Local News
Nine Jewish (or half-Jewish) Members elected to House of Commons in Sept. 20 federal election
By BERNIE BELLAN The recent federal election saw the re-election of all eight Members of Parliament who were at least half Jewish and the addition of one new member, Melissa Lantsman, who won the seat of Thornhill for the Conservatives. Among the MPs who won re-election were: Jim Carr (Liberal) in Winnipeg South Centre and Marty Morantz (Conservative) in Headingley-St.James-Assiniboia-Charleswood.
The following information is taken largely from Wikipedia:
Jim Carr (Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre) has been a Member of Parliament since 2015.
Carr was Minister of Natural Resources from 2015 to 2018, and Minister of International Trade Diversification from 2018 to 2019. He left Cabinet in 2019 after being diagnosed with cancer, but was named Trudeau’s special representative to the Prairies. In 2021, he returned to cabinet as a minister without portfolio while remaining special representative to the Prairies. He previously was a member of the Manitoba Legislature from 1988 to 1992 for the Manitoba Liberal Party.
Martin B. “Marty” Morantz (Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley) is a lawyer, businessperson, philanthropist and politician. He has served in the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament since the 2019 Canadian Federal Election.
Prior to serving in the House of Commons, Morantz served as City Councillor for the Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge ward on Winnipeg City Council from 2014 to 2018 after his win in the 2014 Winnipeg municipal election. During his time on City Council, Morantz chaired both the Finance and Infrastructure committees and also served on the Executive Policy Committee.
Leah Gazan (NDP, Winnipeg Centre), was born in Thompson, Manitoba to Albert and Marjorie Gazan. Gazan was first elected to the House of Commons in 219.
Gazan is Lakota-Chinese on her mother’s side, and Jewish on her father’s side. Gazan’s father, Albert Gazan, is a Holocaust survivor from the Netherlands, born in The Hague, South Holland in 1938.
Gazan previously taught at the University of Winnipeg prior to running in the 2019 election. She also served as president for the Social Planning council of Winnipeg.
Anthony Housefather (Liberal, Mount Royal) was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015. Housefather holds two law degrees (B.C.L. and LL.B.) from McGill University, and an MBA from Concor-dia University’s John Molson School of Business. Before his election to federal office, he served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and General Counsel, at Dialogic Corporation, a multinational technology company.
Housefather was a nationally ranked athlete as a student. He returned to competitive swimming in 2010, and earned seven medals (two silver, and five bronze) in swimming masters events at the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and five at the 2017 Maccabiah Games.
Rachel Bendayan (Liberal, Outremont), was first elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in 2019, then again in the general election that same year.
Bendayan was born and raised in a Jewish family of Moroccan origin. Bendayan studied law at McGill University and obtained her degree in 2007, specializing in commercial litigation and international arbitration. After graduating, Bendayan was employed by the Norton Rose Fulbright law firm and also teaches at the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal.
Julie Dabrusin (Liberal, Toronto-Danforth), was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015. Dabrusin earned university degrees in law and Middle Eastern studies. She then spent 13 years as an attorney with Rogers Partners LLP, as well as a year as commission counsel to an inquiry into government procurement. She and her family moved to the Danforth area in 1998. In 2011 she left her legal career to focus on raising her two daughters and participating in various community organizing and charitable activities aimed at promoting and preserving Toronto’s public parks. In 2013, she was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Karina Gould (Liberal, Burlington), was first elected to the House of Commons in 2019. Gould was born in 1987 and grew up in Burlington, Ontario in a family with three brothers. Her paternal grandparents were Czech Jews who survived the Holocaust.
On January 10, 2017, she was appointed Minister of Democratic Institutions, becoming the youngest female cabinet minister in Canadian history.
Ya’ara Saks (Liberal, York Centre), was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on October 26, 2020, following the resignation of Michael Levitt.
A dual citizen of Canada and of Israel, Saks was born in Toronto to an Israeli father and has lived in both Israel (1995 to 2006) and Canada. She attended McGill University for her undergraduate education, and then completed her Master’s degree in international relations and diplomacy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Saks was deeply critical of the direction of the Netanyahu government in Israel for its treatment of its Israeli Arab citizens and the 2018 Nation-State law and has expressed the concern that it is leading Israel to be “deeply racist towards its minorities and … not to see itself as a light and shelter or future home to asylum seekers fleeing war,” as well as its elevation of leadership at the expense of the justice system.
Despite her differences with the Likud government, Saks stated that she is “an unapologetic Zionist who believes passionately in the State of Israel” and that she condemns the BDS Movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel), considering it antisemitic.
Melissa Lantsman (Conservative, Thornhill) is the first LGBTQ woman and first Jewish woman ever to be elected as a Conservative MP.
Lantsman was born in Toronto in 1984 to a Russian Jewish family and raised in Thornhill. Her mother was an accountant and her father was an engineer who worked in the taxi business and ran several pawn shops. She attended a French-immersion program at Langstaff Secondary School in the York Region and speaks fluent French in addition to English and Russian.
She attended University of Toronto and graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts. She later completed the Institute of Corporate Directors education program at the Rotman School of Management.
In other related news stemming from the election, Annamie Paul, who had become the first Black and first Jewish woman to lead a Canadian political party when she became leader of the Green party in 2020, finished fourth in the riding of Toronto Centre. Paul has now resigned as leader of the Greens.
Finally, in perusing the names of candidates here in Manitoba, we came across the name of Aiden Kahanovitch, who ran for the NDP in Winnipeg South, where he finished third. We were intrigued by the name and inquired of Aiden whether he was Jewish and possibly related to Phil Kahanovitch. Aiden responded: “Yes, I am related to Phil Kahanovitch. I am not Jewish myself, but married into the family and took my husband’s last name. Phil is my father-in-law.”
Local News
Nakba exhbit at CMHR – you can see it right here and make your own assessment
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted June 26, updated July 19) The Nakba exhibit at the Canadian Exhibit for Human Rights opened to the public June 27. The morning before the exhibit was set to open to the public, (it had a private opening for invited guests the evening of June 26) we received a press release from the CMHR. That press release gave a very detailed description of what was in the exhibit, along with photos (supplied by Annie Kierans of the CMHR).
There is also a link right at the beginning of the press release that will allow you to watch the same videos that anyone attending the exhibit can watch. We reprinted what was sent to us without making one edit. We leave it to you to form your own opinion as to whether the exhibit is fair in its presentation, and whether it is lacking “context” – which is an accusation that has been levelled at the exhibit’s organizers by some representatives of Jewish organizations.
We have received many emails in reaction to the exhibit. If you have an opinion and would like to see it published on this website, you can send it to jewishp@mymts.net, but please indicate whether you would be willing to have it published on this website.
Here is what we received the morning of June 26:
Winnipeg, MB — June 26, 2026 — The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) will open a new exhibit tomorrow that explores human rights violations related to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinian Canadians.
Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present will be on display in the Rights Today gallery on Level 5 until 2028. Featuring personal stories told through artifacts and video testimonies, the exhibit presents Palestinian Canadians reflecting on their ongoing struggle for human rights. The small exhibit reveals enduring patterns of loss and resilience, helping visitors understand more about this contemporary human rights story.
Palestinian Canadian stories are now included alongside many other stories of forced displacement and human rights violations featured in the Museum’s galleries. Each of these stories contribute to our visitors understanding of human rights and help the Museum fulfill its mandate to foster reflection and dialogue.
Exhibition highlights
Personal stories and artifacts: Experience firsthand accounts from Palestinian Canadians sharing their journeys of displacement and memory through a series of five artifacts. Cases display artifacts like property deeds, house keys, and a traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, accompanied by short videos that deepen understanding of the impacts of displacement.
Powerful artworks: In her painting Bound Together in Gaza, Malak Mattar, a Gazan artist, captures the struggles and resilience of her generation shaped by conflict. Her work pays homage to Guernica, Picasso’s powerful masterpiece depicting civilian suffering during war.
Curfews and Closures, by Rajie Cook, bears witness to life under military occupation during the 2000–2005 Palestinian uprising, when curfews and closures were expanded and further limited basic rights and freedoms.
Cultural heritage: Discover traditional Palestinian embroidery called tatreez. Tatreez motifs and colours are tied to place, family history and regional identity. Patterns are associated with particular towns, villages or areas of Palestine. In this way, tatreez is a form of storytelling: a way of preserving memory, sustaining identity and expressing resilience across displacement and exile.
Poetry and reflection: Engage with Mahmoud Darwish’s evocative verses, inspiring personal reflection on exile, voice, and responsibility. Visitors can take a card containing Darwish’s poem and add a personal note, fostering ongoing dialogue beyond the exhibit.
Contemporary context: Witness striking images of current events in Gaza and the West Bank, connecting past displacement to ongoing struggles.
Quotes:
“No force can silence the truth we carry. Growing up in Canada, my children lived the Nakba through our stories. And now we watch it happen again, live, on our phones. When I see the images coming out of Gaza, I am not watching the news. I am watching my history repeat itself.” -Fouad Sahyoun, a Palestinian Canadian featured in the exhibit
“We developed this exhibit with a clear awareness that Palestinian Canadian voices have too often been marginalized, silenced or spoken over — and that anti-Palestinian racism affects whose stories are heard and whose suffering is recognized. That is why we intentionally centred Palestinian Canadian voices throughout the exhibit.” -Isabelle Masson, Curator of Palestine Uprooted
“Human rights matter precisely when they are inconvenient, when the question of who deserves the dignity of having their rights recognized is genuinely contested. These are the moments where having a national museum for human rights is most important.
There are people who believe this exhibit should not exist in its current form. There are people who believe it should have existed sooner. There are people who will visit this exhibit and feel that it does not say enough, and others who will feel it says too much.
We have listened to every one of these voices. We have reflected. And we have renewed our resolve to continue the difficult, sometimes contested, and often controversial work of building understanding about human rights. We are a museum grounded in Canada’s human rights framework, whose mandate requires us to bear witness to the full complexity of the human story. We are proud to open this exhibit because the story it tells will help achieve that mandate, and because this story belongs in the collective memory of Canadians.”
- – Isha Khan, CEO
Local News
A photo that’s being circulated on the internet about me
For those of you not familiar with nutjob Michael Kalo – the psycho who created the notorious “$hitler’s List” years ago and the same psycho who went after Ben Carr, well – now he’s obviously taken a strong disliking to the stance I’ve taken on the Nakba exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. (You can read elsewhere on this website how I simply posted the entire exhibit as it is – and asked readers to form their own opinions.)
Kalo likes to send out emails to various individual using phony names – such as Frank Ostrowski. When people ask me (or asked Ben Carr) why we don’t take action against him, my answer is: What’s the use? He only basks in the attention.
So Michael – enjoy the attention you’re receiving. I know how much of an embarrassment you are to your wonderfully talented daughters.
Local News
Ami Hassan returning as owner of Falafel Place
By BERNIE BELLAN In a surprise move – and after more than a six-year absence as owner of Falafel Place (Corydon at Wilton) the legendary Ami Hassan has decided to return as owner of one of Winnipeg’s most famous eateries.
Long known for his sometimes irreverent attitude to his customers, e.g., “If you’re finished, get out!”, Ami decided to return to running Falafel Place after having retired years ago (or so he thought) from running the Corydon Avenue restaurant.
We asked Ami whether he’ll be sending a special invitation to Julia Roberts to come visit him at Falafel Place. He asked again: “Who’s Julia Roberts?” (Just kidding – he really does know how Julia Roberts is.) Read the story how Ami told her to leave the restaurant and come back later at Julia Roberts turned away from Falafel Place
Ami did note that when customers saw him inside the restaurant one recent day as he was getting it ready for the reopening Monday, August 10, over 20 of them came in asking him if he was open already.
We asked Ami whether the menu will be the same as it was when he last ran the place and he said everything will be the same.
Falafel Place will be open 7 days a week from 7 am – 2 pm. Remember, if you’re finished – get out!
