Some released bouquets of orange balloons. Others wore Batman costumes. Some did mitzvahs or studied Talmud. These were just some of the ways that Canada’s Jewish community came together in recent days to mourn the deaths of the two young Bibas children, Ariel and Kfir, and their mother, Shiri, who were murdered while in captivity in Gaza since Oct. 7. The official handover ceremony of the coffins carrying the boys’ remains on Feb. 20 triggered an outpouring of worldwide grief tinged with rage. That rage peaked the following morning, when news broke that Hamas had actually sent back a different body of a random Palestinian woman in lieu of the boys’ slain mother. Also returned was the body of Oded Lifshitz, 84, whose niece lives in Vancouver. His funeral is set for Tuesday at Kibbutz Nir Oz, while the Bibas family’s funeral is being held privately the next day, on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Jews around the world, including here in Canada, needed an outlet to express their deep sadness. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner describes her own private memorial, and brings you sound from vigils that occurred coast to coast, including in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

What we talked about:

• Read more reaction from Canadian Jews and others to the news about the two children of the Bibas family’s murders last week, in The CJN.
• Read more about the Vancouver relatives of slain Nir Oz hostage Oded Lifshitz, whose body Hamas returned on Thursday, in The CJN.
• Meet the Canadians who are running, knitting and lighting candles for the hostages, on The CJN Daily.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Ontarians are heading to the polls on Feb. 27 to elect the province’s 44th government after Premier Doug Ford called a snap election. The Conservative leader, who has twice been elected since taking office in 2018, says he need a new four-year mandate to take on U.S. President Donald Trump and his threats of crippling import tariffs that, Ford warns, could cost Ontario half a million jobs. Amidst debates over tariffs and inflation, however, Jewish topics aren’t getting much attention. Which party would most value protecting synagogues and Jewish schools from vandalism and protest? Which party would tackle anti-Zionism in public schools? Which party would address campus antisemitism? For answers, we turn to a special Ontario edition of The CJN Daily‘s political panel. Today we’re joined by Ari Laskin, a former Conservative political staffer and strategist in Premier Doug Ford’s office—who, in 2014, happened to run the current Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie’s successful campaign for mayor of Mississauga—and Emma Cunningham, a former Ontario NDP riding president who left that party over its refusal to tackle internal antisemitism.

Related links

• Read why “bubble legislation” is now a hot-button campaign issue for some Jewish candidates in the Ontario election, in The CJN.
• The CJN’s political columnist Josh Lieblein opines on a winter election, with Trump’s tariffs part of the campaign.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

On Feb. 10, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada published its decision on whether Library and Archives Canada was justified to block the release of the full, un-redacted 1986 report on suspected Nazi war criminals and collaborators who came to Canada after the Second World War.

The government archives department claims it can't release everything, because Canada received some key information after the war from an allied foreign government—who wouldn't like it published, even all these years later—and doing so could jeopardize Canada's international relations. Plus, releasing RCMP file numbers could be dangerous.

The OIC ruling suggested that B'nai Brith Canada, who has been lobbying for decades to unlock the Canada's murky wartime immigration policies, should take the case to the Federal Court of Canada. And that's just what B'nai Brith Canada has done. On Jan. 21, lawyers for the Jewish human rights group filed documents asking for a judicial review of keeping the so-called "Deschenes Report" secret.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we're joined by Sam Goldstein, former legal counsel to B'nai Brith Canada, and by historian and author Howard Margolian, a former war crimes investigator who thinks Canada let in relatively few hardcore Nazis back then—but wants the names released as well as their entire case files. Related links

• Read B’nai Brith’s legal application to the Federal Court for a judicial review of Ottawa’s refusal to release all the classified war criminals documents. Read the Office of the Information Commissioner’s ruling on B’nai Brith’s appeal.
• Read how Pierre Trudeau opposed prosecuting Nazi war criminals who had entered Canada–revealed in the most recent batch of 1986 Deschenes Commission war crimes documents, released by Ottawa in February 2024, in The CJN.
• Hear why B’nai Brith Canada and historian Alti Rodal continued to push for all the files and names to be released, on The CJN Daily from Oct. 2023 and from September 2024.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Since 2023, the Toronto District School Board has been working on an updated strategy to combat several categories of hate and racism in its nearly 600 schools. The update will cover hatred against more than a half dozen minority communities, including Black, Asian, Trans, Indigenous, and Jewish-but when the board suddenly added anti-Palestinian racism to the list last summer, hundreds of Jewish community members including Jewish parents, students and staff have slammed the school board for ignoring rampant Jew-hatred since Oct. 7 in classrooms, halls and field trips. Now, after consulting with 125 Jewish students and with members from 35 diverse Jewish community groups, the authors of a new report—”Affirming Jewish Identities and Addressing Antisemitism”—are tabling it in front of a committee of school board trustees on the evening of Feb. 12. The trustees are being asked to receive the report, after which send it along to the entire board for approval the following week. The report includes many suggestions, such as beefing up training about Jews beyond Holocaust education; making sure Jews are part of diversity, equity and inclusion work; recognizing anti-Zionism as a new form of antisemitism; and hiring more Jewish professionals for senior management positions. While some Jewish leaders are praising the report, others feel the whole concept is flawed by the board’s focus on identity, and want geopolitics removed from schools entirely. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by Shelley Laskin, a trustee representing the heavily Jewish neighbourhood of Eglinton-Lawrence-St. Paul’s, who calls the meeting a historic moment for the school board; and also by Tamara Gottlieb, co-founder of the Jewish Educators and Families Association (JEFA), who has serious reservations about the report.

Related links

• Read the proposed Toronto District School Board antisemitism policy documents and the detailed report being presented Wednesday Feb. 12, 2025.
• Learn more about the controversy that erupted last summer over proposed anti-racism strategies at the Toronto District School Board since Oct. 7, in The CJN.
• Hear how Jewish students at Toronto District School Board schools have experienced antisemitism and anti-Israel hate after Oct. 7, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Over the last six months, residents of Whitby, Ont., have discovered multiple Nazi swastikas around towbn, including carved into the walls of their main library's washroom and burned with chemicals onto a popular soccer field. Police are investigating, but no one's been caught.

The antisemitic incidents have shocked the local Jewish community of 1,000 families, members of which say, by and large, that most people feel relatively safe in Whitby. They're also grateful for the latest support from the mayor, town council, Durham regional police and local faith groups.

In response to the events, last week, the Town of Whitby voted to ask Ottawa to ban the Nazi swastika, also pledging to develop better internal protocols to handle future hate symbols when discovered. The town's motions have had a domino effect, and politicians in neighbouring communities are taking notice. Durham Region councillors will consider the same swastika ban on Feb. 12, while the Pickering will consider it at the end of the month.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from Rabbi Tzali Borenstein, spiritual leader of Chabad of Durham; Whitby town councillor Chris Leahy, who brought the original motions forward; Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy; and professor Tessa Troughton, whose child has witnessed Nazi salutes at her local high school, including students mimicking Elon Musk.

What we talked about:

• Read the motions passed by Whitby Town Council on Monday Feb. 3, 2025 to a) support the call to ban the swastika and b) to develop a protocol to react better to cases of antisemitism when municipal staff discover it.
• Learn more about B’nai Brith Canada’s campaign to ban the display of the Nazi swastika by modifying the criminal code.
• Hear more from Durham District school trustee Emma Cunningham about antisemitism in Whitby, on The CJN Daily’s political panel, from Dec. 2024.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Karina Gould says she is a Zionist; she is raising her kids to know the Jewish traditions, and she is fiercely proud of her Jewish heritage, including the legacy of her grandparents who survived the Holocaust. With just under a month to go before the federal Liberals choose a new leader on Mar. 9, Gould—the only candidate of Jewish heritage—announced she had cleared her party's $225,000 fundraising hurdle before the deadline last Friday. But she will have to come up with an additional $125,000 by Feb. 17 to remain in race. Gould is campaigning against front-runner Mark Carney, formerly governor of the Bank of Canada; former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland; and also former Liberal MPs Ruby Dhalla and Frank Baylis. Gould was first elected in Burlington as part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s majority sweep in 2015. At 29, she became the youngest female cabinet minister in Canadian history when Trudeau appointed her minister for democratic institutions in 2017. But after nine years in office, Gould says Canadian voters have lost faith in the Liberal party. She also recognizes that traditional support from Jewish Canadian voters has all but evaporated because of her government’s recent wavering stance on Israel and the spike in domestic antisemitism. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Gould joins host Ellin Bessner to explain how her Jewish identity shaped her and outline her policies on Israel and Jewish issues: why she would continue funding UNRWA, for now; how she wants to see all hostages released unconditionally; how she’d handle the arms embargo on Israel, and why Trump's plan to rebuild Gaza is a hard "No".

Related links

• Read a 2021 profile of Karina Gould when she was Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, in The CJN.
• Learn more about Karine Gould at her campaign website.
• Read what CJN political columnist says about the main candidates in the Liberal leadership race, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

The recent announcement of a temporary 30-day pause in the Canada-U.S. tariff war came as a relief to this country’s largest importer of Kosher foods made in the United States. Montreal-based Altra Foods spent the earlier part of the week scrambling to place rush orders from suppliers south of the border, after Canada vowed to slap 25% retaliatory duties on some of the company’s 3,000 kosher imported brands, such as Sabra, Geffen, Streit’s, Hadar and even Bush Beans. But Altra’s vice president ,Jack Hartstein, worries that if the negotiations collapse,and the Canadian tariffs kick in next month-just ahead of Passover–prices will rise by between 50 and 60 percent for kosher food imports from the key U.S. market. That’s why Canada’s kashruth organizations COR and MK,and the Hasidic community have teamed up with political advocacy group CIJA, and with help from several Liberal MPs, to urge Ottawa to exempt kosher foods from this current trade war. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by Jack Hartstein, of ALTRA Foods, on how his company is bracing for the impact, and what to expect next.

What we talked about:

• Read the list of U.S. products slated for Canadian-imposed 25% import tariffs.
• Why the 2025 proposed Canadian import tariffs will be much worse for kosher food consumers than the previous 2018 trade war, in The CJN
• Learn more about ALTRA Foods.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

A U.S. Senate committee is voting on Tuesday, Feb. 4 whether to recommend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should go forward as President Donald Trump’s new secretary of health. If he makes it through, RFK Jr. would have a wide-reaching impact on a particular Canadian export: canola oil. Long considered a loud voice in the anti-vaccine movement , and pushing other conspiracy theories, RFK Jr. now on a crusade to ban the signature Canadian oil, along with other seed oils. He claims they are toxic, cause obesity and poison Americans. Notably, he is pushing McDonald’s to fry their foods in beef tallow instead. All this makes professor Michael Eskin shake his head. Eskin is an internationally renowned food scientist at the University of Manitoba who helped develop Canada’s $35-billion canola industry, including canola oil, as a heart-healthy part of our diet. Eskin’s nearly 60 years of research—spanning 19 books and 150 scientific papers—have earned him an Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, and countless professional awards, including, most recently, induction into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. Eskin is a fan of some of RFK Jr.’s other pet peeves: he is similarly critical of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s handling of COVID, for example, and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the CDC But on the canola oil file, the professor thinks the future health czar is giving out the wrong diagnosis. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Eskin joins host Ellin Bessner to explain the benefits of canola oil, share its origin story, and discuss what’s at stake should Canada slap tariffs on exports of canola to the U.S.

What we talked about:

• Read more on why Canada’s Agricultural Hall of Fame inducted Prof. Michael Eskin into the Class of 2024, for his decades of research on canola oil as a heart-healthy staple.
• Watch Prof. Michael Eskin’s rap video on lipids, on YouTube.
• Read why Eskin won the Order of Canada, in 2016.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)