By MYRON LOVE Many readers of a certain age will no doubt remember the late Oscar Grubert. In their day, he and his long time partner, Bill Goldberg, had an outsized presence in Winnipeg’s foodservice industry and beyond.
While Grubert eventually left Winnipeg for Toronto – and passed away in 2014, his fellow restaurateurs here have not forgotten him. On Thursday, February 19, Grubert, the founder of Champ’s Kentucky Fried Chicken in Winnipeg, was one of three local restaurateurs who were inducted into  the two-year-old Manitoba Restaurant  and Food Services Association  Hall of Fame.
Grubert’s fellow inductees this year were Silver Heights Restaurant and Lounge’s Jimmy Siwicki and Richard Enright, who brought the Boston Pizza franchise to Manitoba.)
 “It was a lovely evening,” reports Grubert’s daughter, Beth.  “I worried  that – considering how long ago he left Winnipeg – people would have forgotten about him. This gala evening was an opportunity for people to get to know him again.
” What made the evening even more meaningful is that the other inductees remembered and were able to reminisce with me about my dad.”
In speaking of her father being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Beth Grubert noted that she “was also overwhelmed by the sheer number of noteworthy events in Oscar’s very big life. He built businesses. He built partnerships. He built friendships that lasted decades. And he built a family that is still trying to keep up with his ideas.”
As she recounted, it all began for best friends Grubert and Goldberg with the opening of Champ’s Drive-In on north Main Street – in partnership with Meyer Gilfix, in 1958. (Gilfix left the partnership when Grubert and Goldberg took on the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.)  (Drive-in restaurants were the place to go and hang out on a Saturday evening the late 1950s and 60s, anyone of a certain age might recall.)
Beth Grubert described her father and Bill Goldberg as true partners. “They complemented each other in almost every way,” she said.  “They had a beautiful friendship and partnership until the day Bill passed away suddenly in 1994. Bill Goldberg was a wonderful man.”
She reported that the partners signed on with the iconic Colonel Harlan Sanders in 1958 with just a hand shake.  “Why would a lawyer like my dad decide that was a good idea?,” she queried. “The answer is clear if you really knew my dad. He was fearless. He had the truest entrepreneurial spirit. And he lived for the excitement of something new. As he built Kentucky Fried Chicken across Manitoba, he and Bill forged friendships and alliances across the country with fellow franchisees and restaurateurs.”
At its peak, she continued. Champs Kentucky Fried Chicken operated 24 stores, including outlets in Emerson and Grand Forks. “As the franchise grew and there was high demand for chicken,” she recalled, “my dad figured out that his chicken suppliers couldn’t keep up. So, as was his way, my dad decided to buy a chicken farm in Neepawa.  Even after the franchise was sold, we still owned that chicken farm.”
 
Among those who sampled Champ’s Kentucky Fried Chicken, Beth recounted, was Queen Elizabeth – who received buckets of chicken on her train as she traversed the country – along with Princess Margaret and Princess Anne.
“KFC in 1958 was the foundation for everything that followed,” she pointed out.  “The Colonel really was a part of our lives. He came to my brother (Nolan)’s bar mitzvah. Growing up for me, he was always a presence. There’s a picture of our family in our backyard with the Colonel.   KFC is still part of my very being. So, many years after my dad sold his franchise back to Pepsi — everything they did, any bad marketing campaign, any good marketing campaign, we took it personally. We sang jingles in our house, we lived and breathed it.”
Champs, though, was only the beginning of Oscar Grubert and Bill Goldberg’s soon to be burgeoning efforts on behalf  of Winnipeggers seeking new dining experiences. Some of the 33 other – better known restaurants – and restaurant chains, the duo opened over the years included: Mother Tucker’s downtown, Koko’s steak house,  Thomas Buttons,  H Salt Fish  and Chips, and Grubee’s. (Beth said she still has her orange and brown polyester uniform and hat from Grubee’s), the Garden Creperie Butcher, The Rec Room, Mama Trossi’s , Carlton Street Fish Market, and the Palomino Club.
Grubert, Beth noted, early on also became an active member of the Manitoba Restaurant Association, which led to his election as president. In 1970 he became president of the Canadian Restaurant Association. “That was a very busy year in our household,” she recalled. “Our parents travelled all over Canada. The year was marked by advocacy, meetings with fellow restaurateurs, businessmen, politicians, and even celebrities. There were a lot of formal dinners that year. Connections and friendships were made and endured for years to come.
“My dad continued to work hard,” she reminisced.  “As Champs became more established, my dad wanted to expand his horizons — to try new concepts and to really allow his creativity to shine. We called those “the crazy years.” There was so much going on. So many wonderful people – and for me it was the most fun and exciting childhood one could ever have experienced.”
Her dad though would always bristle at being referred to as the “restaurant king” or “czar,” Beth noted.  “While restaurants were one of his passions, there was a lot more to him than that. There was passion for his family, his faith, his community, and his philanthropy. Passion creates leaders — and he led. He led by volunteering his time and donating to the causes he believed in. He was a proud Jewish man, and he would want you to know that. He was honoured and recognized for his contributions to the business community and Jewish community throughout his life. Each time he was grateful and overwhelmed by that recognition. “
“My dad loved Winnipeg,” Beth concluded. “ He loved Manitoba. Even when he moved to Toronto later in life, this was home. The restaurants, the people, the association, the conversations — this community shaped him, and he helped shape it in return. Everyone knew him. He shook hands when contracts were a page long. He believed that restaurants were about more than food — they were about gathering, about energy, about hospitality.
“This honour would have embarrassed him slightly —but I think we can agree it was well deserved. On behalf of our family — my children Julia and Micah, my brother Nolan, his wife Carol and their family, and all of us who grew up in and around those kitchens and dining rooms — thank you to the Manitoba Restaurant Association for recognizing Oscar’s contribution.”
Incidentally, the restaurant business has continued into the second generation –with Beth operating Baked Expectations – a restaurant which she opened in Osborne Village in 1983 – while Nolan worked closely with their father for many years in Winnipeg and then in Toronto and was really his partner after Bill Goldberg passed away. 

By MYRON LOVE Congregation Agudas Israel, Saskatoon’s only synagogue, has established a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $100,000 to rebuild the 120-year-old Jewish cemetery’s equipment shed after a devastating fire burned down the shed about six weeks ago. 
 
“Early on January 21, 2026, the shop where we store all our equipment and supplies to keep our cemetery beautiful was destroyed by fire,” reports Grant Scharfstein, a member of Agudas Israel’s board of directors. “Nothing was salvageable.”
 
He says that the shed contained three riding mowers, snow clearing equipment, fertilizer, shovels and other equipment.  He further reports that fire investigators have determined that the fire wasn’t arson. “It appears,” he reports, “that the fire started inside the building and is due to either an electric heater, or possibly, a battery in one of the tractors stored in the shop.”
 
While the building was insured, Scharfstein notes, the insurance money isn’t enough to rebuild. “The cost of replacing what was lost will be significantly higher than what insurance covers,” he says.. “We have no choice We have already started by borrowing and buying some items as we need to be ready for a funeral at any time.
 
“In fact,” he continues, “we had a funeral at the cemetery on January 28th.  With the generous support of neighbours and friends we were able to accommodate the funeral for the family.
 
He adds that “we have started fundraising for the rebuilding and restocking of the cemetery. We are receiving support from congregation members, non-Jewish friends and supporter of our community, and from friends across Canada and Israel.
 
“If we can raise enough funds we will consider adding washrooms out at the cemetery, and a small chapel where services can be held in inclement weather.”
 
To raise the required funding, the congregation, which numbers about 100 families, has created a “GoFundMe” page. Scharfstein reports that the Cemetery Rebuild Fund thus far has raised about $50,000.  “We are hopeful that former members of our community who have loved ones buried in our cemetery will consider donating to our campaign and help us keep the cemetery a place we can be proud of,” he notes.
 
Readers who might be want to consider a donation can access the “GoFundMe” information on the Congregations website (agudasisrael.org).  If you donate through the GoFundMe page you will get a charitable receipt directly from PayPal Giving Fund Canada. 
 
 Or you can donate by clicking here: Cemetery Rebuild Fund Donation and follow the instructions to donate. You can also send a cheque payable to Congregation Agudas Israel and indicate on the cheque that it is for the Cemetery Rebuild Fund.  Finally, you can call administrator Myla Deptuch at the Congregation office at (306) 343-7023 ext. 1 to donate.
 
 “We thank everyone for their time and consideration and their very generous donations to this emergency fund raising campaign,” Scharfstein says,. 

In a press release issued on Thursday, March 12, the Government of Canada announced that it is responding to the frightening upsurge in violent attacks against Jewish synagogues and institutions by allocating an additional $10 to provide heightened security measures for Jewish communities across the country.

Here is the text of the government announcement:

By announcing a dedicated investment of up to $10M to be provided to eligible organizations through the Canada Community Security Program (CCSP), that will assist Jewish communities in enhancing the security of their gathering spaces, including schools, day cares, overnight camps, and places of worship.
Any hate-motivated violence, such as what we saw in Toronto over the last week, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated anywhere. The Government of Canada is working directly with Jewish community organizations to identify and support the specific needs in those communities.
Under the CCSP, organizations receive funds for security equipment and hardware such as protective barriers, minor renovations to enhance security like reinforcements for windows and doors, security and emergency assessments and plans, training to respond to hate-motivated events, and time-limited third-party licensed security personnel.
This $10 million investment announced today will support the work of security operations centres to coordinate monitoring and security at Jewish institutions, as well as projects supported through these organizations.
The CCSP provides flexibility to organizations seeking financial support, and applications are accepted year-round. Organizations interested in the program can find more information on the CCSP website and are encouraged to subscribe to the National Crime Prevention Strategy mailing list.

The announcement also noted the following points:

The CCSP provides time-limited funding and support for communities at risk of hate-motivated incidents/crimes to enhance security measures at their gathering spaces.
The CCSP was announced in 2024, and replaces and enhances upon the former Security Infrastructure Program (SIP).
To date, the Government of Canada has invested over $41 million in almost 1000 projects to help Canadian communities at risk of hate-motivated crimes enhance the security of their community centres, places of worship, and other institutions.
Since the launch of the CCSP, the Government of Canada has approved $7.3 million for 143 projects to help protect Jewish communities.
The CCSP is one of four programs under the National Crime Prevention Strategy, which supports local, targeted crime prevention initiatives and the development and sharing of knowledge to prevent and reduce crime among at-risk populations and vulnerable communities. The other programs include the Crime Prevention Action Fund, the Youth Gang Prevention Fund, and the Northern and Indigenous Crime Prevention Fund.