Local News
QDoc: a new venture that promises to change the way patients interact with doctors
By BERNIE BELLAN It was in May of this year when I read an article in the Winnipeg Free Press by business reporter Martin Cash which told of a new venture that was going to provide an entirely new way for people who needed to see a doctor for urgent care. The venture was known as QDoc and it was the brainchild of two members of our local Jewish community: Dave Berkowits and Dr. Norm Silver.
As Cash wrote at the time, “it is being designed as the Uber for medical clinics to help link local patients, especially the elderly, parents with young children and people in remote locations far from a hospital or medical centre easily and quickly — and at no cost — with local physicians using an innovative patent-pending technology.”
Fascinated as I was by Cash’s story – and subsequent stories in other news media, including on Global TV and CTV News, I thought it was early days and, rather than contact Silver and Berkowits immediately to write a story of my own, I would wait a few months to see how QDoc had evolved in that time.
Recently I sat down with Berkowits and Silver at their downtown Winnipeg office to find our more about how QDoc has progressed – and to try to obtain a better understanding of just who it is that QDoc is most likely to help.
As it was explained to me during the course of the lengthy conversation I had with Silver and Berkowits, QDoc is “designed for episodic care” – similar to what is available at the groundbreaking Minor Illness and Injury Clinic on Corydon, the concept for which both Silver and Berkowits helped develop.
I asked Berkowits and Silver to tell me about their respective backgrounds prior to becoming involved with QDoc.
Berkowits said that he’s long been involved “on the technical side. I’ve spent my whole career mostly in diagnostic imaging. Recently I spent 15 years commuting from Winnipeg to Calgary. This is very exciting because now it’s a chance to be at home – and a chance to work with Norm. Norm is very passionate about medical technology.”
Silver jumped in at that point to say that he had recently retired from his position as an emergency room paediatric physician – “as of July 1st,” he explained. “I really did only five or five shifts the past year,” he noted, as he’s been devoting his full time to developing QDoc.
Silver added that “Dave has loads of experience in technology, but a huge amount of his experience is medical related as well, and my area is medical, but I’m familiar with programming as well.”
I asked how long they’ve known each other?
“Many years,” Silver answered.
I asked how old they were?
Berkowits said he’s 60, while Silver said he’s 50, adding that “Dave looks younger while I look older.”
I asked whether Norm is the oldest of the three very well known Silver brothers (the other two being dermatologist Shane and financial planner Michael).
Silver said that he is – older than Shane by a year and a half, and six years older than Michael.
Dave Berkowits’s younger brother, by the way, is Rady JCC Executive Director Rob Berkowits. Dave Berkowits’s sister, Heather, is actually married to Norm Silver. There is also another sister in the Berkowits family: Heather. Dave is the oldest of the four Berkowits siblings, he said, with 10 years between him and Heather, who is the youngest of the four.
Silver noted that he and Berkowits have become especially close the past 10 years – often working out together at the Rady JCC, “where we try to solve the world’s medical technology problems.”
I wondered where the idea for QDoc came from?
Silver said that “one of us would come up with an idea – and we basically had no ego about these things – and one of us would say, ‘Here’s a great idea,’ and the other would say, ‘Yah, but maybe we should do it this way instead,’ and in the end we would come up with a way better idea than either one of us would have come up with on his own.”
It was just about a year ago that QDoc did what is known as a “soft launch”. Silver and Berkowits had received help from a variety of sources, of which key assistance came from something known as North Forge Technology Exchange. North Forge is an organization supported by a number of private businesses that provides support and advice for start-ups in the technology sector. QDoc began with $1 million in capital, all of which was raised in Manitoba. Both Silver and Berkowits poured a lot of their own money into the venture.
At that point I wanted to explore just how it is that QDoc works. Silver and Berkowits suggested that I actually go online and register on QDoc to see how easy it is to access their system.
Subsequently, I did that following my conversation with them. I went to the QDoc home page and filled out the information needed to register and complete a patient profile. It was simply a matter of giving some very basic data, including name, address, phone number, and medical numbers (both the 6 digit number and the 9 digit number that all Manitobans have).
Once that was completed there is an optional area in which you can give information about allergies, your family doctor’s name, and the name and address of a pharmacy to which you might want a prescription sent – if that is a result of your online visit with a doctor.
At that point you are asked to fill out information explaining why you would like to see a doctor. If you have pictures that might be useful to a doctor in understanding your situation, you are asked to upload them.
Then, you would click on a button that says “I am ready for the doctor.”
That’s where QDoc works like Uber, as Martin Cash noted in his May article. At any given time there are doctors available to speak with you. Given the information you’ve just provided, QDoc will determine which available doctor is best suited to respond to your query and, within minutes you should be contacted by a doctor.
Berkowits explained: “We look at things like geographic location. Then the doctors who are available will get text messages on their phone – and, just like Uber, the first one to answer the text will connect with you.”
Silver also noted that “95% of the patients who contact QDoc have been ‘self-triaging’” and have had experience explaining their symptoms when they’ve presented in person either to a doctor’s office, an urgent care centre, or an emergency room.
During the course of our conversation though, several times Silver and Berkowits remarked upon the fact that, as QDoc has grown rapidly in terms of the number of patient visits, it’s become apparent that the vast majority of users are rural based – upwards of 75% at the present time, Silver said.
“In the rural areas, it’s hard to see a doctor,” he noted. And, although there has been quite a bit of publicity about QDoc in media, as I noted at the outset, it’s been primarily through word of mouth that people have become aware of QDoc.
Others “have said their pharmacists told them about QDoc,” Silver added. “Or someone else might have called a quick care clinic, but were told they couldn’t be seen and were suggested to try QDoc instead. Health Links has recommended us. So have emergency rooms.”
Looking back to his own education in medical school, which was over 25 years ago, Silver said that, long before “virtual care” became a reality (and which really came into its own as a result of Covid), “70-90% of diagnoses were shown to be able to be made by history alone; that’s without seeing the patient. When you look at adding video and talking to the patient, we know from our own metrics that 95% of diagnoses can be done without having to touch the patient.”
He added that studies in BC and Ontario have shown that when people were asked what they thought of virtual care, “98% thought it was as good as, if not better than in-person care.”
I was curious though, as to what the doctors who were standing by to receive texts from QDoc would be doing when they’re not actually working with QDoc.
“They all have other jobs,” Silver explained. “I’d say 80% of them are emergency physicians – because they do shift work.”
I wondered how many QDoc visits require referrals to other doctors? (In the Free Press article, Martin Cash told the story of a woman who contacted QDoc when her seven-year-old son was hit with a baseball bat. The doctor who responded to her query arranged for her son to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist the next day.)
But, as Silver explained, that would have been the exception rather than the rule when it comes to consultations with a doctor on QDoc, saying that “95% of our patients are taken care of without any other help” needed from any other doctors.
Also, since those first reports of QDoc in various media appeared in May, QDoc has been able to assemble quite a bit more information about how the program is being utilized. For one, there’s been a monthly volume increase of 70% month over month each of the past four months. (There were 144 visits to QDoc in May, but well over 1,000 in August.) As a result of all the new data that’s been gathered based on who’s been using QDoc It’s been a constantly evolving learning curve, Silver explained, but they’ve now arrived at some interesting observations, including: “15% of our patients would have gone to the emergency department if we didn’t exist and, (as has already been noted) 76% of our patients are from outside of Winnipeg – that’s where the need is.”
As far as how patients interact with the doctors, I wondered about the software that’s used?
“We have our own software that we’ve built from scratch,” Berkowits explained. “It’s an end to end encrypted video conversation. The audio side of it is recorded and kept as part of a medical record.”
“So it protects the doctor – and the patient,” Silver added.
In terms of what the patient would actually see on their computer screen, here is how it was explained to me: The screen would show: “We are searching for a doctor for you.” Then, “when the doctor accepts the call, they would hit the link on their computer or mobile device and doctor and patient would be connected together, with both audio and video. The doctor would be writing notes and ordering prescriptions, if necessary, while the patient might be asked to upload pictures or, with video, show the doctor if they have, for instance, skin lesions or, say, it’s your son who’s having trouble breathing, the doctor could examine him on camera.
Then, the doctor could fax a prescription to a pharmacy of your choosing. (It may seem archaic but prescriptions are still faxed into pharmacies in Manitoba, rather than sent digitally.) If lab tests are needed, the patient can receive an order for tests that can be printed out and taken to a lab.
The results of those tests will be sent to the doctor who ordered the tests, but if, for instance, the patient didn’t actually go for the tests that the doctor might have ordered, QDoc will send a follow-up communication to the patient saying “You forgot.”
What QDoc also does, at the end of every interaction between a doctor and patient, is ask the patient whether QDoc can send a copy of the report prepared by whichever doctor has treated that particular patient to that patient’s family doctor.
I asked whether QDoc is available 24/7?
The answer was “Yes. We don’t always have coverage 24/7,” but the system will respond 24/7 and, if there is no doctor available at a particular moment you’ll be told that.
Currently, according to Silver, there are “34” doctors in the QDoc system. “We want it be as attractive as possible for doctors working with us, so we want to give them a lot of work. Most of them are pretty motivated. Eighty percent of our paediatric patients right now are seen within five minutes of logging on.”
Another benefit of QDoc is that the 34 doctors who presently make up the total number of physicians on call at present are all connected through WhatsApp, where they share information and can discuss particular cases.
Silver gave this example: “A doctor who’s seeing a patient who happens to be in Brandon and who should really be seen by a doctor in person can ask on WhatsApp: “Is there anyone in Brandon who can see such and such patient tomorrow?” and a physician in Brandon can respond, “Yes, I can see your patient.” (Since the likelihood is that Brandon doctor is an emergency room physician, he or she will also likely say: “Tell your patient to come to emergency and tell the nurse that I’ve agreed to see your patient.”
As Berkowits observed, “virtual health care – since the pandemic, has become widely accepted, but the platform that we’ve built is widely collaborative.”
Something that Silver added – about emergency room physicians, is that quite often they’ll deal with a case such as a car accident or a drug overdose where a patient may present in an unconscious or semi-conscious state, the doctor treats them, the patient wakes up – and can be quite belligerent. But treating a patient virtually, where the doctor is able to give immediate and effective treatment – and the patient is very much appreciative – well, that’s very rewarding for emergency doctors – and is one of the reasons so many of them are flocking to join QDoc.
I suggested to Silver and Berkowits though, that someone would have to have either a computer or a mobile device in order to contact Doc.
While they didn’t totally disagree, Silver gave an example of a new initiative that’s been taken in cooperation with the public sector as an example how QDoc can be used to help patients who have no access to a computer:
“We have a partnership with something called the Downtown Community Safety Partnership,” he explained. “They’re relatively new and they’re funded by government. They’re working with homeless people. If they can get the money, they’re going to be carrying tablets and then they can help homeless people contact us. A lot of these people don’t go to a doctor, they don’t go to a hospital, they don’t trust authority.” But, as Silver noted, a doctor from QDoc might be in the best position to provide help – through a worker from this downtown organization.
Similarly, QDoc will also be working with one personal care home by installing a large screen TV through which residents, with the help of an aide, will be able to communicate with a doctor.
I wondered though, whether an initiative of that sort wouldn’t be perceived as taking the place of a visit to a family doctor?
Silver said that wouldn’t be the purpose, but where it would make sense would be, for example, if a resident suddenly developed a rash – and it might take weeks to see a family doctor.
Again, it occurred to me that there could often be a language barrier between patients and doctors on QDoc. I wondered whether QDoc had any contingencies in place that might help to resolve difficulties of that sort.
Berkowits said that “there are translation services that are free from the government and we’re going to try and partner in real time so that we’ll have three people involved in a virtual call: the patient, the doctor, and the interpreter,” but, he admitted that’s not on the immediate horizon.
I asked how much QDoc could conceivably grow, especially if it continues at its current rate of 70% expansion every month?
Silver answered that “we’d like to get to one per cent market share.”
I asked what he meant by that?
He said it “translates into $15 million of revenue.”
I asked how many patients would have to use QDoc’s service to reach that goal?
He said it “would be 150,000 patient contacts a year.”
In the long term the goal is to open up in every province in Canada, Silver added.
As far as how much money QDoc makes on every call, they take 15% of whatever amount the physician would bill Manitoba Health Services.
Considering that Berkowits and Silver have some pretty serious ambitions to grow their company, starting first in Manitoba, then in all of Canada, with the possibility of licensing their software to other countries as well, I asked whether they’re looking for additional investors?
“We’ve talked about that a little bit,” Silver said. “But, we don’t think we need investors. We’ve been able to get a lot of grants so far ($200,000 worth, he specified). “We should be cash flow neutral by early next year – if we don’t keep hiring more programmers.” (He explained that currently QDoc has 10 programmers.)
I asked Berkowits, who’s the software guru behind QDoc, what more needs to be done with the existing software powering QDoc?
“We have a list of features that we want to keep introducing,” he explained. “When we started out initially we were pretty happy for just a patient and doctor to connect. But, as we built this out we started taking a look at other electronic medical record systems and how they do things, we also want to make it easier and better for the physician. We want to work on our platform.”
Berkowits then went on to describe some of the enhancements that DocQ would like to make, including incorporating: “Artificial intelligence, natural language processing, ambient listening, conscription services.” (There’s not enough room to expand upon each of those subjects here. Suffice to say that this is an entirely new world of virtual medicine that Berkowits and Silver are planning on entering.)
At the end of our conversation Silver suggested that, in addition to trying the QDoc portal to see how easy it is to register as a patient, I take a look at the reviews QDoc has received from patients. Now, while I’m always a little bit sceptical of online reviews, the number of Google reviews that I was able to see (69 as of the date I looked at them – Sept. 4) showed unanimous praise for QDoc. While this article was not intended as an endorsement of QDoc – although it might certainly be perceived that way, the high praise QDoc has received thus far from patients is certainly an indication that Berkowits and Silver have hit upon something that promises to fill a desperate need within our health care system.
Norm Silver had also suggested that I might want to talk with at least one of the doctors who is working with QDoc to get a sense of what a doctor’s perspective is on the QDoc platform.
I spoke with Dr. Taft Micks, who is an emergency room physician based out of Brandon. As I expected – given that Dr. Micks had volunteered to speak with me after having been contacted by Dr. Silver, he was quite enthusiastic about his experience with QDoc thus far. He told me that he’s been with QDoc from the very beginning – which goes back to last October.
As an emergency physician, Dr. Micks said that he’s constrained by several of the limitations that apply to the delivery of emergency medicine in this province. He noted that “I don’t fee like I can take the time to address people’s needs in emergency,” but when he’s on QDoc, “I’m able to connect with a patient almost instantaneously” and “from a physician’s perspective, I’m able to arrange treatment.”
Micks added that he’s like to see emergency services expanded, but he’s quite aware that’s not realistic at this point. And, even though he’d be prepared to put in more hours in the emergency ward in Brandon, where he’s currently working 32 hours a week, Micks is quite aware that expanding emergency services will require hiring more nurses – a problem that won’t be resolved in the short term.
As a result, he’s been spending increasing amounts of time working with QDoc and, he added, he’s hoping to scale back the amount of time he’ll be spending in the emergency department as a result.
Micks observed that what QDoc is doing “is the future of medicine.”
“The software is designed to be as physician friendly as possible – as opposed to other software” that he and other physicians have struggled to learn, he said.
His only concern, he noted, is that as QDoc becomes increasingly popular, wait times to interact with a physician might take longer, but in the meantime he said he’s been quite impressed with how the system has been working thus far.
Local News
Acclaimed rabbi steps to the pulpit of Toronto’s dynamic, downtown Reform congregation
(Toronto, Ont.) – City Shul (cityshul.com) is proud to welcome its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Stephanie Crawley, who began leading the 250-member synagogue in late July and will head the downtown congregation’s 2025 High Holiday services later this month. City Shul has been hailed by the Union for Reform Judaism’s leader, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, as “unique in North America” for its merger of traditional Jewish knowledge with modern Reform values. It was founded in 2011 by Rabbi Emerita Elyse Goldstein, Toronto’s first female rabbi and a pioneering feminist scholar.
Why would a successful and beloved associate rabbi from a large, prominent synagogue relocate to Toronto to head City Shul, a small, upstart congregation?
“I wasn’t looking for just any congregation,” says Rabbi Crawley, an award-winning scholar from 800-member Temple Micah in Washington, D.C. “I was looking for the right congregation.
“I had learned that City Shul was a vibrant, forward-thinking and committed congregation. Since my husband, Rabbi Jesse Paikin, grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, it also sounded like the perfect opportunity to be closer to our extended family.”
Rabbi Crawley’s inaugural Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services will offer the wider Toronto Jewish community a chance to experience her love for Judaism and her thoughtful interpretation of its depth and breadth.
“My dream is that when people think and speak of City Shul, they will know that it is a place where Judaism is celebrated joyously,” says Rabbi Crawley. “I believe a synagogue should be a living, vibrant home for Jewish life, where ritual is profound and transformative, where we are called to be and do our best for each other and the world.
“I’m excited to continue the dynamism and experimentation that is such a deep part of City Shul’s culture, and continue to innovate and grow this warm community.”
City Shul conducted an extensive international search to find a new rabbi. The search committee interviewed more than a dozen candidates, but when they met Rabbi Crawley, the connection was instantaneous.
Rabbi Crawley has begun her tenure at City Shul by leading Shabbat services and getting to know her congregants. Her arrival marks not just a new chapter for the synagogue, but a renewed invitation to explore, celebrate, and shape Jewish life together—with joy, meaning, and a bold spirit of possibility.
ABOUT RABBI CRAWLEY:
Rabbi Stephanie Crawley received her undergraduate education at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 2010 and earned a Master of Hebrew Studies and rabbinic ordination through Hebrew Union College/The Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and Jerusalem. She graduated in 2018 with numerous prizes and academic distinctions, including the Rabbi Solomon Goldman Memorial Prize in Liturgy and the Edith Robers Memorial Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement. Her rabbinic thesis, Out of the Box and onto the Page: Elevated Voices of Female Biblical Characters in Midrash Sefer ha-Yashar, reflected her egalitarian outlook.
As an Associate Rabbi at Temple Micah in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Crawley was involved in all aspects of the congregation, including education, long-term planning, music, outreach, pastoral care, prayer, spirituality and social justice. During her rabbinic studies and afterward, she received numerous fellowships to enhance her learning or assist her in her endeavours, such as the North America-wide Bonnie and Daniel Tisch Rabbinic Fellowship, which focused on congregational leadership and innovative thinking, and the Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship, designed to increase knowledge of interfaith inclusion issues and create communities of belonging for couples and families. In addition, she is a talented poet and musician.
ABOUT CITY SHUL:
City Shul is a downtown Reform Jewish congregation founded in 2011 by internationally renowned Rabbi Emerita Elyse Goldstein with a group of committed laypeople, including academics and Canadian Jewish leaders.
Local News
Premier Wab Kinew wows an audience of seniors at the Gwen Secter Centre
By BERNIE BELLAN (Sept. 11, 2025) There was a mood of heightened expectancy the afternoon of Wednesday, September 10, at the Gwen Secter Centre. The premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, was scheduled to arrive at approximately 1:30 pm to speak to a large audience of over 60 seniors (including this writer).
(Seniors are able to come to the Gwen Secter Centre every Wednesday for a delicious lunch, followed either by entertainment or a speaker.)
But Premier Kinew had been scheduled to come to the Gwen Secter Centre a couple of months prior to this particular day – but was forced to cancel due to something unexpected that had come up in his busy schedule, as things are wont to do when you’re the premier.
This time though, three other NDP MLAs arrived prior to the premier and – because none of them looked like a senior – although I didn’t have a clue who any of them were, I assumed that they weren’t there simply for no reason at all, so I asked one of them, who happened to be a nice, young woman: “Is the premier going to show or is he going to bail again?”
I don’t think she particularly liked the tone of my question (Obviously she didn’t know who I was either, otherwise she wouldn’t have been surprised at my cheekiness), but she responded quite warmly, reassuring me that he was on his way. She also asked me what I was doing there – because I was standing outside the auditorium when everyone else was seated by that point, so I said: “Hey, I’m a senior – so I’m entitled to be here, but I’m also a very annoying reporter – and I’m here to cover this.”
But where was the security detail that one would normally expect to see in advance of a VIP as important as the premier? I wondered.
It turns out there was one lonely security guy – in a suit, but not wearing an earpiece. (I asked him if he was security because he was dressed too nicely for the Gwen Secter Centre – and he wasn’t talking with anyone.) He admitted that he was security, but when I said that I thought there would be more like him considering it was the premier of Manitoba who was coming, he answered that they consider the kind of audience that will be at an event when planning security for the premier – and no one thought that audience that day was going to be overly dangerous. Also, the premier was scheduled to arrive after everyone in the audience had had lunch; he was wise not to arrive before lunch because seniors, especially Jewish seniors, generally don’t care who it is they’re going to hear from – all they want to know is whether the food is going to be served on time!
As it was, Premier Kinew was only a few minutes late and, after mingling with the Gwen Secter staff for a few minutes, made his way directly to the microphone situated at one end of the auditorium. There was no grand entrance accompanied by a phalanx of minders – only the premier, who had a big smile on his face as he navigated the tables of seniors. (Clearly he hadn’t been advised that every Jewish event starts late and that no one as important as a premier simply walks in unaccompanied by a large retinue of self-important toadies.)
Dan Saidman, who is program coordinator at Gwen Secter, introduced the premier with a few brief remarks. Thereupon Premier Kinew stood in front of the auditorium and, being a polished speaker whom we’ve all learned is totally comfortable in front of a mic, spent about 20 minutes talking about what his government has done.
There wasn’t much that anyone who follows Manitoba politics wouldn’t have heard before, but unlike so many other politicians, the premier seemed to be totally at ease and engaged as he spoke.
Now, ordinarily one might have thought that, after all, it was the premier of Manitoba, so how much time would he have had to spend at the Gwen Secter Centre in the midst of a weekday afternoon?
But, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the premier, following his remarks, say: “I’m willing to take any questions if anyone has them.” Okay, I thought, a few minutes maybe, but I was amazed to watch the premier of Manitoba listen to question after question, and answer them all thoughtfully – for over 45 minutes.
The questions covered quite a wide range of issues. Two questioners asked about the security situation at the Health Sciences Centre and one of those questioners struck a particular chord when he began his question by saying that he has two daughters who work as nurses at HSC – and they’re frightened to walk to their cars at night when they leave.
I had thought before I even rode my bike to Gwen Secter Centre (which I like to do because I’m a thrill seeker and riding a bike in Winnipeg is nothing if not thrillingly dangerous) that, if I had the opportunity to ask the premier a question, I was going to ask him about renewable energy.
So, when Dan Saidman handed me the mic, I did ask him a question along those lines, but I began by saying to the premier that the impact he made upon the Jewish community in October 2023 – and this was shortly after the NDP had won the election, when he spoke at the massive rally that was held at the Asper Campus, and touched anyone who was there by the support he showed for the Jewish community and how heartfelt he was, was very much appreciated.
But, I went on to say, we all know that the health file is an almost impossible challenge, that crime is another almost impossible challenge – so is homelessness but, for gosh sakes, he’s an NDP premier and the government seems to have given up on renewable energy as a goal.
The premier responded that, in fact, the government is engaged in quite a massive build-out of wind power which ultimately, will end up adding 600 megawatts to Manitoba’s total energy supply – amounting to “ten percent” of Manitoba’s total energy capacity when all is said and done.
He went on to describe in some detail three different projects, each of which will add approximately 200 megawatts to our energy capacity.
I admit I was quite surprised to hear the premier’s answer because there have been so many letters to the editor and opinion columns in the Winnipeg Free Press decrying Manitoba’s almost total reliance on hydro power, also the construction of a new natural gas energy plant. I’m not expert enough to know whether Premier Kinew’s answer was based on real, hard commitments or not, but he seemed to be thoroughly acquainted with the details of the plan to add a massive amount of wind power to the infrastructure we already have. When all three components of the wind power plan are implemented, Premier Kinew said, it will quadruple the amount of wind power we presently have in Manitoba.
As he stood there, fielding question after question, listening patiently and always answering thoughtfully, even though it’s not the first time I’ve been in an audience when Wab Kinew has spoken, I thought to myself: He genuinely likes people. I’ve met a lot of politicians in my day, but the only other politician who I also thought honestly seemed to enjoy meeting people was Justin Trudeau, but that was before he became prime minister. I remember Justin Trudeau attending Shalom Square in 2015, accompanied by Jim Carr, and watching him climb over chairs in the Rady JCC gym to shake hands with people, to get hugged by oodles of women, all the time with a big smile on his face.
Of course, as Charles Adler once remarked on his radio show, “Once you can fake sincerity, the rest is easy,” so who’s to know what people like Wab Kinew and Justin Trudeau really would be thinking when they were working an audience?.
But, when he finished answering all the questions that anyone had, Dan Saidman asked the premier one more: “Who were the people whom he admired most in life?”
Kinew’s answer was: “His mother and his father.” He told a particularly poignant story about his father, who had been a chief during his lifetime. When his father lay dying in a hospital, Wab said he would go visit him every day. He hadn’t been all that close to his father until that time, he said, but after spending those final days with his father, he realized that not only was his father his father, he was his “best friend.”
And, following that final remark, the premier of the province said that he was going to stick around and chat with anyone who wanted to talk to him – which he proceeded to do for another half hour.
As Gerry Posner might say: “What a mensch!”
Local News
JNF Canada says a new charity called “Friends of JNF Canada” will be able to issue tax receipts to donors
By BERNIE BELLAN (Sept. 11, 2025) It’s a complicated – and very confusing story – and it goes back to an earth-shaking decision issued by the Canada Revenue Agency on August 10, 2024. That decision, which was published in the Canada Gazette (which is where an announcenment about any charity whose charitable status has been revoked is published) was to revoke the Jewish National Fund Canada’s charitable status.
To give you an idea how important charitable donations have been to JNF Canada, according to the most recent audited financial statements that are available, “In 2023, JNF Canada received $20.2 million in donations and had a total revenue of $22.2 million.”
We’ve written numerous times about what led up to CRA’s decision to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status and the resulting aftermath – in which JNF Canada was thrown into disarray.
Much of the reporting on this story was done by Ellen Bessner, writing for the Canadian Jewish News. Bessner was stolid in her research and although a good portion of what she wrote laid the blame for what happened to JNF Canada at the feet of JNF Canada itself, she provided exhausting detail about what lay behind CRA’s decision. If you want to read past articles that follow the chronology of events following that August 10, 2024 decision by CRA, you can simply enter JNF in the search engine on jewishpostandnews.ca, and you’ll find a great many stories about not only what led up to CRA’s decision to remove JNF Canada’s charitable status, but what steps JNF Canada took subsequent to that momentous decision.
During the past 13 months though, JNF Canada has been embroiled in a legal battle against CRA on different levels – in two different courts: The Federal Court and the Federal Court of Canada. You’ll have to read an article posted on June 17 this year on jewishpostandnews.ca to understand the difference between the two courts. For the purpose of this article, however, it is only important to note that JNF Canada’s appeal to the Federal Court was turned down by that court – for technical reasons, i.e., the Federal Court ruled that it was not the proper court to hear the particular matter that JNF Canada had brought forward; however, the appeal to the Federal Court of Canada is still underway. It may take quite some time before that court issues a decision and, if it also goes against JNF Canada, there is a strong likelihood JNF Canada will take its case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The upshot is that it may be years before the legal battle JNF Canada has been waging with CRA may be resolved.
In the meantime though, JNF Canada had been working to come up with a solution to the challenge of its having been deregistered by CRA as a charity able to issue tax receipts.
On September 2, JNF Canada sent out an email to its supporters in which it gave a preview of what was about to happen. That email noted: “This past year has been challenging for JNF Canada and for Jewish communities across the country.
“Even without charitable status and amid an ongoing legal dispute with the CRA JNF Canada has remained committed to its mission… The absence of our charitable status has limited our ability to operate effectively and our supporters have told us they want their donations to have the full impact, including the ability to receive charitable receipts… In response wonderful friends stepped forward to dedicate their charity to caring out similar work and have appropriately renamed it “Friends of JNF Canada” (emphasis mine).
What did that mean? I wondered. The email also noted that “JNF Canada will continue to operate as it fights its legal battle against the CRA, for its right to fair treatment.”
So, JNF Canada is still alive as an organization called JNF Canada – but it has now managed to find a way to issue tax receipts to its supporters. The September 2 email didn’t go into any detail as to what “Friends of JNF Canada” was – and how it had come about.
But, in a story issued by the CJN on September 4, it was noted that “JNF Canada, whose charitable tax status was revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 2024, has created a new charitable entity linked to the organization. The new charity, Friends of JNF Canada, officially launches on Sept. 8.”
“A new charitable entity?” I wondered. What did that mean?
The CJN story, written by Jonathan Rothman, went on to note that “Friends of JNF Canada will have the ability to issue charitable tax receipts, (Nathan) Disenhouse (National President, JNF Canada) told the National Post in an interview, saying the new organization’s fundraising for Israel would be done ‘in a similar way that JNF Canada did, but with the ability to issue tax receipts.’
My reaction upon reading Rothman’s story was: “What? This sounds just like JNF Canada, but with a new name. Isn’t this really an end-around that would allow JNF Canada to circumvent CRA’s removal of JNF Canada’s charitable status?”
So, on September 5, I wrote to CRA, asking this question: “Can you confirm that ‘Friends of JNF Canada’ is now a registered charity, able to issue tax receipts?”
I received a response that same day saying that someone would get back to me with an answer.
The answer arrived September 10: “The public may consult the CRA’s List of charities and certain other qualified donees to confirm whether an organization is a registered charity or other qualified donee. For clarity, the public may also confirm in the same registry: the registration number, the current status of the charity, the date since the status has been valid, the type of qualified donee, the designation, and the website of a specific charity. We can confirm that Friends of JNF (emphasis mine) was registered as a public foundation effective September 22, 2022. Note that the governing documents in our records reflect a legal name change from ‘The Benzimra Foundation’ to ‘Friends of JNF’ effective August 14, 2025.”
Note that the email from CRA referred twice to the charity as “Friends of JNF,” not “Friends of JNF Canada.” Was that just a typing error or was it more significant? I again wondered.
Adding to the confusion, JNF Canada issued another email on September 10, in which it said, in part, that …wonderful friends stepped forward to dedicate their charity to carrying out similar work (to what JNF Canada had been doing) and have appropriately renamed it Friends of JNF Canada. With our Board of Director’s (sic.) full endorsement this organization will continue supporting the kinds of projects that have always defined JNF Canada’s mission: serving Israelis in need through charitable projects that help the vulnerable, enhance environmental sustainability, and support the mental & physical health of Israelis in need.”That email did not name the Benzimra Foundation as the charity that had agreed to change its name to Friends of JNF Canada but, as you can see in the email from CRA, CRA disclosed that information.
We wondered whether Friends of JNF and Friends of JNF Canada are one and the same. We received an explanation from Lance Davis, who was formerly CEO of JNF Canada and is now CEO of Friends of JNF Canada: “Our lawyer filed the name Friends of JNF. We were given additional input from supporters that it may be confusing as there are many JNFs around the world and we should specify Canada so that it’s clear that we are an independent Canadian charity funding Canadian directed projects. We are not a subsidiary of any other charity, as we are totally independent.
“Therefore, we decided to operate as Friends of JNF Canada.
“It is extremely common for businesses to have an operating name that is slightly different that the registered name. At this point we have so much to do to get our activities and campaigns started, so we will not be revisiting this now. However, in the future, the board may want to do so.”
But, in an October 2024 article in CJN, it was noted that another Canadian charity known as the Ne’eman Foundation had also had its charitable status revoked in August 2024. Subsequently, that same article reported, “the organization, which distributes funds to various causes in Israel, began instructing prospective donors to contribute through another recently formed Canadian charity (emphasis mine).
“Six weeks later, Canadian officials imposed a one-year suspension on that charity, called the Emunim Fund, according to its listing on the Canada Revenue Agency website.
“CRA regulators had previously raised concerns about particular Ne’eman Foundation projects in Israel, and a volunteer with Jewish pro-Palestinian group had alleged to the agency that the Ne’eman Foundation was using the Emunim Fund to skirt the revocation (emphasis mine).
“The agency has not publicly disclosed why it suspended the Emunim Fund, and said in a statement that it is barred by law from commenting on individual cases.”
Thus, there are two questions for which we’re awaiting answers: Is the name of the charity which JNF Canada now says will be able to issue tax receipts to donors who might previously have donated to JNF Canada “Friends of JNF” (as the CRA email said was the name) or is it “Friends of JNF Canada,” which was what the emails from JNF Canada says it its name?
Second, although the CRA email would seem to indicate that it has granted registration to this new charity – whether its name is Friends of JNF or perhaps Friends of JNF Canada, given CRA’s previous revocation of the registration of a charity linked to Israel when it changed its name from the Ne’eman Foundation to the Ne’eman Fund, will CRA follow suit and suspend the new charity whose name closely resembles JNF Canada’s name?
As I wrote – this is all so confusing. Even though spokespersons for both CRA and JNF Canada have been quick to respond to emails from me in which I’ve been asking questions trying to sort out exactly what has been going on, it seems that each email leads me to ask yet more questions.
If I receive more information from either CRA or JNF Canada that helps to clarify the questions I’ve asked, I’ll update this story – so keep checking back.