Local News
Increase in allocations to Provincial Nominee Program likely to lead to influx of Israeli immigrants to Winnipeg
By BERNIE BELLAN From time to time we’ve had articles on this website that refer to the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). If you’re not familiar with that program, here’s a summary of how it works:
Although the Federal government is ostensibly responsible for immigration to Canada, beginning in 1998, the Federal government (when the Minister of Immigration at that time was our own Lloyd Axworthy), allowed Manitoba to “nominate” a small number of individuals to immigrate to Manitoba, to fill labour needs in the province at that time.
Here is how the program first began, according to information on a Province of Manitoba website, and how it has developed since:
“Manitoba was the first province to launch a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 1998. As a small province with few newcomers, it needed the PNP to promote itself as a destination of choice to skilled immigrants. Since then, Manitoba has been a tremendous immigration success story. Thanks to the Manitoba PNP, immigration has played a major role in Manitoba’s population, labour force, and economic growth.
“The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) was Canada’s first PNP. It became a permanent immigration program in 1998.
“The program launched to help grow the province’s economy through immigration, based on their economic and labour market needs.
“In its first year, the MPNP welcomed 418 new immigrants. Today, the province nominates more than 4,000 new immigrants through the program per year. (Ed. note: The information on the website where we obtained information about the PNP is now quite out of date. The province nominated 6,275 individuals as candidates for immigration under the program in 2021.)
“Manitoba has been very successful with the MPNP. In fact, without it, Manitoba’s GDP would be up to 30 per cent lower.
“Manitoba is also popular among newcomers. Having a friend or relative in Manitoba helps you to immigrate through the MPNP. In addition, over 90 per cent of provincial nominees get a job in their first year. The province’s retention rate is high with almost 90 per cent choosing to stay in the province.
“The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) seeks recent graduates, skilled workers, businesspeople and their families with the intention and ability to successfully settle and economically establish in Manitoba as permanent residents. Manitoba makes it easy to immigrate and settle in our province.
“The Skilled Workers Stream is locally driven and based on the needs of Manitoba employers. We select internationally trained and experienced workers who have the skills needed in the local labour market, and nominate them to receive Canadian permanent resident visas to settle and work in Manitoba.”
Under the program, prospective immigrants are granted “points” based upon various criteria that they meet. Points are given for skill levels, educational background, and whether they have family members already living in Manitoba.
In 2016 immigration consultant Eka Mednikov wrote an article for our paper describing how important the Provincial Nominee program has been in helping Israelis, in particular, move here. Eka also explained how the Jewish Federation has worked hand in hand with the provincial government to bring newcomers here:
“The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg has the option to support applicants interested in settling in Manitoba and become part of the Jewish community in Winnipeg. The minimum requirements are: Jewish life style, being between the ages of 21 and 45, a post-secondary education, two years of work experience and knowledge of English. Eligible applicants are asked to travel to Winnipeg for an exploratory visit during which time they will attend an interview with a Jewish Federation representative and a Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program Immigration Officer. Due to very high demand, to obtain permanent Canadian residency under this program might take between three to five years.
“Applicants who have family members who have resided at least one year in Manitoba can use the support of their family members for their immigration process. Interested applicants are screened according to a points system that is based upon the age, education, work experience and level of English of the applicant.
“The friends’ support stream is very similar to family support with one unfortunate difference: Points granted for having friends in the province are minimal and in the past two years I haven’t seen anyone able to move here relying upon friends’ support.
“Foreign workers coming to Manitoba on a work permit are eligible to apply for residency under the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program after six months of continuous employment and a job offer from a Manitoba employer. This is the way used by many truck drivers to move to Canada from Israel.”

Recently we were contacted by a representative for Jon Reyes, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration for the Province of Manitoba, who told us that, after a lull period in the Provincial Nominee program that came about in 2020 as a result of the onset of Covid, the province is now accepting a large number of immigrants through the program once again.
We were curious to know how many immigrants had been coming from Israel under the program, so we posed some questions to Minister Reyes.
We asked the Minister: “How many immigrants is the province hoping to bring in under that program this year?”
Minister Reyes responded: Last year, the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) nominated a record 6,275 candidates as individuals who can then apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for permanent residence. The program’s nomination allocation has not been finalized for 2022. The Manitoba government is waiting to receive its MPNP 2022 allocation from the federal government in the near future.”
We asked the Minister how many immigrants from Israel have come here through the PNP?
In the table accompanying this story you can see the number of Israeli citizens who have come to Manitoba under the Provincial Nominee Program between 2017 and 2021. The drop-off in numbers in 2020 and 2021 is directly attributable to the onset of Covid. Many individuals who had contacted the Jewish Federation about coming to Manitoba under the PNP delayed coming here for exploratory visits.
We also asked the Minister this question: “Are there particular classes of immigrants that Manitoba is wanting to recruit? e.g., computer programmers, nurses, etc. (also good hockey players)”
The Minister responded:
“The MPNP is an economic program that aims to address labour market needs by nominating skilled workers and business investors who satisfy program criteria – and who are employable in their areas of professional experience – across all industry sectors.
“Based on the Manitoba government’s Labour Market Outlook 2021-2025 and recent Manitoba occupations gap analyses for the 2022-2026 period, the need for the following occupations is expected to be acute until 2026, given new and expanding businesses and organizations and replacement of retiring workers:
· Retail salespersons
· Transport truck drivers
· Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
· Retail and wholesale trade managers
· Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
· Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occu- pations; and
· Elementary school and kindergarten teachers
Going forward, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg is anticipating quite a large increase in the number of immigrants who will be coming here under the PNP. As Dalia Szpiro, GrowWinnipeg Director for the Federation, told me recently, there is a large backlog of prospective immigrants who delayed coming here for exploratory visits. In the past little while many individuals have now been coming here on those exploratory visits.
In our next issue we hope to have detailed information from the Federation about the number of individuals who are hoping to come here under the PNP with the assistance of the Jewish Federation.
Local News
GrowWinnipeg celebrates 25th anniversary

By MYRON LOVE On Wednesday, June 25, about 250 Jewish Winnipeggers – comprising lifelong residents as well as newer arrivals, came together at the Asper campus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of GrowWinnipeg, an initiative that has revitalized our Jewish community – in our camps, school, synagogues and other institutions and given our community a much more international flavour.
Our community’s population peaked in terms of population in 1961 when Winnipeg Jewry numbered around 20,000. The years after had been a period of steady decline. By 1961, most of the Jews living in smaller communities in the Prairie provinces – the source of much of our ongoing population replenishment up to that point – had largely disappeared.
A s Bob Freedman, the former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (and its predecessor, the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council), noted in his remarks at the 25th anniversary party, by 1986, community leaders recognized that ours was an aging and shrinking community with aging infrastructure.
“We recognized that something had to be done,” he recalled.
The first stage, he pointed out, was the planning and construction of the Asper Campus, which brought our major institutions and organizations under one roof in an attractive new building.
The next challenge was to attract more people to our community. GrowWinnipeg was created to take on the challenge. GrowWinnipeg is unique in its efforts to reach out to young Jewish families throughout the Western world .
The genesis was a chance meeting on an airplane almost 30 years ago between former Manitoba Lieutenant-Governor Janice Filmon – at that time the wife of then-Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, and a Jewish businessman from Argentina who was contemplating moving to Toronto. Filmon persuaded him to consider Winnipeg instead. He was impressed by what he saw and suggested that the community send representatives to Buenos Aires to meet with other Argentinian Jewish families who were considering leaving.
That planted the seed.
Shortly thereafter – in 1998 – Larry Hurtig – then the president of the Federation, his son, Jack, and a representative of the provincial government, made an exploratory visit to Buenos Aires to gauge what interest there might be among young Jewish families to consider moving to Winnipeg.
GrowWinnipeg was officially launched in 2000. Our community opened its arms in welcome to the new arrivals who began to arrive, hosting them in our homes and helping them become acclimatized to their new surroundings.
Evelyn Hecht became the principal contact for the newcomers. “I was lucky that I happened to be working for the Federation when we opened the campus and turned our energies to repopulating our community,” Hecht noted in her remarks at the recent celebration. “Fortunately, the pieces fell into place at just the right time.”
Those pieces, Hecht related, included: the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program – which allowed community support groups to recruit specific immigrants; the arrival of a small number of Jewish families from Buenos Aires who encouraged community leaders to look to their former home as a potential source of Jewish immigrants; and the availability of email and the internet.
The initiative – led by Hecht – recruited a group of local Jewish families who were prepared to host potential immigrants who had begun to come for exploratory visits. The connections made by the new arrivals and their local hosts resulted in many long–lasting friendships, Hccht noted.
She praised Jewish Child and Family Service for helping the new arrivals to become established here and integrate into the community.
Efforts were also made to build a data basis of potential employers for the newcomers.
GrowWinnpeg was kicked off by two visits to Buenos Aires – visits Hecht describes as “exciting and exhausting” – in the early 2000s, when Hecht and other Winnipeg representatives met with potential immigrants and heard their concerns about life and personal safety in Argentina and hopes for the future that Winnipeg might be able to give them.
“I remember,” she said, “the numerous meeting I held in my office on the third floor here listening to people’s excitement and concerns and answering questions about life in Winnipeg, our Jewish identity, schools, synagogues, employment, housing and especially, safety. I always emphasized that they would encounter struggles, disappointment and possibly, crises – but I assured them that we would be here to help.
“And I remember feeling so much happiness when people would show up at my door to share good news about babies born, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations and new jobs – and the numerous times I was in Citizen Court where so many were so proud to receive their citizenship certificates. “
And they are still coming. Dalia Szpiro, Hecht’s successor, reports that, over the past 25 years just under 7,000 people have come here under the aegis of GrowWinnipeg – and not just from Argentina. We have had families from Brazil, Uruguay and other South American countries, Mexico, Europe, and, in more recent years, especially from Israel.

For former Israelis I spoke with on the 25th, such as Slava and Karina Pustilnikov, Irena Oz and Marina Shapiro and her 19-year-old son, Adam, all of whom have been here for 10 to 15 years, the primary motivation was being in a safer environment.
For Ori Rahima and his wife, Anna Shapiro, who have been here for seven years and have three children under six, the pull was greater opportunity and a better standard of living.

Then there is Esther Barna, a teacher by training, newly arrived from Budapest. “Hungary is not a good place to be a Jew,” she says. “There is a lot of antisemitism. I was looking online for a better place to go and came across the GrowWinnipeg website. I love it here.”
In her concluding remarks, Dalia Szpiro, herself an immigrant from Uruguay about 20 years ago, thanked the many Jewish organizations and individuals in the community who have helped to make GrowWinnipeg the success that it is.
“Over 250 volunteers each year meet with our exploratory visitors – opening their homes, their hearts, their time, their insights and their networks,” she noted. “There is something very special about our community and our province. Every exploratory visitor who comes here as part of their immigration journey discovers it.
“This 25-year milestone is a reason for pride and celebration – and a renewed commitment to the future. We are already working on new strategies – to strengthen what we have built, support immigration, foster inclusion and create more opportunities for newcomers to grow and prosper.”
Local News
Long time community members Bryan Schwartz, Myriam Saitman receive rabbinic ordination

By MYRON LOVE On June 21, Bryan Schwartz and Myriam Saitman received their rabbinical ordination through the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI) Rabbinical School – bringing the number of JSLI rabbinic graduates in our community to seven.
“I felt a calling,” says Saitman, who is the new spiritual leader of Temple Shalom, our community’s roughly 60-year-old Reform Congregation. Saitman notes that she is Temple Shalom’s fourth female rabbi.
Originally from Buenos Aires, Saitman and her family answered our community’s call for new young Jewish families that began with the Federation’s GrowWinnipeg campaign. They arrived here in 2003.
“We were attracted by a community that offered a safer environment for raising a family and better economic opportunities,” she recalls.
Although raised in a secular family, she notes that, as a young adult she was drawn to learning more about Judaism. “I took Hebrew classes in Argentina and started on a spiritual path,” she recalls.
Soon after coming to Winnipeg, she found her spiritual home at Temple Shalom. Over the last many years, she has served as a volunteer in several capacities at the synagogue – both at the school and as a long time member of the board. Since 2016, she was also one of the lay service leaders, often leading Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday evenings.
When her predecessor, Allan Finkel – also a JSLI grad – let it be known that he was planning to retire after six years as the congregation’s spiritual leader, Saitman put her name forward as a potential successor.
“Judith (Huebner) and Ruth (Livingston) (Temple Shalom’s president and past president respectively) were really supportive as were the board and the congregation,” Saitman says. “I began leading services.”
As for the JSLI program, Saitman notes that it is intensive. “It meets a need,” she observes. “It prepares us well for all the requirements of being a congregational rabbi.
“We at Temple Shalom want people to know that we are here and we welcome interfaith families,” she adds. “Our motto is that we follow tradition and embrace modernity. Our services (on Friday evenings) reflect the essence of Reform Judaism where we allow for individual choices. I’d like to stress that individual choices are informed by an educated interpretation based on knowledge of the laws and customs.”
Unlike Saitman, Rabbi Bryan Schwartz was not considering a career as a congregational rabbi when embarking on the JSLI program. For Schwartz, “rabbi” is the latest title in a lifetime of achievement. As this writer noted in a story in the Post about Schwartz last year, he “is the very model of a modern-day, Jewish, Renaissance scholar.”.A long-time professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law, he is also a passionate Zionist, student of the Holocaust and an in demand commentator on modern legal and constitutional issues. He has written or contributed to 34 books and over 300 publications in all – in a legal and teaching career that stretches back more than 40 years. His works within a Jewish context encompass the gamut of Jewish life from ancient times to the Holocaust to the current Jewish situation. In addition, he is a poet, playwright and songwriter.
“My main purpose in taking the JSLI course,” he observes, “is to be better positioned to help deal with the challenge of Jewish survival. I want to be able to pass on Jewish tradition to the younger generation and impress upon younger Jews – who have grown up in largely secular homes – the value of our 2,500-year-old literature, culture and religious traditions.”
He observes that there is something for everyone in Jewish tradition. “There are many people who are looking for a spiritual community. I believe that Judaism provides us with a sense of our place in the universe.”
Schwartz – a lifelong student himself – notes that he has been building to this moment for a long time. In his early 20s, he notes, he audited a few courses at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In his 50s and 60s, he learned Hebrew at different ulpans.
“I had been looking around for a while for a rabbinic program,” he says. “JSLI seemed to be the best one. It was hard work – but well worth it. I learned a tremendous amount.”
So what is Schwartz – who is a member of the Shaarey Zedek – planning on doing as a rabbi?
“I would like to be able to offer weekly dvar Torahs,” he says.
He would like , among other things, to do creative and educational projects for the community, like his weekly dvar torah in the Times of Israel. The commentary that he gave on the weekend of his Smicha ceremony is called “From Burning Synagogue to Rising Lyon,” and can be found at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/from-burning-synagogue-to-rising-lion/
“I have also been writing books and musicals inspired by the Tradition, and hope to find forums to share them in the years ahead,” he adds. “My mission is to share in the radiance of our Tradition and help inspire the next generations to see its warmth and illumination”
Local News
Winnipeg Fringe performer Melanie Gall subjected to antisemitic attack – for second year in a row

By BERNIE BELLAN (July 20, 2025)
Melanie Gall is a talented performer who is a veteran of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival – having appeared here many times.
Last year Melanie found herself being subjected to antisemitic attacks that were initiated by a site supervisor for the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, someone by the name of Eric Rae.
As I wrote on my story about Melanie’s experience, “…on the third day (of the Fringe Festival), she said, ‘the site supervisor (Rae) came and was wearing a pro-Palestinian symbol’ and told Melanie that he was wearing that deliberately because he was coming to Melanie’s venue.
“He told her, ‘that stance you’re taking (on social media) is a political symbol.
Rae also posted on social media: “We have a Zionist in our midst harassing pro-Palestinians.”
There was a concerted effort on social media last summer to boycott Melanie’s shows (She had three different shows altogether.)
As Melanie said during a phone conversation we had last summer about what happened to her, “This is so ridiculous. I’m being harassed and bullied because I’m Jewish…it’s not about Israel.”
Eric Rae was relieved from his duties after Melanie complained to the Fringe office staff, Melanie noted during our conversation.
She adds that other Fringe employees also complained about Eric Rae’s behaviour: “I wasn’t the only one who complained last year,” she wrote in an email sent today. “Several staff members complained, as Eric was not adhering to the Fringe policy that did not allow political symbols to be worn by staff. From what I heard, he refused to stop wearing it, and he did publicly target me. The Winnipeg Fringe upheld their safe spaces policy, and they were wonderful in the way they handled it.”
Further, Melanie was the target of an organized campaign on pro-Palestine social media calling for her shows to be boycotted.
(You can read the full story about what happened to Melanie, also to her mother during last year’s Edmonton Fringe Festival, at Melanie Gall.)
Just today we received another email from Melanie informing us that the same individual who targeted her last summer is targeting her again during this year’s Fringe Festival.
Melanie wrote: “Hi! Thanks so much for the mention in the preview article! I just wanted to let you know that Eric Rae is at it again.”
Attached to that email was a picture taken from Rae’s Instagram account.

As of the writing of this post, Melanie said that she is out of town for three days and is not aware whether any of her posters have been defaced – the way they were last summer.
She did add, however, that “I assume by ‘make her feel unwelcome’ (which is what is written on one of the pictures on Rae’s Instagram account) he is planning something. Ugh.”
Melanie also said that “The one post is too close to a threat to ignore.”
In a subsequent email Melanie also sent a screenshot of an exchange that took place on Rae’s Instagram account between him and someone who goes by the handle “Kat Cat.”

If we hear more about what’s been happening to Melanie we’ll update this article.
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