, right.

Posner: You also did what you call profiles for CBC’s “Telescope,” with Oscar Peterson, Arthur Haley, Gordon Pinsent, Glenn Gould, Donald Sutherland. I mean, that was another big show.

Rosemond: Yeah, and that was my entrée to the United States because I became their man in America. And thus I did Donald Sutherland in Hollywood while snooping around for work and Eddie Albert from ‘”Green Acres” and all of the expatriate Canadians who were living in Los Angeles. And that gave me a foothold because I could look for work and still pay the rent. My Canadian qualifications counted for nothing in America. You were zero. Zero. And I was starting from scratch at age 30, and I had to have some kind of income to get things going.

Posner: And then somewhere along the line you got — you oversaw the production, I’m not sure exactly, of “Hockey Night in Canada.” I’m guessing you never even played the game.

Rosemond: I was on the third line of the Chicago Blackhawks in the miniature NHL, you know, and probably the worst ever third liner in the history of Manitoba’s miniature NHL hockey. But here’s the deal with that. When I wanted to come back to Canada, I couldn’t just come back as a freelancer because when they brought me in from America, I was the big American producer that they were bringing to Canada. If I was going to be in Canada, you know the deal, the expert’s always 100 miles from home.

Posner: That’s right.

Rosemond: So I had to have a foothold. So I had worked with Don Ohlmeyer Productions, and they were consulting to Hockey Night. And they wanted to take over Hockey Night. And Don suggested that I come up from America to put them in the hockey business, which I did. And I also started other shows for this company, Molestar Communications, which were more in the entertainment business and more to my liking, like the Juno Awards, I’d escape for a month or two, or a syndicated series called “Starting From Scratch,” which I shot in Montreal. So I would leave the administrative behind and jump back into the trenches whenever I could.

Posner: You know, it’s okay you didn’t play so well in the third line in miniature. You did a little better, I would say. Now, you mentioned David Steinberg. And you produced his show, CTV’s “David Steinberg Show?”

Rosemond: Yes, that’s right.

Posner: Did you even write for that show?

Rosemond: I wrote for it.

Posner: How many scripts would you have written for?

Rosemond: We did one season only, but we had an incredible guest list. David grew up a block away from me, and we knew each other forever. And I’ve done so much with David, and I admire him so much. And David attracted a huge guest list of John Voight and Ethel Merman and Milton Berle, and he also was able to bring out John Candy for his first show and Martin Short and Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty and all of those people.

Posner: No, I don’t think David Steinberg’s memories of Winnipeg are as warm as yours are. They are kind of, you know. I’m quite surprised to hear you say that because I think in the beginning maybe, you know, when you were a young kid you hate where you came from. Maybe there was some of that. But now he cherishes it.

Rosemond: He does. I also had a lot of clout in being able to, if I may say so, book enormous talent because we had Marty Short and Andrea Martin, and I was able to book Howie Mandel, because I gave him his first shot in America on Norm Crosby’s “Comedy Shop.” And I got to tell you this really boring story, but I’ll try to make it quick.

Posner: Okay.

Rosemond: My partner and I on Norm Crosby’s Comedy Shop could veto any act that appeared on the show. So Howie’s manager was Saul Holliff’s nephew, and Saul was Johnny Cash’s manager, who was very good to me on “The Johnny Cash Show.” So he said, could you put my act on? And I said, send a tape. So he sent the tape of Howie, you know, with the faucet on the forehead and the diaper and God knows what else. And before we were 15 seconds into it, my partner Joe Sigmund raised his hand and he said, “I veto.” I said, “Joe, it’s Saul Holliff’s nephew’s act. We’ve got to put him on. Let’s tape him. We won’t use it.” And six months later, to make a long story even a little longer, Phil Kives from Winnipeg of K-Tel came to order a DVD from us. And he said, “make sure that you put on the DVD the kid with the diaper.”

Posner: Okay. You know, I’m just barely starting and we’ve got to finish this. Tell me, Perry.

Rosemond: Yeah.

Interviewer: What’s the story? Are you into retirement mode or you’re still going at it?

Rosemond: My dream is that it’s “ready camera.” I want Ingmar Bergman to shoot this, by the way. My dream is “ready camera one” and aneurysm, and in slow motion my head starts to descend to the console and I’m dead before I even hit it.

Posner: You’re still working. Still working. And I guess you still connect to Winnipeg.

Rosemond: Absolutely. I was there several times to do specials in Winnipeg, and I still would go back today, especially with the tax credits.

Posner: Perry, it’s a joy to have you. I tell you, we barely scratched the surface, and I appreciate your taking the time to come and do this.

Rosemond: Can I tell you, and I say this in all honesty, you are one terrific interviewer.

Posner: Well, thanks very much. I enjoy doing it.

Post script (added by Bernie Bellan): Some of the things that Gerry omitted from his interview were that Rosemond also produced the terrific documentary, “When Jews Were Funny,” which was named best Canadian Feature Film at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival.

As his obituary on the Benjamin’s Parrk Memoria Chapel website also notes: “In 2003, Perry was appointed a member of the Order of Canada, a national recognition for a career that entertained, educated, and made Canadians laugh.

“But Perry never measured his life by accolades, he measured it in smiles. He lived to spread laughter and joy. It was his way of making people feel seen and valued. He will be dearly missed and forever loved.”

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By BERNIE BELLAN I didn’t used to cover sports for The Jewish Post & News except for the odd occasion.
For years we could count on the late, great Harvey Rosen to comb the waterfront, looking for any sports story that might have the least connection to anything Jewish. Harvey would even go into visiting teams’ locker rooms during Winnipeg Jets games and, if a player had a name that sounded Jewish, inquire whether that player might be Jewish.
Then, for a few years, we added well-known sports writer Scott Taylor to the mix. Scott offered quite a different perspective, looking for stories about athletes that went far behind the scenes to uncover details that other reporters might have missed.
With both Harvey and Scott gone from our pages, I’ve occasionally found myself filling the sports void. These days, however, I tend to wait for an interesting story to find me.
And that’s exactly what happened with Wheatland Hockey.
Recently, my neighbours Elliot and Linda Katz mentioned that they knew of a Jewish couple who had started a hockey development program in Winnipeg. The couple, Rich Hechter and Rachel Wolfenson, had apparently started Wheatland Hockey only about 16 months earlier.
I subsequently learned that, in that short time, more than 2,400 young hockey players had gone through Wheatland’s various programs.
That number got my attention.
So, I contacted Rachel and Rich to find out what they had created — and why.
It started with a gap
The idea for Wheatland began, as Rachel described it to me, as “this little pie in the sky idea that we were going to have a spring development program in the spring of 2025.”
They started with about 50 kids spread across three age groups.
Sixteen months later, Wheatland has grown into a broad hockey-development organization offering programs for players from U9 through U15, along with specialized programming, female hockey, spring and summer teams, events and high-performance opportunities.
But the numbers aren’t really the story.
The story is why they thought Wheatland needed to exist in the first place.
Rich and Rachel felt there was a gap between traditional minor hockey and the highly specialized — and often expensive — training programs available to elite players.
There were plenty of opportunities for kids to play hockey. But what about the player who needed to improve one particular part of their game? What about the U9 player whose parents had no idea what skills their child should be working on? What about the player who wasn’t an elite athlete but had the potential to become a much better hockey player with the right instruction?
That was the space they wanted Wheatland to occupy.
As Rachel explained it, some families come to Wheatland knowing exactly what their child needs.
“They might know that the kid’s gap is power skating,” she told me. “They might have a great shot and great stick handling, but they’re not strong skaters.”
Other families arrive with a much less specific question.
“They’re new U9 families,” Rachel said. “Their kids have been spat out of the Timbits world and into the U9 world and they don’t know what to focus on.”
That’s where Rich comes in.
‘Pedagogy on ice’
Rich brings an unusual background to hockey coaching.
He is currently taking a one-year sabbatical from his role as vice-principal of Brock Corydon School, the Winnipeg school often known as the only public school Hebrew bilingual program in North America. For many families in Winnipeg’s Jewish community, Brock Corydon is where they know Rich best.
Before becoming a vice-principal, he worked as a high school teacher and as a university professor in the Faculty of Education. He has also spent more than a decade coaching youth hockey.
This year, rather than stepping away from education, Rich is using his sabbatical as an opportunity to continue learning, writing, and growing as a coach and mentor while devoting more time to developing Wheatland Hockey.
That additional time will also allow Wheatland to extend its reach beyond Winnipeg through a new initiative called “Wheatland on the Road”.
Over the coming year, Rich will travel to rural Manitoba communities including Manitou, St. Laurent, Lundar, Steinbach and Elm Creek to lead coaching and mentoring sessions for local players and coaches.
The initiative reflects Wheatland’s belief that access to quality coaching should not depend on where a young player lives. It also gives Rich an opportunity to work directly with local hockey communities, sharing ideas and helping coaches develop their own approaches to teaching the game.
For Rich, education and hockey aren’t separate worlds.
Rachel described his approach as “pedagogy on ice.”
The idea is simple: coaching isn’t just about showing a young player how to execute a skill. It’s about understanding how that player learns, figuring out what they need, and creating an environment where they can improve.
That educational philosophy is evident in the way Wheatland approaches development.
Its programs focus on areas such as skating, puck control, shooting, passing and receiving, positional play, defensive skills, checking, hockey IQ and tactical understanding.
But the organization also talks openly about developing confidence, resilience and character.
The Wheatland philosophy is summed up on its website as building “skills, character and excellence — on and off the ice.”
And that distinction is important to Rich.
The objective isn’t simply to produce better hockey players.
It’s to help young people become better learners, teammates and competitors.
A Jewish leadership team in an unlikely business
There is also an irony at the heart of Wheatland’s success.
We are not exactly the people known for our sporting prowess, and none of the people leading Wheatland played in the NHL. Yet, the organization is run by Rachel and Rich, with Ryan Paul, Eleni Wener, Avi Walker and Dustin Roitelman in senior leadership roles.
That may be unusual in the hockey world, but it is also part of what makes Wheatland distinctive.
This is not a business built around former professional players leveraging on their own playing careers. It is being led by people who believe deeply in the values Wheatland has developed — and continues to develop.
They believe in teaching young people how to learn, how to work with others, how to persevere and how to contribute to their communities.
In that sense, Wheatland’s leadership team reflects the organization’s broader philosophy: hockey expertise matters, but so do education, mentorship, organization, empathy and a commitment to making the game more accessible.
The fact that this group has helped build a hockey organization serving thousands of young players from across Manitoba is, in its own way, pretty remarkable.
Making hockey and coaching accessible
Perhaps the most important word in Wheatland’s philosophy is accessibility.
“Accessibility is one of our guiding principles,” Rachel said. “We believe that all kids should have the opportunity to get on the ice, regardless of socioeconomic conditions.”
For Rich and Rachel, accessibility means more than making hockey available. They believe that good coaching should be accessible, too.
That commitment is reflected in Wheatland’s “Pay-What-You-Can” program, which helps ensure that financial circumstances do not prevent children and families from participating in quality hockey programming.
For Rachel and Rich, the program is one way of giving back to the broader community. They believe that hockey — and the opportunity to learn from good coaches — should be available to as many young people as possible, not limited only to families who can afford the full cost of specialized training.
That doesn’t mean Wheatland is trying to be everything to everyone.
Rather, the idea is that a family shouldn’t need to have an elite-level hockey player — or an elite-level hockey budget — to access good coaching.
The organization keeps its groups relatively small. A typical session might have four or five players, while a larger session could have as many as 20, with several coaches on the ice.
The result is that a player who shows up to a smaller session can end up receiving something approaching a semi-private lesson without the family having to pay a premium for that experience.
And, Rachel noted, if only a handful of players show up for a session, “they would get the benefit of a semi-private class for a very inexpensive cost.”
Building coaches, too
Wheatland’s emphasis on development doesn’t stop with the players.
The organization has also created a Junior Coach program, through which some of its younger participants have an opportunity to begin learning how to teach the game themselves.
Five of Wheatland’s junior coaches are under the age of 15.
That’s significant because it reflects another part of Rich and Rachel’s philosophy: hockey development isn’t simply about producing better players. It’s about creating people who can contribute to the hockey community.
The organization’s coaching staff also includes experienced coaches with backgrounds in player development, athletic development and hockey education.
The same philosophy is at the heart of Wheatland on the Road. By working with coaches in rural communities, Rich hopes to help build local coaching capacity so that players can continue benefiting from quality instruction long after his visit is over.
Hockey as a bridge between communities
One of Wheatland’s most memorable recent initiatives involved a visiting Israeli hockey club.
The visiting players took part in two on-ice sessions with Rich and Ryan. After changing out of their gear, the young players then visited Rich at Brock Corydon School, where they met with grade 5 and 6 students.
For the players from Israel, the experience offered more than additional hockey instruction. It gave them an opportunity to connect with Winnipeg students through a shared language — the language of hockey — while also learning about one another’s communities.
For Wheatland, the sessions demonstrated how hockey can create meaningful connections that extend well beyond the rink.
Rachel and Rich
While Rich is the face of Wheatland on the ice, Rachel’s role is largely behind the scenes.
A Senior Investment Advisor with TD Private Wealth Management, Rachel brings an entirely different skill set to the organization, overseeing operations and communications and helping ensure that families have a positive experience from the moment they register.
The division of responsibilities seems to work. Rachel brings the organizational perspective needed to turn an idea into an operation. Rich brings the educator’s perspective to player development.
The broader leadership team brings additional experience, energy and commitment to the values that guide Wheatland.
And somewhere along the way, that little “pie in the sky” idea became something considerably larger.
More than 2,400 kids have now gone through Wheatland’s programs in just 16 months.
That’s a lot of hockey players. But when I asked Rachel what she thought accounted for that kind of growth, her answer wasn’t really about hockey.
It was about giving families something they were looking for.
“We teach people first, we teach hockey second,” is the philosophy Rich and Rachel have adopted.
Perhaps that’s why Wheatland has grown so quickly.
Because for all the talk about hockey development, what they are really trying to develop is something bigger: young people who feel supported, challenged and capable of getting better.
And through initiatives such as the Pay-What-You-Can program, Wheatland on the Road and its work with visiting teams, Wheatland is also showing how hockey can be both accessible and a bridge between communities.
If the first 16 months are any indication, there are a lot of Winnipeg families — and perhaps many potential community partners across Manitoba — who were looking for exactly that.
For more information about Wheatland Hockey, visit Wheatland Hockey.