Local News
Winnipeg Police Service members receive angry reception at Jewish Federation event meant to give advice on personal safety
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted Nov. 9) The Multipurpose Room in the Asper Campus was supposed to have been filled last night by members of the community wanting to hear from representatives of the Winnipeg Police Service in an event billed as “Responding to Hate: Safety and Security Presentation.”
But there were many empty chairs. Attendees had been required to register in advance – and registration was cut off at 200. Apparently many of those 200 who had registered decided not to come – which was a terrible shame, since many others who had wanted to attend had been told there was no room for them.
What ensued Wednesday evening beginning at 7:10 pm, Wednesday evening, November 8, in the Multipurpose Room of the Campus was a somewhat disorganized series of presentations by various members of the WPS, followed by what became at times a quite heated, often emotional question and answer session.
Here are the major takeaways from the event:
Jewish Federation President Gustavo Zentner introduced eight different members of the WPS to the audience. He said that “this is a community dedicated to the rule of law. We are extremely concerned when we see people burning Israeli flags and when we see police standing by them when they are chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Dave Dalal, Superintendent, Uniform Operations, WPS, told the audience that, on October 26, the WPS had asked representatives from both the pro-Palestine and pro-Israel communities not to hold counter protests when the other side was holding a rally. Since that date, both sides had respected the WPS’s request, Dalal said.
Dalal asked that anyone who has information or a complaint about what might be considered a hate crime should call the police non-emergency line: 204-986-6222, and press 8 on the dial pad.
In addition to information given by Dalal, there was also interesting information given by Gord Perrier, Director of Campus Security at the University of Manitoba.
Responses that Dalal and Perrier gave to questions from the audience provided greater insight into the thinking of senior police officers than one might have expected. Dalal especially was quite defensive when he was accused of allowing hate speech to occur at various pro-Palestinian rallies that have taken place in recent weeks. When Dalal (and other members of the WPS who were present) claimed that nothing that had been heard at any of those rallies would have constituted a “hate crime,” local pro-Israel organizer Ron East challenged members of the WPS, asking them whether they had anyone on the force who spoke Arabic?
East claimed that some of what had been said at some of those rallies – in Arabic – would have qualified as hate speech. In response, Dalal did say that the WPS does have members on the force who speak Arabic. He also said that there are Jewish members in the WPS.
Another audience member said he has audio evidence of hate speech in Arabic that was said at one of those rallies. Dalal asked that audience member to give that evidence to the WPS.
Another WPS representative, Bonnie Emerson (Community Engagement) gave a fairly lengthy presentation on how hate speech is defined in the criminal code.
In response to a question why pro-Palestinian protesters were allowed to block off Portage and Main, Emerson said, “It’s complex – and we’re dealing with a crowd environment. We have to be deliberate and careful when we take action.”
With reference to whether something is “hate speech,” Emerson said “It’s not clear what is hate speech. For the Jewish community it may be hate speech, but to other communities it may not be. The criminal code is not specific. Unless there is case law backing up that it’s hate speech, it’s not illegal.”
In response, Gustavo Zentner suggested that “part of the (angry) reaction from the back (where some people had been interrupting Emerson’s remarks) is people take it as an endorsement by inaction.”
Gord Perrier, Director of Campus Security (who was also a 25-year veteran of the WPS) was not at the front of the room when the eight members of the WPS gave various presentations to the audience. Dalal referred to his presence, however and, in response to a direct question from a member of the audience who said they were concerned about the safety of Jewish students at the University of Manitoba, Dalal asked Perrier whether he could answer the question.
Perrier spoke about a “vigil” that was held by pro-Palestinian students at the U of M on October 13. He said there had been consultation with organizers of the vigil prior to the event. The organizers were told there could be “no chanting” and “no flags on staffs.” (According to Perrier, flag staffs could be considered weapons.)
When chanting did begin, one of the organizers attempted to have the chanting stopped, Perrier said, but he was ignored to start with. Also, a flagstaff did appear.
Perrier also addressed the question of hate speech – and why no one has been charged with a hate crime yet in Manitoba since October 7. (To provide some context, many members of the audience were angry that pro-Palestinian demonstrators are continually allowed to chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”)
Perrier explained that a charge of hate speech has to be approved by the attorney general of the province in which the hate speech has allegedly occurred.
He admitted though, that despite the campus police at the U of M having “increased physical security on campus… a lot of the staff don’t have historical knowledge” of what’s led up to the heated atmosphere between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students. “There’s a lot of training going on,” Perrier noted.
“We reach out to every organizer of a rally telling them it has to be respectful and safe,” he suggested.
Another audience member referred to what is apparently a very tense situation at St. Johns Ravenscourt school, saying “I have kids at SJR and we’re seeing a lot of conflict between Arab and Jewish kids.”
That person said his kid had been told “We’re going to finish you.”
At one point Gustavo Zentner referred to something that is being planned for “November 13,” but he didn’t immediately explain what he was talking about. It was only after a while that he said there is some sort of walkout being planned for high schools in Winnipeg that day. (We contacted Ruth Ashrafi, Regional Director, B’nai Brith Canada, to ask whether she knew what Gustavo was talking about. Ruth sent us a picture of a poster that’s circulating on social media by a group known as “Queers for Palestine,” which in itself is a ridiculous name as queers are persecuted in Palestinian areas – often killed – thrown off rooftops by Hamas, for instance, and often flee to Israel where they’re safe, but let’s leave aside one of the many contradictions associated with pro-Palestinian groups.)
An audience member asked Superintendent Dalal, “What would you do if it was your family being threatened?”
Dalal responded: “We are bound by the rule of law. We have Jewish officers. We also have officers who wish and hope that their neighbours don’t know they’re police officers.”
Someone else asked: “How do we make our kids feel safe when they’re in a school where they know other kids hate them?”
Part of the answer that was given was “There are many people in the MIddle Eastern community here who are opposed to antisemitism.”
To Israelis in the audience – Gustavo Zentner had this to say: “Everyone of us who was either born in Israel or moved there – we are mindful of your concerns.”
And, in addressing the often heated criticism levelled at the WPS during what turned into a very emotional evening for some members of the audience, Jewish Federation President Jeff Lieberman said, “We’ve been in constant touch with the WPS since October 7 and we appreciate that the moment we asked you (WPS) whether you would come out and meet with us tonight – you agreed.”
Local News
GrowWinnipeg celebrates 25th anniversary
By MYRON LOVE On Wednesday, June 25, about 250 Jewish Winnipeggers – comprising lifelong residents as well as newer arrivals, came together at the Asper campus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of GrowWinnipeg, an initiative that has revitalized our Jewish community – in our camps, school, synagogues and other institutions and given our community a much more international flavour.
Our community’s population peaked in terms of population in 1961 when Winnipeg Jewry numbered around 20,000. The years after had been a period of steady decline. By 1961, most of the Jews living in smaller communities in the Prairie provinces – the source of much of our ongoing population replenishment up to that point – had largely disappeared.
A s Bob Freedman, the former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (and its predecessor, the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council), noted in his remarks at the 25th anniversary party, by 1986, community leaders recognized that ours was an aging and shrinking community with aging infrastructure.
“We recognized that something had to be done,” he recalled.
The first stage, he pointed out, was the planning and construction of the Asper Campus, which brought our major institutions and organizations under one roof in an attractive new building.
The next challenge was to attract more people to our community. GrowWinnipeg was created to take on the challenge. GrowWinnipeg is unique in its efforts to reach out to young Jewish families throughout the Western world .
The genesis was a chance meeting on an airplane almost 30 years ago between former Manitoba Lieutenant-Governor Janice Filmon – at that time the wife of then-Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, and a Jewish businessman from Argentina who was contemplating moving to Toronto. Filmon persuaded him to consider Winnipeg instead. He was impressed by what he saw and suggested that the community send representatives to Buenos Aires to meet with other Argentinian Jewish families who were considering leaving.
That planted the seed.
Shortly thereafter – in 1998 – Larry Hurtig – then the president of the Federation, his son, Jack, and a representative of the provincial government, made an exploratory visit to Buenos Aires to gauge what interest there might be among young Jewish families to consider moving to Winnipeg.
GrowWinnipeg was officially launched in 2000. Our community opened its arms in welcome to the new arrivals who began to arrive, hosting them in our homes and helping them become acclimatized to their new surroundings.
Evelyn Hecht became the principal contact for the newcomers. “I was lucky that I happened to be working for the Federation when we opened the campus and turned our energies to repopulating our community,” Hecht noted in her remarks at the recent celebration. “Fortunately, the pieces fell into place at just the right time.”
Those pieces, Hecht related, included: the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program – which allowed community support groups to recruit specific immigrants; the arrival of a small number of Jewish families from Buenos Aires who encouraged community leaders to look to their former home as a potential source of Jewish immigrants; and the availability of email and the internet.
The initiative – led by Hecht – recruited a group of local Jewish families who were prepared to host potential immigrants who had begun to come for exploratory visits. The connections made by the new arrivals and their local hosts resulted in many long–lasting friendships, Hccht noted.
She praised Jewish Child and Family Service for helping the new arrivals to become established here and integrate into the community.
Efforts were also made to build a data basis of potential employers for the newcomers.
GrowWinnpeg was kicked off by two visits to Buenos Aires – visits Hecht describes as “exciting and exhausting” – in the early 2000s, when Hecht and other Winnipeg representatives met with potential immigrants and heard their concerns about life and personal safety in Argentina and hopes for the future that Winnipeg might be able to give them.
“I remember,” she said, “the numerous meeting I held in my office on the third floor here listening to people’s excitement and concerns and answering questions about life in Winnipeg, our Jewish identity, schools, synagogues, employment, housing and especially, safety. I always emphasized that they would encounter struggles, disappointment and possibly, crises – but I assured them that we would be here to help.
“And I remember feeling so much happiness when people would show up at my door to share good news about babies born, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations and new jobs – and the numerous times I was in Citizen Court where so many were so proud to receive their citizenship certificates. “
And they are still coming. Dalia Szpiro, Hecht’s successor, reports that, over the past 25 years just under 7,000 people have come here under the aegis of GrowWinnipeg – and not just from Argentina. We have had families from Brazil, Uruguay and other South American countries, Mexico, Europe, and, in more recent years, especially from Israel.
For former Israelis I spoke with on the 25th, such as Slava and Karina Pustilnikov, Irena Oz and Marina Shapiro and her 19-year-old son, Adam, all of whom have been here for 10 to 15 years, the primary motivation was being in a safer environment.
For Ori Rahima and his wife, Anna Shapiro, who have been here for seven years and have three children under six, the pull was greater opportunity and a better standard of living.
Then there is Esther Barna, a teacher by training, newly arrived from Budapest. “Hungary is not a good place to be a Jew,” she says. “There is a lot of antisemitism. I was looking online for a better place to go and came across the GrowWinnipeg website. I love it here.”
In her concluding remarks, Dalia Szpiro, herself an immigrant from Uruguay about 20 years ago, thanked the many Jewish organizations and individuals in the community who have helped to make GrowWinnipeg the success that it is.
“Over 250 volunteers each year meet with our exploratory visitors – opening their homes, their hearts, their time, their insights and their networks,” she noted. “There is something very special about our community and our province. Every exploratory visitor who comes here as part of their immigration journey discovers it.
“This 25-year milestone is a reason for pride and celebration – and a renewed commitment to the future. We are already working on new strategies – to strengthen what we have built, support immigration, foster inclusion and create more opportunities for newcomers to grow and prosper.”
Local News
Long time community members Bryan Schwartz, Myriam Saitman receive rabbinic ordination
By MYRON LOVE On June 21, Bryan Schwartz and Myriam Saitman received their rabbinical ordination through the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI) Rabbinical School – bringing the number of JSLI rabbinic graduates in our community to seven.
“I felt a calling,” says Saitman, who is the new spiritual leader of Temple Shalom, our community’s roughly 60-year-old Reform Congregation. Saitman notes that she is Temple Shalom’s fourth female rabbi.
Originally from Buenos Aires, Saitman and her family answered our community’s call for new young Jewish families that began with the Federation’s GrowWinnipeg campaign. They arrived here in 2003.
“We were attracted by a community that offered a safer environment for raising a family and better economic opportunities,” she recalls.
Although raised in a secular family, she notes that, as a young adult she was drawn to learning more about Judaism. “I took Hebrew classes in Argentina and started on a spiritual path,” she recalls.
Soon after coming to Winnipeg, she found her spiritual home at Temple Shalom. Over the last many years, she has served as a volunteer in several capacities at the synagogue – both at the school and as a long time member of the board. Since 2016, she was also one of the lay service leaders, often leading Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday evenings.
When her predecessor, Allan Finkel – also a JSLI grad – let it be known that he was planning to retire after six years as the congregation’s spiritual leader, Saitman put her name forward as a potential successor.
“Judith (Huebner) and Ruth (Livingston) (Temple Shalom’s president and past president respectively) were really supportive as were the board and the congregation,” Saitman says. “I began leading services.”
As for the JSLI program, Saitman notes that it is intensive. “It meets a need,” she observes. “It prepares us well for all the requirements of being a congregational rabbi.
“We at Temple Shalom want people to know that we are here and we welcome interfaith families,” she adds. “Our motto is that we follow tradition and embrace modernity. Our services (on Friday evenings) reflect the essence of Reform Judaism where we allow for individual choices. I’d like to stress that individual choices are informed by an educated interpretation based on knowledge of the laws and customs.”
Unlike Saitman, Rabbi Bryan Schwartz was not considering a career as a congregational rabbi when embarking on the JSLI program. For Schwartz, “rabbi” is the latest title in a lifetime of achievement. As this writer noted in a story in the Post about Schwartz last year, he “is the very model of a modern-day, Jewish, Renaissance scholar.”.A long-time professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law, he is also a passionate Zionist, student of the Holocaust and an in demand commentator on modern legal and constitutional issues. He has written or contributed to 34 books and over 300 publications in all – in a legal and teaching career that stretches back more than 40 years. His works within a Jewish context encompass the gamut of Jewish life from ancient times to the Holocaust to the current Jewish situation. In addition, he is a poet, playwright and songwriter.
“My main purpose in taking the JSLI course,” he observes, “is to be better positioned to help deal with the challenge of Jewish survival. I want to be able to pass on Jewish tradition to the younger generation and impress upon younger Jews – who have grown up in largely secular homes – the value of our 2,500-year-old literature, culture and religious traditions.”
He observes that there is something for everyone in Jewish tradition. “There are many people who are looking for a spiritual community. I believe that Judaism provides us with a sense of our place in the universe.”
Schwartz – a lifelong student himself – notes that he has been building to this moment for a long time. In his early 20s, he notes, he audited a few courses at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In his 50s and 60s, he learned Hebrew at different ulpans.
“I had been looking around for a while for a rabbinic program,” he says. “JSLI seemed to be the best one. It was hard work – but well worth it. I learned a tremendous amount.”
So what is Schwartz – who is a member of the Shaarey Zedek – planning on doing as a rabbi?
“I would like to be able to offer weekly dvar Torahs,” he says.
He would like , among other things, to do creative and educational projects for the community, like his weekly dvar torah in the Times of Israel. The commentary that he gave on the weekend of his Smicha ceremony is called “From Burning Synagogue to Rising Lyon,” and can be found at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/from-burning-synagogue-to-rising-lion/
“I have also been writing books and musicals inspired by the Tradition, and hope to find forums to share them in the years ahead,” he adds. “My mission is to share in the radiance of our Tradition and help inspire the next generations to see its warmth and illumination”
Local News
Winnipeg Fringe performer Melanie Gall subjected to antisemitic attack – for second year in a row
By BERNIE BELLAN (July 20, 2025)
Melanie Gall is a talented performer who is a veteran of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival – having appeared here many times.
Last year Melanie found herself being subjected to antisemitic attacks that were initiated by a site supervisor for the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, someone by the name of Eric Rae.
As I wrote on my story about Melanie’s experience, “…on the third day (of the Fringe Festival), she said, ‘the site supervisor (Rae) came and was wearing a pro-Palestinian symbol’ and told Melanie that he was wearing that deliberately because he was coming to Melanie’s venue.
“He told her, ‘that stance you’re taking (on social media) is a political symbol.
Rae also posted on social media: “We have a Zionist in our midst harassing pro-Palestinians.”
There was a concerted effort on social media last summer to boycott Melanie’s shows (She had three different shows altogether.)
As Melanie said during a phone conversation we had last summer about what happened to her, “This is so ridiculous. I’m being harassed and bullied because I’m Jewish…it’s not about Israel.”
Eric Rae was relieved from his duties after Melanie complained to the Fringe office staff, Melanie noted during our conversation.
She adds that other Fringe employees also complained about Eric Rae’s behaviour: “I wasn’t the only one who complained last year,” she wrote in an email sent today. “Several staff members complained, as Eric was not adhering to the Fringe policy that did not allow political symbols to be worn by staff. From what I heard, he refused to stop wearing it, and he did publicly target me. The Winnipeg Fringe upheld their safe spaces policy, and they were wonderful in the way they handled it.”
Further, Melanie was the target of an organized campaign on pro-Palestine social media calling for her shows to be boycotted.
(You can read the full story about what happened to Melanie, also to her mother during last year’s Edmonton Fringe Festival, at Melanie Gall.)
Just today we received another email from Melanie informing us that the same individual who targeted her last summer is targeting her again during this year’s Fringe Festival.
Melanie wrote: “Hi! Thanks so much for the mention in the preview article! I just wanted to let you know that Eric Rae is at it again.”
Attached to that email was a picture taken from Rae’s Instagram account.
As of the writing of this post, Melanie said that she is out of town for three days and is not aware whether any of her posters have been defaced – the way they were last summer.
She did add, however, that “I assume by ‘make her feel unwelcome’ (which is what is written on one of the pictures on Rae’s Instagram account) he is planning something. Ugh.”
Melanie also said that “The one post is too close to a threat to ignore.”
In a subsequent email Melanie also sent a screenshot of an exchange that took place on Rae’s Instagram account between him and someone who goes by the handle “Kat Cat.”
If we hear more about what’s been happening to Melanie we’ll update this article.
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