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Michael Paterson and Gail Asper talk about their lives and why they’ve given their support to this year’s JNF Negev Gala
By BERNIE BELLAN On June 2 the Jewish National Fund will be honouring Gail Asper and Dr. Michael Paterson, a couple that has long been associated with many aspects of the Jewish community, whether it’s been Gail’s storied philanthropic endeavours or Michael’s years of service on the board of Jewish Child & Family Service.
Recently I had the opportunity to interview Michael and Gail via Zoom. Gail was a little bit late joining in, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to ask Michael to give me an update as to what his sons, Stephen and Jonathan, are doing these days, and to ask Michael about his own activities in the scientific realm, which has been his lifelong passion.
“Jonathan is now a lawyer,” (with Duboff Edwards Schachter) “and Stephen is pursuing his PhD at St. Mary’s University in Halifax,” Michael said.
“He’s studying invasive species,” Michael added. “He’s studying earthworms.”
Now, while I would hardly have thought earthworms would be considered an “invasive species” per se, Michael explained that “they all come from Europe.”
“Really?” I asked. (You never know what you’re going to learn when you set about to interview someone without any pre-conceived questions.)
“Yah, pretty much,” Michael added. “There are a few native earthworms that are primarily in the Yukon, which is where he’s heading this summer.”
Later in the interview, I had the chance to ask Gail about her own attitude to Stephen’s area of study. I don’t think it would surprise you to learn that she’s not a real earthworm aficionado.
“I hate earthworms!” she offered by way of answering how she feels about Stephen’s chosen area of study.
“We have this Covid dog,” she continued. “And every night we take him out for a walk and I’m seeing foxes and coyotes, deer and raccoons – and huge owls. Lately the sidewalk has been littered with disgusting, fat earthworms. It’s so disgusting.”
But, I added, “I didn’t know they immigrated here from Europe. That’s so interesting” – to which Gail added this rejoinder: “And no good can come of it! They should go back where they came from!”
As for Michael’s own particular area of interest, I asked him whether he’s still involved in the study of freshwater lakes. He said he is, with the “experimental lakes area” in “Northwestern Ontario, where we basically study the effect of human activities on water quality.”
The experimental lakes area encompasses 58 different lakes in a part of Ontario which has remained largely untouched by human habitation and which offers an excellent area in which scientists can study the effects that introducing various elements have on otherwise pristine bodies of water.
The experimental lakes project, however, was in danger of being shut down completely as recently as 2012, Michael explained.
At that point Gail joined in the discussion and noted that Michael played a pivotal role in keeping the project alive. It is now under the auspices of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, which is a private institute (that receives funding from the federal government as well as a number of private sector sources). The experimental lakes project also receives funding from the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.
The fact that Michael Paterson is a scientist who is deeply concerned with the effects that humans have on freshwater lakes is significant in understanding the particular project that he and Gail have now involved themselves with through the JNF. (More about that later.)
I said to Gail that there was an interesting synchronicity in my talking to her prior to our next issue’s being published, as I told her I was also going to be doing a story about Aharon Harlap, the famous music composer, who just happens to be a cousin of Gail’s (once removed; he was actually a first cousin to her father).
Turning to the upcoming gala, which will be viewed virtually once again (as was last year’s gala, in which Ted and Harriet Lyons were honoured), I told Gail and Michael that I already had a heads up about what will be featured in the gala. (Keith Levit had spilled the beans to me.)
I said that I was told that this gala was a major production that will include some fabulous musical numbers.
“Yup, that’s all we know,” Gail noted. “We don’t know what they’re doing.”
“You don’t?” I asked in astonishment.
“No,” she said. “Big surprise.”
“Because I do,” I said. “But I’m not going to tell you.”
“Don’t tell us anything,” Gail insisted. “We heard a snippet when we were there for our taping, but we closed the door because we didn’t want to hear anything. So we’re going to be sitting on June 2nd with our little box of hummus and cookies or whatever they (the JNF) give you, and it’ll all be new for us.”
With that as preamble to the edgy interview that I had really wanted to conduct, I launched into what I thought would be a really tough question: “You must be a really hard ‘get’,” I suggested. “How many times have you been asked to be the honourees for the JNF Gala in the past?”
“We actually have not been asked,” Gail answered. “I mean our family was honoured a few years ago. The Asper Foundation and my family were honoured, so we were up on stage a few years ago. So, this was the first official ask for us. I didn’t think we needed to be asked because the Foundation has been recognized – and we’re part of that. But, it was with a lot of trepidation (that we accepted) because along with the honour comes a lot of responsibility.
“I happen to be very fond of the work the Jewish National Fund does,” Gail continued, “and the project this year – the Climate Solutions Prize, is also meaningful, so we felt it was appropriate to accept this wonderful honour.”
I turned to Michael to ask him about his own involvement in fund raising for the Jewish community. I noted that I had received a phone call from him back in the fall when he was phone soliciting for the Jewish Child & Family Service. I wondered whether that was something he’s been doing on a regular basis, i.e., phone soliciting for different organizations?
“Oh yah,” he answered. “Frankly, I don’t know why I’m being honoured. I am involved with a bunch of organizations. I sat on the board of Jewish Child & Family Service, on and off, for over 20 years, and I was the chair of the board many years ago,” to which Gail added, “and he was the first non-Jewish chair of the board, for which he received a Shem Tov Award.”
Of course, Gail being Gail, she had to add: “He received the Shem Tov Award for being the only chair who started and ended the meetings on time. He was so beloved!”
Michael also observed that, in addition to being on the JCFS board for many years, “I was also on the (Jewish) Federation board. I’ve been on the Federation Allocations Committee in the past, I’ve been on the (Jewish) Foundation’s Allocations Committee.” In addition to those Jewish organizations, Michael noted that “another organization I’ve been very involved with has been the Nature Conservancy of Canada. I’ve been on the regional board and the national board, on and off, since 2000. I’m currently the regional co-chair and I have been the chair in the past.”
He added that he’s also been involved with the Public Interest Legal Centre “on their board.”
I said that I wanted to take a step back and ask how Gail and Michael had met? (I had remembered reading that they had met at university, but I had the wrong university in mind when I asked whether they met in Halifax?)
“We met at the Elizabeth Dafoe Library,” Gail corrected me. “We both worked part time there. It was 1979. I was in Arts and Mike was in Science.”
I asked whether they met in the stacks?
“That would be a good story,” Gail retorted: “Love among the stacks. No, I was actually in ‘circulation’,” (to which I had to comment: “What a great double entendre”), “but every time Mike from ‘reserve’ would walk by, all my friends would look at cute ‘Mike from reserve’ as he bounded by to his little reserve area, and Thursday nights, for 20 minutes, we had our break together in the cafeteria. I got to know him, he got to know me, I would give him rides home; I really liked him so I asked him out on a date in March of the following year (1980). I asked him out to a Jets game in March – and it was a very wonderful night, but like, nothing happened, so I thought, ‘Okay, I guess we’re just going to be friends’ and I was going off to Europe with Jonathan Kroft – my dear friend – just a platonic friend, and I went to the Trevi Fountain in Rome, and there’s a song: ‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ so I stood on the edge of the Trevi Fountain, and I sang that song, and I wished for true love with Michael James Paterson – threw my coin in the fountain, and the next day I went to American Express to pick up my mail, and there was a letter responding to a letter I had written to Mike where I expressed my affection for him and wondered what was wrong with him to not feel the same way about me – and he wrote back, saying ‘I thought anyone traveling in Europe with a guy is otherwise engaged – and, if you’re not, let’s get together’,” and so, when Gail did get back they did get together and, as she noted: “We’ve been together ever since.”
“We got married in June of ’84,” Gail noted. “I was going to law school here.”
Mike explained that he had been “doing a Masters in Indiana” prior to their getting married, “and then we went to Halifax where I started on my PhD at Dalhousie.”
It was in Halifax also that Gail articled as a lawyer. “So it was in Halifax that we started our married life together,” she said. “We had no family, we didn’t know anyone. It wasn’t a bad way to start out,” she observed.
The discussion turned to politics and how both Michael and Gail have been able to navigate the sometimes choppy waters of dealing with politicians of different stripes (and bureaucrats) at various times in their lives – Michael in his efforts to kept the experimental lakes area alive, and Gail, most notably in her efforts to get the Human Rights Museum built.
Michael described his experiences to me, but in the end he put it succinctly: “It’s not that I don’t have political opinions, but I like to think that I’m reasonably respectful of different points of view.”
Although ordinarily one might have expected that, this having been an interview that would be published just prior to the JNF Gala, I would have led off my questions by asking about the particular project for which Michael and Gail agreed to lend their support by becoming this year’s Winnipeg honourees for the Gala. Instead, in a short piece following this article, you can read about the Climate Solutions Prize, which is that project.
For Gail, the notion of contributing to further scientific study in an area as important as the climate crisis is an extension of what the Asper Foundation has been doing for years with various Israeli institutions of higher learning, she observed.
“I’m involved with Hebrew U, we’ve supported Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion (University), lots of other places. It’s strengthening Israel – and that’s aligned with our values; it’s helping the world, and that’s aligned with our values. I like to think that Israel can come up with something that will help the world – and that’s good for Israeli ‘hasbara’.”
As well, Gail noted that she “likes the idea of the JNF getting back to its ‘roots’ (“no pun intended,” she added), “and doing something more environmentally focused.”
For his own part, Michael noted that some years back he was invited to attend a water quality conference in Israel sponsored by the JNF. “I had the opportunity to meet some of the researchers on water quality in Israel and they were really an amazing, inspiring group. It was a reminder of all the research power in Israel.
“Of course, I’m deeply concerned about the environment and one of the biggest threats to the environment is climate change. It’s stating the obvious, but any threat to the environment is a threat to all of us if we care about the future – of our economy, our health, our way of life, our well being in general. I’ve given my professional career to protecting the environment, so the idea of bringing together Israeli innovation and research power and the environment is very attractive, so when the JNF brought this project to us for us to lend our support – of course, it made a lot of sense.”
In addition, some of the proceeds from the Gala will be going to JCFS, along with the World’s Jewish Museum in Tel Aviv (which is also a project in which Gail is deeply involved).
Local News
Newly announced Vivian Silver Centre for Shared Society to further former Winnipegger’s lifelong efforts to foster Jewish-Arab co-operation in Israel
By MYRON LOVE Vivian Silver (oleh Hashalom) devoted her life to working toward dialogue and collaboration between Arabs and Jews in Israel. The culmination of her efforts was the Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Economic Development (AJEEC-NISPED), which she co-founded 25 year ago with her sister peace activist, Dr. Amal Elsana Ahl’jooj.
Tragically, Vivian was of the 1,200 Israeli Jews, Bedouin and foreign farm workers who were slaughtered during the Hamas-led pogrom of October 7, 2023.
Last month, AJEEC-NISPED announced plans to create the Vivian Silver Center for Shared Society in her memory – a new national hub for Jewish-Israeli Arab collaboration and social innovation in Be’er Sheva – backed by an initial $1 million donation from UJA-Federation of New York, along with support from the Meyerhoff Foundation, the Gilbert Foundation, and other philanthropic partners committed to strengthening shared society in Israel.
“It’s a great honor and a beautiful gesture,” comments Vivian’s son, Yonatan Zeigen, “and I hope it will be a central building for civil society, both in the physical sense, that it will become a substantial home for the organization and for other initiatives that will use the spaced and also symbolically, as a beacon for this kind of work in the specific location in the Negev.”
As this writer noted n an article earlier this year in relation to the announcement of the launch of the Vivian Silver Impact Award by the New Israel Fund (NIF) – of which she was a long time board member, and which was developed in conjunction with her sons, Yonatan and Chen), Vivian made aliyah in 1974. She first went to Israel in 1968 – to spend her second year at university abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying psychology and English literature.
In an article she wrote in 2018 in a publication called ”Women Wage Peace,” she related that during her final year at the University of Manitoba, she was among the founders of the Student Zionist Alliance on campus and was invited to its national conference in Montreal. There she met activists in the Habonim youth movement who planned on making aliyah and re-establishing Kibbutz Gezer. The day she wrote her last university exam, she boarded a flight to New York to join the group.
She spent three years in New York, where she became involved in Jewish and Zionist causes, including the launch of the Jewish feminist movement in America.
“It was a life-changing period,” she recalled. “I came to understood that in addition to being a kibbutz member, I was destined to be a social change and peace activist.”
Vivian and her group made aliyah in 1974 and settled on Kibbutz Gezer. In 1981, she established the Department Promoting Gender Equality in the Kibbutz Movement. She moved to Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border in 1990, along with her late husband, Lewis, and their two sons
In 1998, Vivian became the executive director of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development in Beer Sheva, an NGO promoting human sustainable development, shared society between Jews and Arabs, and peace in the Middle East. Soon after, she was joined by Amal Elsana Alh’jooj as co-directors of AJEEC-NISPED, winning the 2011 Victor J. Goldberg Peace Prize of the Institute for International Education.
In the article she wrote for “Women Waging Peace,” she noted that “while we later focused on empowerment projects in the Bedouin community in the Negev, initially we worked with Palestinian organizations on joint people-to-people projects. I spent much time in Gaza until the outbreak of the second intifada. We continued working with organizations in the West Bank. I personally know so many Palestinians who yearn for peace no less than we do.”
According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva, in the November 24th edition, the Vivian Silver Centre – which is expected to open in the spring – will be located within AJEEC-NISPED’s soon-to-open AJEEC House, and will provide a permanent home for programs that promote equality, leadership, and cooperation among Israel’s diverse communities.
“The Vivian Silver Center for Shared Society, within AJEEC’s headquarters, “the Arutz Sheva report noted, “will serve as a regional platform for dozens of Israeli Arab and Jewish social organizations. Through AJEEC’s educational, vocational, and leadership programs, the center will support thousands of young adults each year – offering mentorship, professional training, and opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration.
“These programs,” the report continued, “already reach more than 15,000 participants nationwide, helping young people integrate into higher education and meaningful employment while narrowing social and economic gaps.”
AJEEC House is located in Be’er Sheva’s Science Park, near Ben-Gurion University. The three-storey AJEEC House has been designed to foster cooperation and dialogue. It will host community partnerships, provide shared workspaces for social entrepreneurs, and serve as a hub for initiatives addressing social and economic development across the Negev and beyond.
Readers who may be interested considering a donation can dial into NISPED’s website – – for further information.
Local News
Stanley Schwartz- it’s a long way from Waterloo
By GERRY POSNER For Stanley Schwartz, it all began on Waterloo Street. For those who remember the 1950s and 60s – take yourself back to the south end of Winnipeg. Waterloo between Corydon and Fleet had enough Jewish families to form its own High Holiday congregation. That is to say, there were a whole bunch of Jewish families there. Not quite McAdam Avenue in the north end – but close enough. One such family was that of Harold and Faye Schwartz, along with their children: Anita, Ruth, and Stanley.
Stanley graduated from Kelvin High School. In fact, he played football for the Kelvin Clipper. In addition, he was a participant in typical Jewish teen activities at the time, particularly AZA. He had a wide network of friends, some of whom remain vital connections to this day. Remember, in those days, there were no cell phones, no internet, and barely the beginnings of TV. So, as a teenage boy, Stanley spent a lot of time with his buddies.
Stanley went on to the University of Manitoba from where he graduated law in 1967. That was Stanley’s first step into a career that lasted close to 50 years. His second big step was his decision to forgo an offer to become a partner in a well known and established law firm in Winnipeg, and instead, go out on his own in a shared space arrangement. The shared space arrangement lasted several years and, during that time, he also opened up an office in Morris, Manitoba. Morris was once home to several Jewish families, but not when Stanley moved there to live.
Along his way to practicing law, Stanley got married – to the former Shirley Hooper, a woman originally from England who had moved to Vancouver and whom Stanley met by chance in Hawaii. They were blessed with two children and now have five grandkids. But the family did not end up in Winnipeg. In what was a huge life changing decision at that time, Stanley and Shirley boldly packed up their belongings and moved to Vancouver. Now, some of the thinking that entered into this move might well have been Shirley’s lack of fondness for the Manitoba winters (even though she had formed close relationships with many people in Winnipeg at that time – relationships she still maintainsto this day). But Stanley was also open to a fresh start in a new place. That decision, looking back on it now in 2025, was a wise one for both Stanley and Shirley Schwartz. For starters, who knew that Vancouver would explode with an immigrant population and with it, a dramatic increase in the value of property, caused in part by non-residents buying up land and buildings in Vancouver? Aside from that, Stanley had a specialty in his practice of law that was a perfect fit for Vancouver’s growing population- family law.
For the entirety of his legal career, Stanley focused on matrimonial law in every aspect, not the least of which was litigation. As a former lawyer myself, let me say that if there is an area of law filled with tension, aggravation, and sadness, it surely must be the field of marriage, children and custody battles, access, division of assets and all that goes with those issues. You often are not just a lawyer, but also a psychologist, father confessor and a lot more. You really have to be able to be able to watch some of the worst in humanity. And you have to be ready to, as they say, “ go for the jugular.”
You may never have to do it, but you have to be ready. Stanley Schwartz was ( nd remains so this day, in my view) on the face of it, not a likely candidate to be thought of as aggressive.That is because he was then and still is now, a friendly guy who does not seem to be one cut out for courtroom battles. But clearly, he was able to be “ rough and tough” when he had to be. When I asked Stanley what advice he would give to somebody wanting to employ him in a family law situation, he was quite frank. His immediate response to these kinds of clients was: “If you want a war, the winners will be two people -the two lawyers. The losers will be your children ( f there are kids in the picture.”)
Stanley might still have been at it, but he had medical issues relating to his back over a period of many years. He has had three spinal surgeries, and none of them has really worked satisfactorily. Standing for periods of time was hard for Stanley. He says he knew it was time to give up his practice of law when one day in court six or seven years ago, while he was in argument, he leaned against the dais and the judge told him that it was ok for him to sit down and argue. That episode confirmed what he had thought for a while: time to call it a day and a career. So with two metal rods in his back and pain in his legs, Stanley retired.
Though no longer involved in the legal world, Stanley has managed, very easily he would add, to settle into his non working life with as much travel as he and Shirley are able to do. That travel includes trips back to Winnipeg, also Winnipeg Beach – where he spent much of his youth. His visits also include time with his sister, Anita Ruth Neville, a name not exactly unknown to Manitobans given her role as the 26th Lieutenant Governor for the Province of Manitoba. And, with one daughter in Toronto, Shirley and Stanley also make regular stops in that city to see his family there.
Not that long ago, Stanley stepped into the world of octogenarians. He is quick to say that getting old is not for sissies, but at the same time, he is one to embrace what each phase of his life has brought.
Local News
Farah Perelmuter – a former Winnipegger in the spotlight
By GERRY POSNER From the north end of Winnipeg, Garden City to be exact, comes yet another Winnipeg woman who has almost singlehandedly built a prosperous business in Toronto – almost out of the blue. And who is this Winnipeg woman? None other than Farah Perelmuter, bornFarah Vinsky, the oldest of Toby and Irv Vinsky’s three daughters.
Farah attended Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, also spent a year at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate. Upon graduation from high school, Farah took a gap year in Toronto working in the modelling industry. During that year, she had a chance to visit Western University in London, Ontario. That visit inspired her to apply there and, after one year at the University of Winnipeg, she was off to Western. Interestingly, not that long ago, Farah served on the Western Alumni Board – a role she filled for six years.
As a teenager in Winnipeg, Farah indicated that she had an entrepreneurial gene, as evidenced by her creating what was a “ self development “ program for teenage girls. When she started that program, Farah was all of 16 and was already working in her spare time in a modelling agency. When she came to Toronto after her graduation from university, she began working at a marketing agency, but the desire to be her own boss was so strong that, in 1995, Farah, along with her husband, Martin Perelmuter, started a business known as “ Speakers Spotlight.”
The business’s purpose was to bring prominent speakers to address audiences at locations all over the world. The couple initiated the business right from the spare bedroom in their apartment – with only one phone and one computer. Worse than that, Farah and her husband had no clients, no experience, no staff and, of course – no money. What they had was a clear vision. That vision was to put the right speaker in front of the right audience and, if they could do that, the impact would be significant and lasting. They also had so little business experience that they tried out different ways of doing things in their business and were not afraid to be innovative. That willingness to create and change likely propelled them speedily into the forefront in their field. As proof of their standing in the industry, Farah and Martin were selected twice as Entrepreneurs of the Year by Ernst and Young.
From that modest beginning emerged what is today called “ Speakers Spotlight,” a business that has grown into one of the world’s largest and indeed most respected speakers’ agencies. Farah and Martin have developed a team of people working for and with them (now up to 35 people, who work both in and out of the office) and, as well, they have created an incredible roster of extraordinary speakers. Their list of speakers includes people with deep experience in their respective fields. That combination of prominent speakers and a loyal, dedicated group of people putting the speakers on to platforms has allowed “Speakers Spotlight” to raise the bar of professional service and integrity within the industry. Would you believe 40,000 speaking engagements over 50 countries are now part of the history of a business that started in Farah’s spare bedroom? Just the list of names who have participated with Speakers Spotlight is staggering. Google Speakers Spotlight and I promise you will be overwhelmed, both by the quantity and quality.
Along the way, the company has received numerous awards and accolades. Most importantly, they have, through the various people that have been involved as speakers, helped to plant the seeds for people in the audience to make changes, alter plans and to inspire them to go forward. Sometimes, it’s as little as hearing the right person tell a story that can affect one person and from there, big things often develop. For Farah, that is what keeps her excited about her business.
In 2017, the couple started another business related to the first one, called “ The Spotlight Agency.” This company connects celebrity talent with opportunities all over the world. The talent comes from every area of life including the fields of entertainment, sports, food, decor and more. What the Spotlight Agency does is to unite these personalities to a brand of partnerships, with digital and creator content,TV, streaming, podcasts and publishing.
Even with the real success of Farah’s business ventures, what pushes her are her two children, Jade and Cole, both now in their 20s, and forging their own trails. As well, Farah appreciates from whence she came and she looks forward to what lies ahead. She treasures her return trips to Winnipeg to see her parents, relatives and indeed, old friends. So much is Farah Perelmuter a true Winnipgger that she still roots for the Winnipeg Jets, especially when they play the Toronto Maple Leafs. So, let the spotlight shine on Farah Vinsky Perelmuter.