Local News
City of Kenora says it is not interested in subdividing Town Island; will sell to only one purchaser
By BERNIE BELLAN
A story that we have been following closely has taken an interesting twist. In the case of the looming sale of that portion of Town Island which is not already owned by BB Camp, the City of Kenora has clarified that if the rest of Town Island is sold, it will not be sold to more than one purchaser.
In a news story reported in Kenora Online on December 20, it was reported that City of Kenora Manager of Development Services Adam Smith said that, if the island were to be sold, it “will be sold as a whole (emphasis mine), with the exception of the B’nai Brith Camp property which won’t be affected.
“ ‘I think there might be some misinformation in relation to us proceeding with subdividing the island. We will be selling it in its entirety, at least the part of the island that we own. If a purchaser did come in and wanted to divide the island, there is a process they would have to follow through the ministry of municipal affairs and housing,”
“ ‘I think people may be perceiving that once it is acquired, or purchased through say a private party, right away they would immediately be able to commence with development. There is further due diligence, especially through en environmental perspective that would have to be completed,’ he said.”
However, in the original Expressions of Interest/Request for Proposals that the City of Kenora posted in September, the wording of the EOI/RFP said Kenora would… sell the lands to an interested party who is prepared to immediately undertake an appropriate development (emphasis ours) that complies with all relevant regulations and procedures.”
We asked Adam Smith to clarify the apparent contradiction between indicating that a purchaser would be expected to undertake “an immediate development” and the story that appeared in Kenora Online on December 20.
Smith responded: “That has been a standard line in our EOI ads and has since been removed. It is more reflective of properties within town for which we would like to see a project move ahead right away.”
As well, the Canadian Jewish News has also reported on the story. In a December 30 story written by Paul Lungen, it is reported that Kenora Mayor Dan Reynard said that “there’s nothing in the city’s request for proposal that requires the island be turned over to developers. The city is open to receiving bids from stakeholders who wish to retain the island in its undeveloped state.“
The CJN story also noted that following an October meeting with the “Friends of Town Island”, the City of Kenora had “agreed to extend the deadline for bids until the end of January, to give the stakeholders more time to look into a bid.” (In our story in the December 25 issue, we merely noted that the deadline for receipt of proposals was January. We were not aware that the deadline was the “end of January”.)
In an email dated December 31, however, City of Kenora Manager of Development Services Adam Smith would not confirm whether any proposals for the purchase of Town Island had been received yet.
I did ask Smith though whether the City of Kenora had received an offer from BB Camp to purchase the rest of Town Island in 2014, which is when the camp purchased 30 acres of the island. He responded that he did “not have any knowledge of offers to purchase the rest of the island in 2014.”
Yet, in a CBC story about the proposed sale of Town Island it was reported that, according to Aaron London, “BB Camp has inquired about buying the rest of the island in the past, but camp officials were told it would be transferred to a public trust.”
In a subsequent email to me London did confirm that there had been discussions involving a member of the City of Kenora’s administration back in 2014 about BB Camp purchasing Town Island in its entirety.
As we also noted in the story that we published in our December 25 issue, moreover, according to a 2014 story in Kenora Online, a spokesperson for the City Council of Kenora had said that “they (the city council) are committed to preserving Town Island in its current natural state and protecting the fishery and natural habitats on and around the island.”
However, in the intervening years between 2014 – when the sale of Town Island was averted and BB Camp was able to purchase 30 acres of Town Island (leaving 156 acres still owned by the City of Kenora) – and the present day, the City of Kenora has found itself subject to much increased social and financial pressures due to a variety of factors.
In a report issued by the Ontario Human Rights Commission in September 2019 which was titled “Report and recommendations on homelessness in Kenora”, it was noted, among other findings, that “Kenora is facing an immediate homelessness and drug addiction crisis which has a disproportionate impact on First Nations people who live in the city. (It’s a crisis where loss of life is foreseeable). The immediate crisis is related to:
o the forced displacement of vulnerable people, including people with addictions and mental health disabilities, who had been living in a substandard low-rise apartment building (Lila’s Place), coupled with fires that demolished two other low-income apartments in recent years
o the recent arrival of methamphetamine (“crystal meth”) from Winnipeg and associated health and safety-related issues
o the closure of other emergency shelter services at the Fellowship Centre due to lack of sustainable funding.
In the CJN story, Kenora Mayor Dan Reynard noted his frustration with the Province of Ontario and the province’s unwillingness to become involved in helping to provide a solution to the Town Island situation. According to the CJN story, Mayor Reynard said “talks with the province went on for years, ‘but it just seemed to get bogged down in the system.’ In the meantime, ‘we’ve got this asset and a big infrastructure deficit within the community,’ he said.”
The 2019 budget passed by the City of Kenora included a major increase in expenditures for policing. As Mayor Reynard explained in a story reported in Kenora Online in March 2019 “$650,000 of the $900,000 in tax increases approved weren’t within council’s control, including more than $400,000 related to an increase in policing costs.
“The increase is connected with a rise in calls for service, the mayor said. The OPP have said the increase in calls for service is related to the introduction of crystal meth, and there has been a related increase in petty thefts – including break-ins – officers say is associated with the drug.”
Thus, while many readers are no doubt concerned that Town Island’s future may be in jeopardy, it is important to be aware of the many factors that have led to this current situation, especially the much increased difficulties in which the City of Kenora finds itself.
As Manitobans have gone to the polls and with a new legislative assembly about to begin a new four-year term, the challenges of long-term and continuing care homes need to be communicated.
MARCHE, the Manitoba Association of Residential and Community Care Homes for the Elderly will be holding a focus group on Wednesday, October 11 that is intended to provide the community at large a forum to express thoughts and provide ideas and recommendations for the future.
Please join us on Wednesday, October 11th at the Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre. We look forward to hearing from you.
See poster below for more information and how to register to attend.
By MYRON LOVE Gray Academy, our community’s only junior kindergarten–12 Jewish day school, holds a unique place among Jewish schools in Western Canada.
The school has a higher per capita enrollment than any other Jewish day school in Western Canada related to the number of potential Jewish students in the community. As well, it is the only Jewish high school in North America – other than yeshivot – that offers an international student experience.
“We generally enrol one or two students a year from international communities,” says Gray Academy Head of School and CEO Lori Binder. “Our International Student program has always been a niche program,” “We want to be able to make sure that the international students are well integrated into our student body.”
For the most part, she reports, the visiting students have come from Brazil and Mexico. “We have agents in Brazil and Mexico,” she notes. “In the past, we have participated in recruitment trips – and we might again one day – depending on available resources. Most of our international students hear about our program through word of mouth.”
This school year, Gray Academy has two international students enrolled. Natalie Rozenberg is from Rio de Janiero This is the Grade 12 student’s second year at the school. She is following in the footsteps of her older sister, Dafne, who graduated from Gray Academy in 2020 and is currently enrolled in third year Data Science at the University of Manitoba.
The newest international student at Gray Academy is Tara Foster, who has come all the way from Australia to sample a different kind of educational experience. “Tara is the first Australian student to participate in our program,” Binder says. “In fact, she reached out to us after finding information about our program online.”
The Grade 10 student was born and raised in Sydney. Her father, she notes, was also originally from Sydney, but her parents met and married in London. They moved to Sydney 18 year ago. Up to now, Tara has been a student at Masada College, a K-12 Jewish school in Sydney, where she will be returning next fall.
I wanted to experience a school somewhere else – preferably in an English-speaking country,” she says. “I searched online and Gray Academy was the only school offering this program.”
While her mother, she notes, had some concerns about her 15-year-old daughter traveling so far from home for school, her father was fine with the idea. He is involved in an accounting software business which brings him frequently to Toronto. Her mother, Tara says, is planning to come to visit in January.
Tara has been here for just over a month. She reports that Winnipeg so far is sort of what she expected. “It is very flat,” she muses. “It is easier to get around here than in Sydney.”
She says that she has already made some friends in her new school and is starting to get involved in extracurricular activites
Natalie began the school year by joining her Grade 12 classmates on their Human Rights and Holocaust Education trip to Washington, DC. She is looking forward to continuing to work out regularly at the Rady JCC.
”I am still working on improving my English,” she says.
She notes that her parents are happy that their two daughters are living in a safe community such as Winnipeg.
As is the standard practice with Gray Academy’s International Student program, both girls are living with host families. “Over the past 15 years or so, our visiting International Student Program has hosted more than 30 students,” Lori Binder reports. “Not only do the visiting students benefit from the experience of going to school here, but our own students get the opportunity to welcome fellow students from different places and learn more about the larger world.”
She adds that the visiting students form long-lasting bonds with their host families, with the guests often becoming part of the host family’s extended family.
Local News
Rabbi Michael Skobac, international leader in Jewish outreach, to speak at Adas Yeshurun Herzlia on October 20
By MYRON LOVE It has been many years since I have had the pleasure of interviewing Rabbi Michael Skobac. I am happy to report that the long time Education Director of Jews for Judaism has been invited back to Winnipeg by the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregation to do a presentation – on Friday, October 20, after Kabbalat Shabbat services – on the subject of the ongoing missionary threat to the Jews.
The subtext for “The Battle for the Jewish Soul,” the title of his lecture, he points out, is an exploration of why so many Jews are susceptible to the siren song of missionaries – not just Christian missionaries, but also Asian religious movements – an issue that also falls under the aegis of Jews for Judaism.
“It is not just a matter of a lack of education or knowledge,” he explained in a wide ranging interview with the JP&N last Friday morning. “Many of those who have left Judaism grew up in Jewish homes, had their bar/bat mitzvahs, went to Hebrew school and visited Israel. What they are missing is a sense of spirituality.
“Too many Jews have grown up in a spiritual vacuum,” he continued. “They have holes in their soul that cry out to be filled and they are not finding it in Judaism. Therefore, they are turning to Bhuddism, Hinduism and the Church.”
To further illustrate his point, he cited a story about a conference on Jewish meditation a year ago in New York City. “There were about 1,000 people registered,” he recounted. “They were asked to raise their hands if they had participated in Eastern mediation practices. Everyone raised their hands. When subsequently asked how many of them had had any experience with Jewish meditation, no hands went up.”
That anecdote speaks to one of the several ways that Jews for Judaism’s mission has evolved and expanded. The organization was founded in 1989 in Toronto by Julius Ciss, himself a former “Jew for Jesus” who had returned to Judaism some years before and had begun doing counter missionary work.
Rabbi Skobac joined Jews for Judaism full time in 1992. A graduate of Yeshiva University, the former New Yorker received his smicha in 1980. After teaching for a short time, he was drawn into outreach work within the Jewish community prior to joining the staff of Jews for Judaism.
Initially, Jews for Judaism’s primary mission was working to bring back to Judaism susceptible Jews who were enticed into joining messianic congregations operating under the guise of following Jewish ritual practices within a context of worshipping Yesha (Jesus).
Skobac notes that Jews for Judaism’s focus has never been criticizing Christian beliefs, but rather on educating lost Jews as to the joys of Judaism. “We operate under the idea that the missionary activity of Jews for Jesus is not the problem,” he explains. “It is a symptom. The problem is that a growing number of Jews are disconnected from Judaism. Our communities are dealing with a lot of assimilation and apathy. The other thing we realized is that it is not just Christ who is calling to Jews. Twenty five percent of North American Bhuddists are Jewish and Jews are similarly overrepresented in other Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Bahai.”
Skobac noted that Jews for Judaism has become a 911 service forJewish communities – responding to many family members concerned about siblings or children who have strayed into other religious faiths.
There have been some interesting phenomena developing in more recent years that Skobac commented on. One is related to the growth of the messianic movements themselves.
“We are not dealing with just one or two messianic congregations in North America now,” he observed. “There are currently more than 500 – and they have become organized. They have camps and day schools and “rabbinical schools” to fill the growing demand for “rabbis”. The result is more of the messianic Jews are actually studying Judaism and some are – as a result- coming back to the Jewish community.”
Another difference that Skobac points out is that you no longer see these missionaries preaching on street corners. As with everything else in our modern world, virtually all the missionary work today is happening online. And the outreach efforts of Jews for Judaism has also moved to some degree online.
“Twelve years ago, we started our own YouTube channel,” he reported. “We have had between 8 and 9 million views. Obviously not all of our viewers re Jewish.”
He pointed out that over the past 40 years, a growing number of non-Jews have become interested in learning about Judaism and begun practising the “Noahide” laws as ordained in the Torah. These laws were required by God of Noah’s descendants and include prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, theft, murder and cruelty to animals.
And some of these Noahides convert to Judaism. Skobac reported, for example, that he was recently in Alberta to help a family living outside of Edmonton that was converting to Judaism.
The bottom line, Skobac noted, is that a growing number of Jews are not finding meaning in Judaism. “People need a sense of the spiritual in their lives to give their lives meaning,” he observed. “If they can’t find it in Judaism, they will look somewhere else. What we try to do is bring out the beauty and spirituality in Judaism.”
Readers who may be interested in attending rabbi Skobac’s presentation (which includes supper) can contact the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia office at 204 489-6262.
