Local News
Some thoughts on the passing of Jim Carr
By BERNIE BELLAN I first met Jim Carr when I decided to take an evening course Jim was teaching about politics at the University of Winnipeg in the 1970s. He was already well known to many Winnipeggers from his occasional appearances on the local CBC news program “24 Hours,” where, although still only in his twenties, he was able to offer informed insight about politics.
Jim was only two years older than me, but he was so much wiser. A scan of the many tributes that have poured forth since his death on December 12 was announced reveal – if you weren’t already aware, how incredibly diversified his interests were.
But, since this is a Jewish newspaper I’ve decided to focus on aspects of Jim’s life as they relate to his own Jewish identity. Yes, it’s true that even though Jim did not go out of his way to draw attention to the fact he was Jewish, he was still immensely proud of his heritage.
At the beginning of his contribution to the Jewish Foundation’s Book of Life in which he writes about his Jewish background, Jim notes, in a way that would probably sound so familiar to so many of us, that “My grandparents all arrived in Canada in the early 1900s. They came from Europe with no money and no English; they came with nothing but hope, optimism, and the desire to work hard to make a life for their families in this young country.
“Those early seeds of risk and hard work have taken root as the Carr and Golden families have flourished in this great land. It’s a story that can be told thousands of times for thousands of families who saw Canada as an oasis of calm and opportunity in troubled times. I’m very aware, and proud, that to this day people from around the world continue to come to Canada. Together, we weave an elegant, multicultural tapestry that is the envy of the world.
Jim didn’t attend Jewish school, although in conversing with him he often liked to drop Yiddish expressions. He also mentions that his mother belonged to “Hadassah,” while his father belonged to the “Montefiore Club,” which was really just a venue for Jewish men to play cards.
Typically for young south end boys growing up in the 1960s, Jim wrote that “I was involved in some Jewish youth activities and enjoyed my time as a member of Toppers in BBYO. I had my Bar Mitzvah at Shaarey Zedek where I shared the pulpit with another young man, Howard Gurevich.”
Jim goes on to describe his schooling and some of the organizations with which he was associated to that point in his life. (He was still with the Business Council of Manitoba until 2015, which is when he reentered politics, this time becoming the MP for Winnipeg South Centre.)
“I attended school at Brock Corydon, Montrose, Grant Park, University of Winnipeg Collegiate, the University of British Columbia, and McGill University. I have enjoyed—and still do—a diverse career. I have always been drawn to pursuits, both volunteer and professional, that have the potential to improve life in my city, my province, and my country. I played oboe with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; served on the editorial board of the Winnipeg Free Press; have held senior administrative positions with the Manitoba Arts Council and the University of Winnipeg; and I served my community for four years as a Member of the Legislative Assembly and as deputy leader of the opposition. Today, I am proud to be the President and CEO of the Business Council of Manitoba…”
It was shortly after having written that when Jim entered into the final chapter of his political career – in 2015, when he was first elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre – a position he held until his death last week.
A scan of our own Jewish Post archives reveals that Jim’s name didn’t enter on to our own pages until 1996, when we reported on a panel discussion held on February 28 that year which was sponsored by the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, the topic of which was prospects for peace in the Middle East.
Jim had just recently returned from a trip to Israel (his first time there), where he had gone to report on the Palestinian election for the Winnipeg Free Press. (With Jim on that trip also was the late Sol Kanee.)
That article also gave a foresight of the optimism that Jim continued to hold the rest of his life that Israeli Jews and Palestinians could work together, when he said that “Israelis and Palestinians now are talking about ‘taking walls down, not erecting new ones’ ”(in response to a series of terrorist bombings in Jerusalem that had been occurring), “and a proposal to divide the two peoples is a ‘non-starter.’ ”
In our June 27, 2001 issue we reported on yet another panel discussion on peace in the Middle East – again sponsored by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University (Wouldn’t it be nice to have that organization contributing once again to the intellectual life of our community the way it used to?)
And, who was the chair of that panel discussion? You guessed it: Jim Carr.
Continuing in that vein, for years Jim was an active member of the Arab Jewish Dialogue, which was founded in 2006 by Ab Freig and the late Harold Buchwald as a means by which members of Winnipeg’s Jewish and Arab communities could engage in meaningful discussion.
Through the years whenever I spoke with Jim about the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, he held to his belief that peace could be achieved, but only through a return by Israel to the pre-1967 borders and the recognition by Palestinians of Israel’s right to live within secure borders.
Was he naïve to continue holding to a view that has undoubtedly been rendered almost totally irrelevant as a result of Israeli settlements on the West Bank and the apparent utter refusal of most Palestinians to abandon the notion that violence against Israelis is justified? Perhaps, but Jim was a small-l liberal through and through.
The last time I had a chance to sit down with Jim and have a really meaningful chat was in September 2018 when he had just returned from another trip to Israel, this time as Canada’s Minister of International Trade Diversification. Jim was very proud of the growth in trade that had been occurring between Israel and Canada, especially since the signing of a free trade treaty between the two countries in 1997 (and which was modernized in 2014).
Yet, I wondered whether Jim’s almost dogged insistence on even-handedness might be something for which he could be criticized by Jewish groups for not doing more to represent “Jewish” interests? I pointed out, for instance, that in speaking with Dimitri Lascaris, who has long been a fierce critic of Israel, when I mentioned to Lascaris that Jim Carr was, in fact, Jewish, Lascaris said he wasn’t aware of that. I said to Jim that was indicative of how even-handed he was perceived by other politicians.
I wondered though how Jim felt about being a “Jewish” member of Cabinet?
He responded: “I can only speak for myself. I am not in Cabinet to represent Jewish interests to the Government of Canada, but I’m Jewish, so I bring with me my sensitivities, my sensibilities, who I am as a person – and who I am as a person is very much a product of how I was raised in the community in which I was raised and with which I still feel a very close association as early as today – when I was in synagogue.” (That interview took place the second day of Rosh Hashanah.)
That was quintessential Jim Carr – a thoroughly thought out and articulate sentence that reads as well on the written page as it sounded when he spoke those words to me.
At the same time I should mention that Jim was also actively engaged in a dialogue with Muslim members of the Federal Liberal caucus, along with fellow Jewish members of the Liberal caucus. That was Jim: always wanting to keep the discussion going – maybe not to achieve any specific goals, but simply for the sake of keeping lines of communication open.
In closing, I want to note that the last time I saw Jim was this past summer when he was at a meet and greet event in Lindenwoods. There weren’t many people there; I was a little surprised because it was a beautiful summer day and I thought more people would have turned out to see Jim. As it was, when I went up to say hi, Jim flashed that trademark smile and told me that he always enjoys reading The Jewish Post & News. I told him that in many ways he had been a role model for me – as a champion of a style of thoughtful liberalism that is often under attack. But he looked very tired and I saw that just coming out to that event, even though he was sitting down, must have been quite an effort for him.
I will miss Jim Carr, as a friend, as a devoted member of the Manitoba community, and as a Jew who represented values that were engrained in those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 60s when it was fashionable to believe that public service was a noble aspiration. I’m not sure there are any others like Jim Carr still around in our community.
Jim Carr’s body was laid to rest at Shaarey Zedek Cemetery on Wednesday, December 14 in a private graveside service.
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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