Local News
Community leaders David Asper, Harvey and Sandra Secter among the honourees at recent University of Manitoba convocation
By MYRON LOVE Community leaders David Asper and Harvey Secter were among ten individuals who were recipients of honorary degrees at the University of Manitoba’s most recent convocation.
For Harvey Secter, who was recognized with a Doctorate of Laws, the award was the culmination of a 30-plus year relationship with the university in one capacity or another. What made the event even sweeter for the university’s former Chancellor is that his wife, Sandra, was also honoured by the university with the Peter D. Curry Chancellor’s Award, which is given out annually to an individual who “has made outstanding contributions to the develop of the university.”
The Secter name is well known in our community. Harvey’s parents, the late Joe and Gwen Secter, set the bar high in terms of philanthropy and community leadership for their children – and Harvey and Sandra have certainly made their own mark in community service.
Harvey Secter began his working career in the family business, succeeding his father in operating Ricki’s Canada Ltd., a chain of ladies’ clothing stores across Canada, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Sam Guralnick.
In his time in business, Secter was involved with the Jewish Child and Family Service, which led into volunteering with the United Way, including chairing the 1998 United Way campaign.
He was part of the fundraising effort on behalf of the St. Boniface Hospital’s new Research Centre and served on the board of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba for more than 12 years.
In 1982, Secter and Guralnick sold the business and Secter, after fully retiring from the company – by then in his 40s – returned in 1988 to the University of Manitoba – from whence he had previously earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1969 – to pursue a career in law. He followed that up with a Master’s degree in Law from Harvard in 1995.
That same year, after returning to Winnipeg, he became a lecturer in Law at his alma mater, teaching in the fields of mediation and arbitration. In 1999, he was appointed Dean of the Law faculty. And, after retiring from that position in 2008, he was asked to serve as Chancellor of the university, a role he filled until 2019.
It was her contributions to the university as the wife of the Chancellor that earned Sandra Secter the Peter Curry Award. Harvey notes that it is unusual in that Sandra has never held an official position at the university.
The Chancellor serves, in a sense, as the university’s leading ambassador, Harvey Secter points out, and Sandra was the consummate “ambassador’s wife” by regularly engaging all the stakeholders, be they students, faculty, alumni or donors.
In her own right, Sandra Secter has contributed substantially to our community with leadership roles with the National Council of Jewish Women, the Combined Jewish Appeal – where she and close friend Marsha Cowan served as co-chairs of the 1997/8 campaign and again in 2001– as well as many arts organizations over the years.
“It was been really gratifying that others have found our joint efforts as volunteers over the years on behalf of the university and the community at large to be meaningful and worthy of recognition at this stage of our lives,” Secter concludes.
For David Asper – who was also recognized with a Doctorate of Laws, it was more of a bittersweet moment because David Milgaard wasn’t able to share the podium with him. Milgaard, the man that Asper spent many years moving heaven and earth to free from prison after he was falsely convicted for murder, was also scheduled to receive an honorary degree but, sadly, passed away in mid-May.
“I accepted his degree on behalf of David,” Asper says, “but it wasn’t the same without him. I missed having my guy beside me. That was to be his moment of full redemption.”
For readers who are unaware – or may have forgotten the details, Milgaard was a young man from Winnipeg – a drifter at the time – who happened to be crashing in Saskatoon for a period. In 1969, on a cold winter morning, a young nurse by the name of Gail Miller was brutally raped and murdered at a bus stop in Saskatoon. Footsteps in the snow led to the nearby house where the then-16-year-old Milgaard was temporarily staying.
Saskatoon police soon decided that Milgaard was their man. As the great Canadian criminal lawyer Eddie Greenspan pointed out in his autobiography, once the police and the Crown zero in on a suspect, they do their best to prove his guilt and ignore evidence that points to his innocence.
Thus, even though Milgaard steadfastly insisted that he was innocent, he was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. Through a quirk in our prison system, once convicted you can only get parole if you acknowledge your guilt – something which Milgaard refused to do.
David’s mother, the late Joyce Milgaard, believed in her son’s innocence and worked tirelessly to find anyone who would give him a fair hearing. In 1986, after 16 years in prison, the late Hersh Wolch took on the case and brought David Asper – a lawyer for Wolch’s firm – in to help.
Asper was soon spearheading the defense.
“I worked on David’s case for six years before he was released in 1992,” Asper recalls. “He was finally fully exonerated in 1997 by science and the evidence provided by DNA analysis. We became very close. A certain level of intimacy and intensity developed in our relationship”
(Another man – a serial killer as it turned out – who happened to be staying at the same house where Milgaard was staying at that time – was subsequently arrested and convicted of the murder.)
Asper observes that life outside went on in the years that Milgaard was incarcerated. “I met Ruth, the woman who would become my wife in 1986,” he says. “We had two children before David was released and our third before he was exonerated While my wife was working at starting a business and I was travelling across the country pursuing justice for David, his mother stepped up and helped us with our own family.”
In recent days, with kids grown, David Asper reports that he has cut back on his activities. “I am taking it easier,” he says. “I am still involved though in public service as a director of the North Portage Partnership Board and Chair of the Manitoba Police Commission, which I have found to be an interesting role.”
Local News
Holocaust survivors group “Cafe Europa” celebrates 25th anniversary
By MYRON LOVE On October 12, 2000, the Jewish Child and Family Service (JCFS) invited Holocaust survivors in our community to attend an information session at the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre to discuss how the community could better serve the needs of that segment of our community. What grew out of that meeting was the establishment of the Winnipeg chapter of Cafe Europa, an international organization originally established by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which brings together Holocaust survivors to forge connections and community with others who have shared their experience.
On Thursday, October 23, 2025, a small group of our community’s rapidly dwindling survivors joined some of the JCSF staff who have been involved with the program over the years – including current president and CEO Al Benarroch, his predecessor, Emily Shane, JCFS seniors case worker Adeena Lungen, recently retired Cheryl Hirsh Katz, along with Keith Elfenbein and Heather Kraut – the current JCFS staff overseeing JCFS seniors programming – also Shelley Faintuch, who was the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s Director of Community Relations 25 years ago – for the for lunch at the Gwen Secter to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Winnipeg’s Cafe Europa.
“It is a really special moment for me to stand before you today as we commemorate the 25th anniversary of our Holocaust survivors’ social lunch program,” said Adeena Lungen, JCFS social worker. Lungen herself is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
Al Benarroch, President and CEO of JCFS, added, ““Our Holocaust survivors are truly precious jewels, the living legacy, resilience, an embodiment of Jewish survival, and of ‘Am Yisrael Chai’. We owe them so much for their stewardship of Jewish truth and justice. They are truly righteous among us.”
Lungen continued: “It began with a simple idea to bring Holocaust survivors together and evolved into a regular biweekly group where survivors meet, share a meal, enjoy a program and find comfort in each other’s company. It has grown into an environment where survivors have been able to come together year after year supporting each other through illness, loss, and hardship, as well as celebrating together successes and family simchas.”
Lungen was one of two JCFS social workers who were at that original meeting 25 years ago, along with Shelley Faintuch – also the child of Holocaust survivors – representing the Federation. “Our initial idea was just to create a space where survivors could come together as a community of people with shared experiences and history,” Lungen recounted.
The name, “Cafe Europa”, she explained, comes from a cafe of the same name in Stockholm where survivors met in the early years after the war in the hopes of finding family and friends who had also survived the Holocaust.
Lungen recalled that the survivors who attended that first meeting were very clear about their vision for the group. “They weren’t looking for a therapy or support group – nor did they want to talk about their wartime experiences,” she said. “They simply wanted a program where they could socialize with other survivors. I came to understand their needs and desires to meet with others who understood loss and suffering in a way that only other survivors could.”
Speaking directly to the 15 survivors at the 25th anniversary lunch, Lungen praised them for their “indomitable will to live a life of purpose and meaning. You have shown all of us – in very real ways – what it means to rebuild your lives, to persevere and to believe in the possibility of goodness after unimaginable loss.
“We at JCFS are grateful for the opportunity to work with you, to learn from you and to be inspired by you.”
As the number of survivors in our community continue to decrease year after year, so too do the numbers attending Cafe Europa programs. Keith Elfenbeinn noted, “when Heather (Kraut) and I began working with the survivors 12 years ago, we had close to 50 attending our bimonthly programs (which feature lunch followed by speakers or performers). Now we get fewer than 20.”
He added that most survivors are in their late 80s or 90s now – including 100-year-olds Charlotte Kittner and Saul Fink.
Lungen in particular noted Elfenbein’s role in co-ordinating all aspects of Cafe Europa’s programming, including phoning survivors to arrange transportation, booking the speakers and entertainment, and liaising with the Gwen Secter Centre.
Shelley Faintuch delved into Canada’s sorry history with regard to largely having banned Jewish immigration here before the war and limiting the numbers after the war. She provided an overview – in her years as the Federation’s Community Relations director – to reach out to governments and build bridges to other faith and ethnic communities –as well as high school students, aimed at raising awareness of antisemitism and taking measures to fight this pernicious hatred.
The 25th anniversary program finished with a musical performance by Rabbi Matthew Leibl and Cantor Steven Hyman.
Local News
A Touching Moment with a Winnipeg Connection
By GERRY POSNER Recently I learned of an event that just occurred in Kansas City, Missouri. It was an unusual event in that it was a full military and Jewish funeral for a Jewish man from the Kansas City area who died long ago – in 1942, in the Philippines, during the Second World War. His name was Simon Garelich or, as he was referred to in the funeral ceremony, Sgt. Simon Garelich. The event involved a reinterment of his body after some nearly 83 years. How did that happen and how is Winnipeg related, if at all, to this happening?
You have to go back to 1941 when the world was unravelling.There was war of course in Europe, parts of North Africa, and indeed in the Philippines as well, which were invaded by the Japanese at that time. Meanwhile, in the little city of St. Joseph, Missouri (60 miles north of Kansas City), a young Jewish boy by the name of Simon Garelich decided to enlist in the US Army. He was a first generation American, the youngest of 10 children. It is unlikely that he even realized the full implications of his signing up, the extent of the evil occurring, or the extent of the suffering and injustice experienced by his people. Nonetheless, he willingly went to war. He was not long into the service when he was shipped off to the Philippines to be a part of the fight against the Japanese there. In December 1941, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines. Intense fighting continued until the surrender of what was called the Bataan peninsula in April 1942. Garelich was one of the many soldiers captured and later interned at a POW camp. Over 2,500 men perished in that camp.
In April,1942, the Garelich family was notified that Simon was missing in action, but later they learned he was alive and a prisoner of war. They were later advised – in November 1942, that he had died and was buried with other prisoners at the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery in Common Grave 107. In 2024, through the science of DNA and some dedicated researchers, the remains of what was an unknown soldier were connected to a 92-year-old niece of Simon’s, a resident of Kansas City Missouri. A long process then ensued to bring the deceased back to the USA for an appropriate ceremony. On October 7, 2025, a full service took place with many of the relatives of Simon Garelich in attendance, including many of his surviving nieces and nephews. Rabbi Talia Kaplan officiated at the Sheffield Cemetery in Kansas City.
As mentioned, Garelich had nine siblings, some of whom were born in Europe and others in the United States. One of his siblings was Helen Garelich who, in 1941, met a Winnipeg man who was then stationed in Gimli as part of the Canadian airforce. In 1941, he visited his sister in St. Joseph. During that visit, he met and courted Helen Garelich. This Winnipeg man was David Gilman. For many readers, the Gilman family (and there were several, some of whom used the spelling Gillman), is well known. For starters, from 1943 through 1967, David Gilman was a Chartered Accountant in Winnipeg and the senior partner in the firm of Gilman, Burke, Newman, Cantor. David and Helen began their married life in Kansas City and their oldest son, Sheldon, was born there but soon moved to Winnipeg. What connects this story to Winnipeg is the fact that Sheldon, who spent the first 23 years of his life in Winnipeg was named in memory of Helen’s brother, Simon.
Now, many of us are named for various relatives, likely for grandparents, even many for great grandparents or other family members, most of whom are long gone. But on October 7, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri, there was Sheldon Gilman attending a ceremony honouring the very man for whom he was named. That would be a rare moment for any of us. He was moved by it all, as were various family members.
One of the family members, Laura Gilman, spoke and, during her homily, she quoted from the late Jonathan Sacks, whose remarks were so pertinent to the reinterment. “The secret of Jewish continuity is that no people has ever devoted more of its energies to continuity. The focal point of Jewish life is the transmission of a heritage across the generations.” The Garelich family reunion to honour their beloved Simon was just such a devotion to continuity.
Local News
Jewish community members cast in prominent roles in upcoming RMTC production of “Elf, the Musical”
By MYRON LOVE Who knew that Buddy the Elf – the central character in the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s upcoming production of “Elf the Musical,” which runs from November 25 to December 28 – is originally from a “Jewish” family?
Well, not really. But, it just happens to be that the actors who have been cast as his father (Kevin McIntyre), stepmother (Rochelle Kives), and half brother (Alex Schaeffer), in the production are all members of our Jewish community.
In brief, we find Buddy toiling away in Santa’s workshop with his fellow elves – but he has never felt that he quite fit in as he is adult-size and much taller than the other elves. It seems that his birth mother – now deceased –put him in an orphanage where the baby accidentally crawled into Santa’s sack and ended up at the North Pole, where he was adopted by the elves. When he reaches adulthood, Papa Elf reveals to Buddy that he is human and tells him the name of his birth father. Buddy goes to New York in search of his father and humourous adventures follow as he connects with father and family and tries to adjust to life as a human being.
For Alex Schaeffer, who is cast as Michael, Buddy’s half brother, this is his second appearance on stage at RMTC. The Grant Park High School student’s debut at RMTC was two years ago when he was cast in the theatre’s production of “The Sound of Music.”
The son of Marc Schaeffer and Kae Sasake has been featured in the pages of The Post several times over the years in regard to his success over the past five years at the annual Winnipeg Music Festival. He and his sister, Hannah, both had roles in their high school’s production of “A Chorus Line” last winter. They also both appeared in several productions at the most recent Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Alex was also cast in the Manitoba Opera production of Carmen as a member of the children’s chorus.
Coming up for Shaeffer is Grant Park’s next musical production, “Something Rotten.”
“I am looking forward to appearing in future musical theatre productions,” he says.
“I am really excited to be back at MTC,” says Rochelle Kives, who plays the role of stepmother Emily Hobbs. “It’s a great role. I get a lot of joy being a mother myself and love playing this loving, nurturing character. I am really looking forward to working with Julie Tomaino (the director and choreographer).”
Kives has been seen on numerous local stages – as well as several locally filmed TV shows and movies since she returned to her hometown six years ago after spending ten years as a band singer on cruise ships. (See article in August 12, 2021 issue of the Jewish Post & News by going to jewishpostandnews.ca and typing in Rochelle Kives in the “Search archive.”) Her most recent appearance was in Rainbow Stage’s production of ”Frozen” in August.
For Kevin McIntyre, who plays the role of Buddy’s dad, Walter Hobbs, this is his first appearance at RMTC and, he says, he is really looking forward to it. “This is a positive, feel good story – something a lot of people need in these stressful times,” he comments.
While McIntyre grew up in Winnipeg, he left here at age 18 to pursue an acting career, returning 28 years later – in 2019 – to stay. (See previous story in September 16, 2020 issue of the Jewish Post & News, again accessible on jewishpostandnews.ca.)
The Congregation Etz Chayim member appeared last spring in the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre production of “The Band” – a tale of an Egyptian band that somehow mistakenly ends up in the wrong community in Israel.
“It was a beautiful story of cross cultural understanding at a time when a real war is ongoing,” he says. “It was a great experience working with (WJT artistic director) Dan Petrenko.”
For information about “Elf” or to buy tickets, phone the box office at 204 942-6537 or go online at boxoffice@royalmtc.ca.