Local News
Ben Carr answers questions at Gwen Secter Centre about his candidacy for the Liberals in Winnipeg South Centre
By BERNIE BELLAN It might have seemed an odd venue for a candidate in a federal byelection in to be grilled about his candidacy, but on Thursday, May 18, Liberal candidate for Winnipeg South Centre Ben Carr (in a byelection that will take place on June 19) faced a series of tough questions from audience members at the Gwen Secter Centre (which is in the north end) who were there for the second session of the Remis luncheon series.
As a preamble, I should note that Ben Carr was invited to speak to the Remis luncheon group well before the byelection was called in Winnipeg South Centre. Just as I have written about other speakers who have appeared at a Remis luncheon (and elsewhere in this paper you can read my account of the first of this years’ speakers, Joan Druxman, who spoke on May 11), I decided to write about Ben Carr’s appearanc at a Remis forum.
Ben Carr is the 37-year-old son of the late Jim Carr and Dr. Ruth Simkin. I have to make an admission at this point: I’ve known Carr ever since he was a classmate of my daughter Shira, beginning in Grade 7. That didn’t stop me, however, from throwing some pointed questions at him.
When he got up to speak Carr joked that he had been out campaigning recently in Tuxedo and when he knocked on people’s doors at least four individuals told him that they were related to him (which came as no surprise to him, he said, since he’s found through the years that both the Carr and Simkin families have many relatives in Winnipeg – and elsewhere).
Still, being the son of a famous politician, whose mantle he is now trying to adopt, has its pros and cons. I asked him, for instance, whether he’s encountered people who have accused him of capitalizing on his father’s name in running for the Liberals in the same riding that Jim Carr held for seven years until his untimely death last December?
Carr said “no,” that hasn’t been brought up to him personally.
“I recognize that I was gifted a set of principles by my parents,” he said. “You don’t choose where you come from, but you choose what you do with that.”
Someone else asked Carr whether he had ever been to Israel? He said that he had, when he was 24, when he was on a Birthright trip there – and had his bar mitzvah at the Kotel (Western Wall).
How that came about was an amusing story. Carr said that there were two rules all members of Birthright were supposed to follow: Stick with the group always and no drinking.
But, one time when the group was in Jerusalem, he and his cousin Joel decided to venture away from the group at one point, he explained. They came across someone who “looked like a rabbi,” Carr recalled. (To be honest, how hard is it to find someone who looks like a rabbi in Jerusalem?) They asked the individual whether he was a rabbi and when the man said he was, Carr said that he would like to be bar mitzvah’d.
The rabbi said to Carr and his cousin, “Okay, if you’re going to be bar mitzvah’d we’re going to the Kotel” and that’s where Carr was bar mitzvah’d.
As well, the rabbi happened to have a bottle of vodka, Carr added, which led to him and his cousin breaking the second Birthright rule.
And, although he’s relatively young, Carr has already had a varied career. After graduating from the French Immersion program at Kelvin, Carr became a teacher, he said, later a principal at Maples Met High School which, he explained, has an innovative program whereby some students attend school three days a week, and apprentice in a workplace the other two days.
Most recently Carr has been Vice President of something called the Indigenous Strategy Alliance, working in tandem with an Indigenous woman by the name of Rebecca Chartrand. He described their relationship as “what reconciliation should look like.”
Of course, growing up in a household immersed in politics (Jim Carr was first elected as an MLA in 1988, Carr pointed out, as part of the resurgent provincial Liberal showing led by then-leader Sharon Carstairs), he has had more than his share of exposure, both to campaigning and the day to day workings of government.
In 2015, when Jim Carr was elected to the House of Commons for the first time, Ben went along with his father to live with him in Ottawa for four months. Later, Ben held various positions in the federal government, including serving as Director of Parliamentary Affairs to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
Still, while Winnipeg South Centre has been a Liberal-held seat for the past eight years, it has also been won by Conservatives in the past, most recently by Joyce Bateman (in 2011).
Carr said that “there are three issues I’m most proud of”: The national child care program, “which has lifted 450,000 kids out of poverty;” the government’s position on climate change where, he said, the government has found “a good balance;” and the national day care plan, “which is going to help women get back in the work force.”
He added that the government has introduced “changes in support for seniors,” including “dropping the age of eligibility to receive the Old Age Pension from 67 to 65 and increasing the Old Age Supplement.”
I said to Carr that there are two other issues that clearly distinguish the Liberals from the Conservatives: gun control and abortion. Since gun control was not likely to be an issue in Winnipeg South Centre though, I wondered whether abortion has been brought up to him since he’s been out knocking on doors?
He answered: “For us, this (abortion) was settled a long time ago. You cannot be a candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada unless you stand for a woman’s right to choose. I don’t know where my opponents stand on abortion, but I’d like to hear from them.”
Someone else asked him who else is running in the byelection? Carr said that the Conservative candidate is Damir Stipanovic, the NDP candidate is Julia Riddell, and the Green Party candidate is Doug Hemmerling. (Given how important the Jewish vote is in Winnipeg South Centre and how many of our readers live in the riding, we will try to profile each of the three other candidates in the June 7 issue.)
Someone wondered whether Carr had encountered any anti-Semitism while on the campaign trail? He said that he hadn’t, but he did offer an anecdote that illustrated how prejudice can work both ways.
One time when Ben was out campaigning for his father in River Heights, he said, he was confronted by a woman when he knocked on her door, he said, who told him that Justin Trudeau was an “antisemite.”
The reason she felt that way, Carr explained, was that Trudeau “had let so many Muslims into the country.”
That led me to ask Carr whether he has had anyone tell him that they’re not happy with the Liberal position on Israel, (e.g., either voting for or abstaining during votes on resolutions at the UN which are critical of Israel)?
Carr was adamant that the “Liberal government has been equal to or better than the Harper government was.” (It’s somewhat fitting that in this same issue we devote a fair bit of space to what Stephen Harper had to say about Israel at the Negev Gala.)
He went on to say that there is “an attempt within the Conservative movement in Canada to position itself as the only defender of Israel within the House of Commons.
“There is a little bit of a misconception when it comes to the Liberal Party’s position on Israel,” Carr continued.
“The fundamental principle is that Israel has a right to exist and is the homeland of the Jewish people,” he said.
Turning once again to the Conservative Party, Carr said the Conservative Party today is not the Progressive Conservative Party of “Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney.
“What Pierre Poilievre is trying to leverage,” Carr maintained, “ is the worst in us – and combining it with a kind of populism to turn us against one another.
“The vast majority of Conservatives that I talk to in Winnipeg South Centre identify with the PC Party.”
Carr brought up something that had been posted to the Damir Stipanovic website, (votedamir.ca) but has apparently been expunged, but not before someone had captured a screenshot of what was written:
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the Trudeau Liberals benefitted from corruption and interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Leaks from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) indicate that the Trudeau Liberals were aware of alarming reports and did not respond to the threats.
“An open and transparent public inquiry is now needed. With Winnipeg South Centre heading into a by-election, how do we know that the Chinese Communist Party is not funding Ben Carr and the Liberal party in this very riding?”
As noted, we will attempt to contact each of the three other candidates in Winnipeg South Centre in time for our June 7 issue, including Damir Stipanovic, whom we will also ask about the question posed on his website.
Local News
Belle Jarniewski recognized by Manitoba Legislature for leadership in combatting antisemitism and raising awareness of the Holocaust
By MYRON LOVE This year’s community commemoration of Yom Hashoah began on Erev Yom Hashoah – April 23 – with with the Megillat Hashoah interfaith reading of the Holocaust Scroll at Congregation Shaarey Zedek the night before.
Yom Hashoah, Thursday, April 24, began, as usual, in the morning with B’nai Brith’s “Unto Everyone There is a Name” – at the Legislature – during which members of our community – including a group of Grade 11 students from Gray Academy – and leaders of the greater community took turns reading out the names of relatives of local Holocaust survivors.
Gray Academy Grade 11 and 12 students also participated in the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s annual public commemorative service over the noon hour – also inside the Legislative Building – with students Alex Stoller and Aaron Greaves leading the 200 or so attendees in singing our national anthem and Hatikvah. Later in the program, they also performed “April Wind.”
Political leaders representing the three levels of Government and Jewish Federation leaders paid their respects leading to the service’s climax – the candle lighting. The ceremony was introduced by Belle Jarniewski, the executive director of the Jewish Heritage Society of Western Canada– with local survivors Saul and Rachel Fink, Susan Garfield, Faye Hoch, Edith Kimelman and Nehama Reuter participating.
The service ended with the traditional El Malei Rachamim prayer (recited by Congegaton Etz Chayim Chazan Tracy Kasner) and Kaddish, led by Rabbi Yossi Benarroch of Adas Yeshurun Herzlia.
This year’s Yom Hashoah commemoration concluded with a special honour for Belle Jarniewski who, later in the afternoon, was publicly recognized in the Legislature for her leadership in Holocaust awareness and the ongoing fight against antisemitism.
In recommending her for special recognition in the Legislature, Tuxedo MLA Carla Compton noted how Jarniewski’s upbringing as the daughter of Holocaust survivors instilled in her a passion for tikkun olam and spurred her to dedicate her life to teach people of all ages about the Holocaust and other genocides.
“Through her work as executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada,” Compton noted, “Belle brings education about the Holocaust to thousands of students, teachers, administrators and professional groups each year. She has partnered with Manitoba Education and Training numerous times. She is also a writer who has been published in numerous Canadian, Israeli and European newspapers.”
Compton cited, in particular, Jarniewski’s 2010 book, “Voices of Winnipeg Holocaust Survivors,” which documents the histories of 73 local survivors before, during and after the Shoah and can be found in the libraries of every secondary school in Manitoba and in university and national libraries in several countries.
“At a time when antisemitism is on the rise, we must do whatever we can to combat it,” Compton stated. “Belle is doing this great work every day. Today, on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I cannot think of a better person to celebrate and honour.”
In response to this most recent honour, Jarniewski stated that she “feels tremendously humbled and honoured by Tuxedo MLA Carla Compton’s Member Statement in the Legislature about me. Carla has been a true friend, supporter, and ally to our community.”
She added that she met Compton when the latter was running for office about a year ago in the byelection to replace the former MLA from Tuxedo and former premier, Heather Stefanson.
“I feel very fortunate to be able to honour the memory of my parents and that of the many members of my family who were murdered in the Shoah – through my work. I’m sure my mom (Sylvia) and dad (Samuel) would never have imagined that our provincial government would one day rise to honour their daughter for working to combat antisemitism and remembering the Holocaust.”
As mentioned earlier, this was the most recent of several awards that Jarniewski has received over the past few months. Last month, she was one of several Jewish Winnipeggers who received a King Charles III Coronation medal. Hers was presented by the Manitoba Government.
Last September, our Jewish Federation – at the annual Shem Tov Awards evening – bestowed on her the Larry Hurtig Communal Professional Award in recognition of her outsized leadership role in Winnipeg, nationally and internationally, in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and fighting antisemitism.
“About 15 years ago,” she recalled at that time, “Joe Riesenbach, a survivor, reached out to me to help move a project forward that had literally been collecting dust. Before I knew it, I was a member of the Holocaust Education committee and was then named to the federally appointed delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), as a member of the Academic Working Group, the Education Working Group and the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. The committee elaborated the first intergovernmental definition of anti-Semitism, adopted by consensus at the 2016 IHRA plenary. “
Through her work on Holocaust preservation and education, she was introduced to the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. She was appointed the JHCWC’s executive director in 2018.
“The Jewish Heritage Centre is the key to our past and our future,” she noted. Exploring our archive is like walking back in time. It’s a treasure trove reflecting the incredible history and diversity of our wonderful Jewish community stretching back 125 years- the challenges and the many triumphs that have shaped who we are today. As the saying goes, you need to know the past to understand the present.
“The Winnipeg I grew up in was a golden age for Jews-a tapestry of multiculturalism with shared values,” she continued. “We thought that the kind of antisemitism earlier generations had faced was gone forever. While we may not be able to bring back the wonder years, we must stand united as a community and be strong in our convictions.”
Jarniewski is particularly pleased with the recent announcement, made by our provincial government on Yom Hashoah, reiterating its new partnership with the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada to put into place Premier Wab Kinew’s earlier promise to create and roll out a Holocaust education curriculum in Manitoba schools.
In an April 24 press release, Kinew said that “we are one Manitoba that cannot be divided by hatred. Now, more than ever, we must honour the diversity and inclusivity in our province and commit to learning the lessons of history so that they cannot be repeated. Learning lessons from the past protects some of the intrinsic values of our province – diversity, inclusion and human rights. The best way to uphold that basic understanding is to help foster these values in our young people.”
Beginning in the fall, the grades 6, 9 and 11, social studies curriculum will be updated to include mandatory Holocaust education in all schools across the province.
The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada has been tasked to develop new curriculum guidance on Holocaust education, including implementation tools, supports and resources.
“Recent surveys have demonstrated that most Canadian students know very little about the Holocaust,” said Jarniewski. “With increased hate-fueled violence and incidents of antisemitism, Holocaust education is a key tool for countering prejudice and cultivating inclusion. We at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada are tremendously grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Manitoba government in strengthening Holocaust education in Manitoba through the creation of a mandated curriculum. We know that Holocaust education encourages critical thinking and reflection on how individuals could or should act in society and provides important lessons from the past to learn for the present and the future.”
Local News
This man – Michael Kalo – has been defaming prominent Winnipeggers online for years, but now he’s getting a taste of his own medicine
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted May 3, updated May 8, updated May 11) There’s a particularly ugly side that often comes with being in the public eye – and that’s being on the receiving end of some of the most vile and awful comments, often threats – sometimes on social media, sometimes in emails, and sometimes on websites.
For years now many prominent Winnipeggers (almost all of them Jewish) have had to endure just that kind of vicious attack from someone by the name of Michael Kalo. But how do you fight back against someone who writes some of the most awful things – and then sends them out to various members of the media (including me), all the while hiding behind a series of aliases? There’s no point in suing him for defamation; he’s penniless. (The police have seized his computer in the past and are well aware of him, but the individuals whom he has defamed have always been reluctant to have the Crown press charges, thinking that it will only draw more attention to him – which is what he seems to want.)
But I’m different – and I’ve finally had enough of his crap.
In my original column I had posted the email Kalo had sent out to a great many individuals in which he defamed Jacob Brodovsky, who was forced to resign as co-executive director of BB Camp after a website called the j.ca launched a series of attacks on Jacob over his perceived “anti-Zionist” attitudes. I suppose these days who defines “Zionist” is a decision made by certain individuals who reserve for themselves the right to define what support for Israel means. I guess all those hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been marching on the streets protesting Netanyahu’s deliberate strategy of letting the remaining hostages linger in tunnels in Gaza – however many may still be alive) are also “anti-Zionist.”
Anyway, I’ve now removed that vile email. If anyone still wants to see it, email me at jewishp@mymts.net and I’ll send it to you.
Something else I’ve now removed from this article is my referring to Michael Kalo’s very accomplished daughters. My intention was to attempt to induce them to use their influence to sway their father to stay off the internet and stop defaming members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community. But then I received an email from a prominent member of our community who asked me to remove my references to Michael Kalo’s daughters. That person wrote, in part: ‘His daughters don’t have anything to do with him. They don’t talk to him.”
Well, if his daughters don’t want anything to do with him, then I suppose there’s no point in retaining what I had written about them – so that’s gone too.
What’s left now though is a video of Michael Kalo that gives anyone who has never heard of him – or seen him in pubic, a clear idea of what type of person he is.
The video that was sent to me shows Kalo engaging in an argument with someone (and the identity of that person was not revealed to me by the person who sent me the video.) In it you can hear Michael explain why he’s consistently called Ben Carr a “kike”, “a spoiled Jew boy,” along with some other choice epithets. (Kalo has sent out numerous emails defaming Ben Carr using the name “Mohammed Greenberg” as the sender.)
But, I did respond to Kalo, whom I’ve know for many years, starting with when he achieved notoriety by being banned from entering the Asper Campus over 30 years ago. Here’ what I wrote to him:
“You know what I’m going to do Michael. I’m going to print your letter on my website – but I’m going to say that it was sent by someone named Michael Kalo, who has been defaming various Winnipeg Jews for years. That way it will have the opposite effect of what you’re intending. I’m also going to post the video in which you call Ben Carr (and the person filming the video) a kike. And if you want to come after me the way you’ve been going after anyone and everyone who provokes your ire, go right ahead. (You seem to have a real hate on for successful Winnipeg Jews. Is it because you’re such a failure in life yourself?) And I’m going to bcc this email to some of the people you’ve been defaming so that they can see how much of a fool you”ve been making of yourself for years.
-“Bernie”
Here’s the video of Michael (who is apparently walking away with a Ben Carr sign tucked under his arm):
Local News
Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s Friday afternoon service at Simkin Centre has grown in popularity
By BERNIE BELLAN In November 2023 I published a story in The Jewish Post & News about the first-ever Friday afternoon “Erev Shabbat” service at the Simkin Centre, which was held October 27, 2023.
It was an opportunity for me to see how much of an impact the newly spiritual care aide at the Simkin Centre, Rabbi Matthew Leibl, was having on residents. But that was in 2023 – only 2 years after the Simkin Centre had emerged from the most harrowing period in its history.
As you may recall, when Covid 19 began to spread in early 2020, it was personal care homes across Canada that were hit hardest – and the Simkin Centre was not spared the ravages of Covid. A total of 11 residents passed away at the Centre in 2020 and 2021.
Another result of the Covid epidemic was that the number of non-Jewish residents at the Simkin Centre jumped by quite a large number during the epidemic. Here are some figures showing how many more non-Jewish residents moved into the home by 2021 than had been there previously:
2017 – 67 non-Jewish or 33.5%
2018 – 63 non-Jewish or 31.5%
2019 – 71 non-Jewish or 35.5%
2020 – 61 non-Jewish or 30.5%
2021 – 86 non-Jewish or 43.0%
According to Laurie Cerqueti, CEO at the Simkin Centre, as of May 2, 2025, 44% of the residents are non-Jewish while 56% are Jewish.
Rabbi Leibl had been hired in the spring of 2023. His hiring was enabled by a grant from the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. Here is how the Foundation explained what its purpose was in making a grant to the Simkin Centre for the hiring of a full-time spiritual care aide:
“I know how important spiritual care is in our type of setting,” said Laurie Cerqueti, Simkin Centre CEO. “For our residents, our families, and our community.”
Since she took over the CEO role, Laurie’s thoughts had been directed to ‘How can we serve our people even more than we are now? How can we make this bigger and better?’
This sparked the idea that someone should be brought in to look at what they were doing regarding spiritual care to see where gaps and opportunities lay to develop the program.
The Simkin Centre hired Rabbi Matthew Leibl as the person to fill the role, someone Cerqueti thought would be a perfect fit f for what they’were hoping to do.
“As I spoke with Matthew about this opportunity, we see it as an opportunity to make a significant difference for the residents and their families,” said Cerqueti.
This interaction with the Simkin Centre is not Rabbi Leibl’s first. He has been involved with the Simkin Centre for over 15 years, first working there at age 21. That year, he did concerts three times per week for the residents.
“I found that the music and performing was an incredible way to connect with the people there,” said Rabbi Leibl.
He recalled a story from that time frame where he was performing Oseh Shalom, and one resident who had been, to that point, without her memory and less present, began to mouth the words along with him. The song helped her break through what she had been dealing with.
“That moment was truly a game changer for me. I’m so excited to be able to give back to a place that helped people in my own family and was a great place for me while I was figuring out my way many years ago,” said Rabbi Leibl.
“Simkin is such a special place, and what they’re doing there is awesome.”
In the year and a half since I was present at Rabbi Leibl’s first ever Friday afternoon service at the Simkin Centre much has changed. Most of the new residents who have moved into the centre have, once again, been Jewish. But, in recognition of how many residents are not Jewish the centre has begun offering services for different denominations as well. The May calendar of events lists a Catholic Mass, an Anglican service, a Christian Bible Study, and a Hymnsing.
But it was Rabbi Leibl’s Erev Shabbat service I was interested in seeing again – some 18 months after the first service he had conducted, to see whether it had changed – and how many residents came to watch.
The atrium of the centre was filled with residents on Friday, April 26 – quite a few more than that October 2023 service. The increased number of attendees was also a reflection of how many more of the centre’s residents, once again, are Jewish. (In case you weren’t aware, if there’s a vacant unit at the Simkin Centre and someone who is Jewish is on the wait list to gain admission into the centre, that individual will be given first crack at moving into the centre. I had been told by Laurie Cerqueti that the 14 most recent new residents in the centre were all Jewish.)
There was one other aspect to Rabbi Leibl’s service which was brought to my attention. One of the residents at the Simkin Centre, Carol Manishen, also has a son living in a Shalom Residence: Josh Manishen. When Carol’s husband, Wayne, saw me at that Friday service he told me that he often comes early with Josh – before the start of the regular service at 4:00 pm, and Josh sings various Hebrew prayers, accompanied by Rabbi Leibl on the keyboard. To watch a video of Josh singing, click here:
Two more things to add though: First, Rabbi Leibl is now a regular participant on a podcast that is put on by CJN (what used to be known as the Canadian Jewish News) called “Not In Heaven.” You can find it simply by Googling CJN and scrolling down under the Podcasts link.
Also, since Rabbi Leibl and I go a long way back – and we both have a fond taste for sarcasm, he singled me out from among the audience and said to everyone there: “We’ve even got a reporter from the Jewish Post here.”
I couldn’t help but respond – in my usual facetious manner, that I was there to do an exposé.
To which, Rabbi Leibl retorted: “You can call it “Sex, Drugs, and Candlesticks.” Hmm, I wonder how much more there is about the Simkin Centre that I haven’t learned yet?
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