Local News
The enormous – but little known role that Sheldon Berney played in the building of the Asper Campus
By BERNIE BELLAN Sheldon Berney passed away on July 28 in Palm Beach, Florida.
While his name may not be all that familiar to many members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community – other than the campus’s theatre having being named for him, at one time Sheldon Berney played an indispensable role in the building of the Asper Community Campus.
Six years ago I interviewed Bob Freedman about how the Asper Campus came about. Bob is one great story teller and if you want to see the entire interview (which is over an hour long, you can see it on YouTube at Freedman 2020 interview.)
The reason I’m harkening back to that interview now is to remind readers of the vital part that Sheldon Berney played in the building of the campus.
In fact, he was the the first president of the Asper Jewish Community Campus Board and, while the Berney Theatre is named for him and his picture adorns the entrance of the campus – along with Marjorie Blankstein’s and Bob Freedman’s, the contribution Sheldon Berney made to the building of the Asper Campus deserves to be recounted.
The story begins in 1986 when Bob Freedman had agreed to become the new executive director of what was then the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council. At the time he was executive director of Legal Aid Manitoba.
As Bob told me during our 2020 interview, “I said: ‘Look the only way I would consider doing that is if there was a commitment by the leadership of the WJCC to move the community forward.’ I had no intention of being a caretaker on a sinking ship.”
At the time, it should be noted, Winnipeg had begun to descend into the kinds of problems that have only been magnified in more recent years, including a deteriorating downtown – where the old YMHA was located, on Hargave – and to where an increasing number of parents were hesitant to send their children. Further, many young people had been leaving the city for better opportunities elsewhere.
Bob wanted to bring together a coalition of partners whose goal would be to develop a strategic plan that would move the Jewish community forward and revitalize it.
The first person he approached to be a part of that group was Marjorie Blankstein. As Bob explained, “I approached her and said ‘Marjorie, you’d be the perfect chair of our long-range planning committee’ and she agreed right on the spot. She didn’t need any convincing and that was May 2nd, 1986.
We then started the process, but we didn’t recruit Sheldon Berney, by the way, until a few years later,” he noted.
As Bob explained, together with Marjorie Blankstein, the two of them set out to assess community support for what had still not been identified as the campus project per se; it was more of a “sounding out” of as many different factions within the community as possible to determine how strong the determination was to move forward with a project that would complete rewrite the Jewish community’s direction.
I asked him during that interview how Sheldon Berney was eventually brought on board as a key member of the team.
Bob said that he didn’t really know Sheldon well, saying “I only met Sheldon once or twice. He was busy running the business. It was called “Reliance Products.'”
Here’s a brief excerpt from Sheldon Berney’s obituary as it appeared in the Globe & Mail that gives some detail about his business career, and his commitment to community service and philanthropy :
“Born to Ada (Loban) and Martin Berney, Sheldon lived an extraordinary life in Winnipeg before retiring to Florida. He built a distinguished career in business, joining his father at Reliance Products, which he expanded into an internationally respected manufacturer of plastic containers and camping equipment, celebrated for design excellence.
“A pillar of Winnipeg’s Jewish community and dedicated philanthropist, Sheldon chaired the Society of the Plastics Industry, the Manitoba Institute of Management, and the Young Presidents’ Organization. He served on the boards of the YMHA, CJA, and Victoria Hospital and was a core donor to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. In the 1990s, he chaired the Asper Jewish Community Campus Board, taking immense pride in helping to bring the project to life.”
It was around the time that the idea for the campus project was being formulated that Sheldon Berney had sold Reliance Products, Bob Freedman recounted.
“Sheldon, at that time, was in his 50s and was basically retired,” Bob said.
“Even though he was not well known in the community,” Bob continued, “he had good relationships with people.” Sheldon Berney also socialized with Izzy Asper; they both had properties near each other in Florida, Bob noted.
“They shmoozed around and socialized…and we figured also he had credibility and had time on his hands, so we approached him, we briefed him, and convinced him we would need someone like him to do a job…In terms of how it was done it was a small nucleus of people who were really the movers and shakers on this….We started what was called the long-range planning committee” and Sheldon Berney “started recruiting people to serve on the committee – so we had financial people who were business people – who were ordinary people in the community.” (In fact, the name of the committee evolved to become the “Implementation Committee.”)
“I think we recruited Sheldon around 1989,” Bob recalled.
“There were two things he (Sheldon) said to us (Marjorie and Bob): “He said if I understand how things work with committees and boards – I have no patience for that…I don’t want to come to a ton of meetings. I want to have the authority to move forward and do things…and perhaps we have to spend money and need board approval – I understand that, but I don’t want the politics. I’ve got no patience for that.
“The other thing he said was when the time comes to raise money,” Sheldon said he wanted to check with certain people to see whether they would give their support to the project.
As Bob said (in his own inimitable way): “He didn’t want them to say you’re out of your f….king mind” and Sheldon would have wasted a year or two of his time.
“And Sheldon came back,” Bob said, “and every last one” of the people he had approached, which were about “four or five or six people and all of them said ‘go for it’ – and Sheldon Berney was on board, not only as a key fundraiser, but as someone who was very involved with finding the right location for the campus.
Bob told this somewhat amusing story about what happened when the initial proposal to build a community campus was for it be built at Waverley and Wilkes.
“But there were hydro towers there…and we had a public meeting and the screaming and the yelling that was going on…” and, as Bob explained, someone approached Sheldon and told him to hire someone with a Geiger counter (to measure radiation levels at the proposed site) – and this was already (19)93.” (It’s hard to imagine that the Asper Campus opened only four years later.)
Even though whoever measured the radiation levels at Waverley and Wilkes ultimately reported that there was more radiation “in your kitchen with appliances” than there was radiation from the hydro lines, Sheldon Berney was warned by someone else that “all we need god forbid is one kid in the school gets cancer and you will be dead in the water, so we agreed to move off” the Waverley and Wilkes site.
Once the plan to build at Waverley and Wilkes was dropped the focus turned to the possibility of buying what had been the Fort Osborne Barracks from the province.
Later on, when the fundraising was in full scale, Bob said that Sheldon Berney again played a key role in convincing Izzy Asper to scale back his insistence on having more representatives on the campus board than anyone else. Asper argued that if he puts up “$500,000 he should have 500,000 votes.”
According to Bob, it was Gerry Gray who told Izzy Asper that, in order for the campus project to be a true community project, if someone were to give “$1,000 that could be a really good gift considering their income and that gift is as important, if not more important than your five hundred thousand.”
But, Aper was persistent, Bob said, and one day Sheldon Berney phoned Bob and said Asper “is driving me nuts…so I said ‘Sheldon, I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you suggest to Izzy” that he contribute two million and “at that time two million was a lot of money…and tell him (Asper) he can have two people on the board.” (Bob explained that they were planning a nine-person board so having two representatives on the board would be a significant number, but at the same time the board was envisioned as not having much responsibility: It “would make sure carpets were cleaned, that the taxes were paid, and all that stuff.”
The next day, Bob said, Sheldon Berney met with Izzy and said to him: “Look, we got to put this to bed because I’m not sleeping at night.” Sheldon said to Izzy: “Here’s the deal: Two million bucks – you get two people on the board. He (Asper) says ‘okay.'”
But, as Bob noted, Izzy Asper continued to be very hands-on with the building of the campus and “he would drive Sheldon nuts and he would drive me nuts and he would drive all of us nuts.”
Sheldon Berney continued to play a key role in the campus project throughout its planning and construction. But when you realize that the campus actually went from an idea on paper in as late as 1994 to a fully finished project when it opened in 1997 (although construction continued even after the official opening in the summer of 1997), it’s rather amazing to contemplate how it all came together in such a relatively short period of time.
In an article in The Jewish Post & News published in May 1995 here is what my late brother Matt wrote about the groundbreaking ceremony for what was to become the Asper Campus. Berney, who was master of ceremonies at the ceremony was quoted as saying ” ‘Over the past six years, we’ve talked to people about the campus many times.’ “
The article continued: “The ceremony ended with Berney taking the controls of a huge yellow track excavator and scooping out a big chunk of earth.
“The groundbreaking was a ‘very exciting step’, he added, noting that demolition of some Fort Osborne Barracks buildings and campus construction would start the next week. ‘You’re all here to dream with me about the day in the summer of 1997 when we’ll all be back again to cut the ribbon on a campus that will be a source of pleasure for all of us.’ “
In the photo, Sheldon Berney (left), president, Asper Jewish Community Campus, is with Larry Hurtig, Winnipeg Jewish Community Council president, who is about to present Berney with a certificate of appreciation.
Later, in our September 17, 1997 issue, Matt chronicled the opening ceremonies of the Asper Campus, which were held on Sunday, September 7 of that year.
Again, Sheldon Berney was front and centre, as Matt noted in his report: “Sheldon Berney gazed at the crowd sitting in bridge chairs on the front lawn of the Asper Jewish Community Campus on the warm, sunny day.
” ‘Many times over the past several years, I’ve painted a mental picture of exactly this scene … ‘ the campus president told the crowd.
” ‘… Standing here at the formal dedication ceremony for the Asper Jewish Community Campus, feeling an enormous sense of pride, an enormous sense of accomplishment.’ “
And, because Sheldon Berney was a behind the scenes kind of guy we never really heard a lot of, yet he’s one of three people (the others being Marjorie Blankstein and Bob Freedman himself) to have plaques with their faces on them greeting anyone who walks through the front entrance of the campus we thought it appropriate to pay Sheldon Berney his proper due.
As the inscription on Sheldon Berney’s plaque notes:
The Asper Jewish Community Campus of Winnipeg
The Centre of Life and Learning
Records its sincerest appreciation to
Sheldon Berney
in recognition of his very special efforts
first, as Chair of the Implementation Committee,
and latterly as Chair of the Board of Directors,
for his outstanding leadership in the conception,
fundraising and construction of these facilities
His dedication and style of leadership stand as an
example to all who would serve.
Local News
A response to Isha Khan’s op-ed in the August 1st, 2026 issue of the Winnipeg Free Press
By SIMONE COHEN SCOTT Ed. note: Isha Khan is the CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. In the August 1st issue of the Winnipeg Free Press Ms. Khan wrote an op-ed defending the museum’s decision to mount the exhibit titled “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present.” The Free Press has published many letters about the exhibit, but some readers of that paper are frustrated that their letters were not published. We were asked by Simone Cohen Scott whether we would print a letter that she had sent to the Free Press, but which was not published.
Since there is always room on this website to publish as many articles as we’d like, we agreed to publish Simone’s letter, which follows here:
Isha Khan states in her op-ed piece that the choices of what to exhibit, what to examine, what to feature, were made according to certain parameters, which she called a “framework.” What, specifically, comprised this so-called framework? It is obviously exclusive of elements relative to the history of the period displayed. She said the purpose of the exhibit was….”to promote reflection and dialogue.” Reflection and dialogue about what? Did the Arabs who left the area know that the United Nations had offered them a state too? If they had known, would they have wanted to accept? If, given the choice, would they have stayed and lived beside the Jews? Or, did they indeed, want five Arab nations to attack the Jews? Such questions as these would have promoted “reflection and dialogue.”
What is the understanding implicit in the exhibit? Khan quotes from a banner that hangs in the museum: Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “We are all born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Should the Jews have rights? If so, what should they be? May they have a state? When a people is attacked by 5 nations, as Israel was in 1948, wherein lie the human rights?
Why did Khan’s advisors choose to use the word Nakba in the exhibit title? The original use of the Arab word ‘nakba’, meaning disaster, was intended to depict, that in spite of being assured by the Arab/Islamic leaders that it would be a quick war and that they would win, that did not happen. The word disaster was meant to mean the shock and the disappointment. The real disaster, or tragedy, ‘Nakba’ if you will, is that the Arab/Islamic countries in the world, (and there are plenty of them), have refused to welcome refugees of a war their own leaders chose to start. They have allowed these displaced persons to stagnate in UNRWA, an industry in itself. Where are the stories of the people in UNRWA housing? Another group it would have been enlightening to hear from is today’s Israeli Arab population – the doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, judges, entrepreneurs, business moguls and more, the descendants of those who stayed in the country in 1948, who had and whose offspring have had the same opportunities as every Israeli citizen. There is much easily accessible research that has been neglected in the preparation of this exhibit. This blatant lack of effort is shameful.
Kahn explained, when asked, that the context of the conflict of the time is too complex to have been included. Is she saying that people who go to museums can’t handle broad, multi-faceted ideas… that she deliberately designed a walk-though soundbite, not a process for mind-expanding grasp of history?
Simone Cohen Scott,
(sent to the Free Press August 13th, 2026)
Post script from Bernie Bellan: This website has never refused to carry any post that may be critical of the CMHR, despite what some readers of this website might think. We do allow comments to articles, but anyone commenting through our “Comment” portal has to register by giving their name and email address so that we can confirm they are a real person. In addition, we welcome longer contributions from readers. Many of the posts you will find on this website come from regular contributors, such as Henry Srebrnik. If you have something you’d like us to consider publishing – and the only criteria are that it be reasonably well written and void of slanderous remarks, email to us at jewishp@mymts.net.
Local News
Young Winnipegger Dr. Yale Michaels receives $550,000 Canadian Cancer Society research grant
By MYRON LOVE It has been shown on many occasions that a teacher can have an outsized role in shaping a young person’s life. Dr. Yale Michaels’ life story is one example.
During a recent interview with the young cancer researcher – the son of John Michaels and Karen Stern – Yale recounted how a Grade 7 teacher at Grant Park High School was largely responsible for his decision to pursue a medical career in medicine.
The young Michaels attended Brock Corydon Elementary School and was a long time Massad camper. In junior high school at Grant Park, however, he recounts, “I was having a tough time staying on task. Thankfully, my Grade 7 science teacher suggested that I might find it interesting volunteering to help in a cancer research lab. He had a contact and got me in. I loved it. It was a good fit for me. I never looked back.”
Michaels (whose zaida, Leon Michaels, was a leading cardiologist here) spent much of his free time during his high school years volunteering in the lab. After graduation, he enrolled in Harvard –with help from the university’s financial aid program – where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. He followed that up with a Ph.D. from Oxford in 2019, followed by three years as a post-doctoral Fellow – before returning to Winnipeg in 2023 to work at Cancer Care Manitoba, as well as teach at the University of Manitoba.
“I enjoyed my time both at Harvard and Oxford,” he says. “What made England even more enjoyable is that Yale has family there. His grandparents – Leon and Joan Michaels – were born and raised in London and Yale’s time there overlapped for a few months with his brother Jamie (about whom there was a story in a July issue of the Post), who earned his Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at the University of London.
This past June, the young researcher learned that he was to be the recipient of a $550,000 Canadian Cancer Society Emerging Scholar Research Grant, covering five years of research.
Michaels’ field of research focuses on new ways of combating blood cancers – specifically in the new area of immunotherapy. He is being aided in his research by lab tech Dana Segal and graduate student Serena Dembowksi.
Michaels adds that he is collaborating with a number of other researchers from Winnipeg – and throughout Canada, including Drs. Harinad Maganti, David Szwajcer, Jody Haigh, Versha Banerji, and David Knapp.
Using the patient’s own immune cells – specifically CAR T cells -to treat blood cancers was first approved in 2017, Michaelsreports. “The treatment has shown itself to be really successful. Many patients go into remission and some may have the potential to be cured.”
One of the drawbacks, he explains, is that the treatment is prohibitively expensive. Each dose costs about $500,000 U.S.
“What we are trying to do in my lab and elsewhere is find a way to greatly reduce the cost,” he explains. “It becomes a matter of scale. Other drugs used in treating cancer can be produced in amounts of 1,000 doses per production run. But right now CAR T therapy is made on a one-off basis with an individual manufacturing run for each patient. We are attempting to instead make CAR T cells from stem cells – which can be grown in large quantities. We are trying to use genetic engineering to manipulate them so that they can be administered safely to patients.
“We (Michaels and fellow researchers) are making good progress in this area,” he adds.
He cautions that the research is still in the formative stages and that clinical trials are still several years away. “Our research so far though has shown that our treatment would seem to be effective at killing cancer cells,” he reports. “This grant from the Canadian Cancer Society will help us to further that research.”
Outside of work, Michaels notes, much of his time is spent with his family – Dr. Allison Marmel and their two-year-old daughter, Rose.
(Ed. note: We should note that Yale Michaels was also the punter for the Harvard University football team – by far his greatest achievement.)
Local News
Rabbi Kliel Rose, Etz Chayim’s spiritual leader, taking a new position in Ottawa
By MYRON LOVE It is with mixed feelings that Rabbi Kliel Rose, the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chayim for the past eight years, is once again leaving the community in which he grew up. Immediately after Yom Kippur, he, his wife, Dorit Kosmin, and three of their five children are moving to Ottawa, where Rabbi Rose is to become the spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillat Beth Israel (popularly known as KBI).
“My time in Winnipeg has been wonderful,” Rabbi Rose says. “It has been a privilege to have served as Etz Chayim’s rabbi and be part of the Jewish community here. Our Jewish community has a sense of solidarity that is unlike any other Jewish community in North America.”
He wasn’t actually looking to leave, Rabbi Rose explains. “Last spring, I was just having a cursory look at postings for Conservative rabbis and KBI stood out. What attracted me was not simply the opportunity to serve a larger congregation, but the chance to lead a community with such a rich history and such a strong commitment to egalitarian Conservative Judaism, Jewish learning, inclusion and community engagement. KBI is a relatively young congregation that brings together more than a century of Jewish history in Ottawa, and I was very drawn to the opportunity to help shape its next chapter.”
KBI, Rabbi Rose reports, was created in July 2016 through the amalgamation of two long-standing and storied Ottawa congregations: Agudath Israel and Congregation Beth Shalom. The merger brought together the rich traditions of both communities to create a modern, egalitarian Conservative congregation. Today, KBI is the largest Jewish congregation in Ottawa, serving more than 500 families, with a strong emphasis on Jewish learning, inclusion, community engagement and youth and family programming.
“There is a tremendous amount of energy and possibility at KBI,” Rabbi Rose says. “It is a community with deep roots, but also a very strong desire to think about what Jewish life should look like in the future. That is exciting to me as a rabbi.”
As with many rabbis, Kliel Rose’s career path has been a long and winding road. The son of the revered Carol and Rabbi Neal Rose, he first left Winnipeg after graduating from Grant Park High School.
In an interview with the Jewish Post & News in 2018, shortly after he returned here to serve Congregation Etz Chayim, Rabbi Rose credited his parents with being tremendous role models. “They are a dynamic team,” he commented, “but they never pushed any of us (Kliel Rose is the middle child in a family of four brothers and one sister) in any particular direction. They were really nurturing. They were okay with anything we decided as long as we were passionate about it.”
For the longest time as a young man, he noted, he fought against going into “the family business”. But, he said, working in Jewish summer camps, people in leadership positions in the camps saw something in him and convinced him to pursue rabbinic ordination.
Thus, after graduating with a Judaic Studies degree from Gratz College in Philadelphia, Kliel Rose enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary.
He noted that the most important piece of advice his father gave him before he enrolled in a rabbinic studies program was the suggestion that he should work for a time in a large congregation to see what it is like – “both the joy and the underbelly,” as he put it.
“I took his advice,” Rabbi Rose said. “For two years, I worked under the umbrella of a special fellowship at Bnai Jeshurun Congregation in Manhattan. The congregation had 4,000 members at that time. It had been a dying congregation which had been revitalized by Rabbi Marshall Meyer, who had previously helped revive Jewish life in Argentina. Rabbi Meyer, with his vision of social justice, was an inspiration for me.”
Rabbi Rose also spent a year at an Orthodox yeshiva in Israel and a couple of years as a youth director at a large Conservative congregation on Long Island.
Before coming to Winnipeg, Rabbi Rose served congregations in Miami Beach (for three years), Nashville (for five years), and Edmonton (for five years).
The past eight years at Etz Chayim have certainly brought their share of challenges, but Rabbi Rose says they have also been deeply meaningful. Just two years after arriving, the COVID pandemic transformed congregational life. Then there was the congregation’s decision to sell its 70-year-old building on Matheson Avenue and move to a smaller facility in south Winnipeg – a process that was completed just over two years ago.
“It has been really challenging these past few years,” he recounts. “It was difficult leaving behind our old building with so much history. But I think Etz Chayim made the right decision, and I am proud of how our community came together to navigate these challenges and build a new future for the congregation.”
Rabbi Rose says he is particularly grateful for the relationships he has built during his eight years at Etz Chayim and throughout Winnipeg’s Jewish community. “There have been so many meaningful relationships and experiences during my time here. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve this community and to have been part of Etz Chayim’s story during such an important period of transition.”
“I’m leaving with an enormous amount of gratitude,” he adds. “Etz Chayim has given me the opportunity to grow as a rabbi and as a leader, and I hope that I have been able to contribute something meaningful to the congregation and to the wider Winnipeg Jewish community in return.”
Another factor that made Rabbi Rose’s decision to leave difficult is that his parents moved back here two years ago and his older brother, Carnie, returned about 18 months ago to become Shaarey Zedek’s senior rabbi.
“It has been wonderful having my parents and brother here,” Kliel says. “This has been the first time that my children have had grandparents and an uncle and aunt in the same city.”
The Rose family will also miss the many friendships and connections they have made in Winnipeg.
Our community will also miss Kliel’s wife, Dorit. “My wife is a talented and caring individual who has worked in different areas of the community,” he notes. “Most recently, she was working in spiritual care at the Simkin Centre. She has made a tremendous contribution to the community and will certainly be missed.”
For Rabbi Rose, the decision to leave Winnipeg is less about leaving something behind than about embracing a new opportunity. After eight years of helping Etz Chayim navigate a period of profound change, he says he feels ready to take on a new leadership challenge while carrying with him the lessons and relationships he has gained here.
The Rose family will be leaving two days after Yom Kippur. Kliel reports that they have sold their house and have just a few things to wind up.
