Canadian Jewish Congress
Encyclopedia
The Canadian Jewish Congress was one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competed with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada
B'nai Brith Canada
B'nai Brith Canada is the Canadian section of B'nai Brith . It was founded in 1875 and is the country's oldest Jewish service organization.-Members:...

 in that regard. At its dissolution, the president of the CJC was Mark Freiman
Mark Freiman
Mark Freiman is a lawyer, public servant and former president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. He served as Lead Commission Counsel for the Air India Inquiry under Justice John Major. In 2010, he joined Lerners LLP's partnership after having been a partner in the Toronto law firm McCarthy Tétrault...

. Its past co-presidents were Sylvain Abitbol
Sylvain Abitbol
Sylvain Abitbol is an engineer and entrepreneur in the telcom industry as CEO of NHC Communications Inc but is best known as an activist in Jewish affairs and was co-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 2007 to 2009....

 and Rabbi Dr. Reuven Bulka
Reuven Bulka
Reuven P. Bulka is a rabbi, writer, broadcaster and activist in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and former co-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress...

 and its chief executive officer was Bernie Farber
Bernie Farber
Bernie M. Farber is the former chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a social activist. He has testified before the Canadian courts as an expert witness on hate crime....

. The CJC was composed of affiliated organizations until 2007 when, as a result of a reorganization that saw it become a subsidiary of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy
Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs was founded in 2004 as the principal advocacy, oversight and co-ordinating body for a number of Jewish Canadian organizations including the Canada-Israel Committee , the Canadian Jewish Congress/United Jewish Appeal and National Jewish...

 (CIJA), it became an organization of individual members. The CJC disbanded effective July 1, 2011 due to a reorganization of the CIJA which saw the CJC's former responsibilities being assumed by its parent organization which subsequently adopted the name Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

Founding and early history

While the CJC was founded at a convention held in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 in March 1919, its creation had been discussed, and attempted for a number of years prior to that date. In 1915, the immediate predecessor to the CJC was formed by the Montreal chapter of Poalei Zion (workers of Zion), a working class Zionist organization. They were soon joined by 13 other organizations, mostly other chapters of Poalei Zion as well as the Arbeiter Ring in forming the Canadian Jewish Alliance. Despite this show of support, the Canadian Federation of Zionist Societies, run by the influential Clarence de Sola, refused to support any democratic Jewish organization.

Despite the opposition of the Federation, the CJA moved forward with their plan to create a democratic Jewish Congress, they were further pushed ahead with the creation in 1918 of the American Jewish Congress
American Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....

. Finally, in 1919, over 25,000 Jews from across Canada voted for delegates to the first Convention of the CJC.

Groups as diverse as Clarence de Sola's Federation, Poalei Zion, Mizrachi
Mizrachi (Religious Zionism)
The Mizrachi is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929, is the youth movement associated with Mizrachi...

 (a religious Zionist organization) and the Arbeiter Ring were present at the convention. While there, they were addressed by the Solicitor General of Canada, and were entertained at Montreal City Hall, where a large Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

 flag was draped over the Mayor's chair.

The main decision at that meeting was the founding of the "Jewish Immigrant Aid Society" to assist Jewish settlers and refugees in Canada. Although they also passed motions expressing the Jewish community's loyalty to Canada and others declaring their support for the Balfour Declaration. The convention also elected Lyon Cohen
Lyon Cohen
Lyon Cohen was a Jewish Canadian publisher, businessman and a philanthropist.In 1897, Cohen co-founded with Samuel William Jacobs, the Canadian Jewish Times, the first English language Jewish newspaper in Canada, and was president of the Jewish Colonization Association in Canada.He was elected the...

, former President of the Montreal Clothing Manufacturers Union, their President.

Despite this auspicious start, the CJC fell into abeyance and was inactive until 1934. With the rise in anti-Semitism and restricted immigration policies in the 1930s, the CJC was re-convened in 1934 and held the Congress' second plenum in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 in January with Cohen's friend and close colleague, Samuel William Jacobs
Samuel William Jacobs
For the Australian footballer see Sam Jacobs Samuel William Jacobs, K.C., was a Canadian lawyer, Member of Parliament and a leader of the Canadian Jewish community. For many years he was the only Jewish MP in the Canadian House of Commons...

, a prominent Jewish leader and Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 becoming the revived Congress' first president.

Post World War II

The CJC was active before and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 in lobbying the government (with limited success) to open the borders to Jewish refugees fleeing Europe. After the war the CJC organized relief aid for Holocaust survivors who were being detained in Displaced Person
Displaced person
A displaced person is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration.- Origin of term :...

s camps. Along with the efforts of Senator Arthur Roebuck
Arthur Roebuck
Arthur Wentworth Roebuck, QC, was a Canadian politician and labour lawyer.Roebuck ran for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons in the 1917 federal election as a Laurier Liberal, but was defeated. He was involved with the United Farmers of Ontario and its successor, the Progressive Party, in the...

 and Rabbi Avraham Aharon Price
Avraham Aharon Price
Rabbi Abraham Aharon Price was a world-renowned Torah scholar, writer, educator, and a community leader in Toronto, Canada. He was one of the city's most influential rabbinic figures.- Community leader :...

, the CJC helped obtain the release of young, Jewish refugees from internment camps, bringing them to study in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

.

The Congress' dominant figure from 1939 to 1962 was its president, Samuel Bronfman
Samuel Bronfman
Samuel Bronfman, was a Canadian business magnate and philanthropist. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Canadian Jewish family dynasty, the Bronfman family.-Early life:...

 who was elected president following Jacobs' death in 1938.

During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 at Bronfman's urging, the CJC expelled the United Jewish Peoples' Order
United Jewish Peoples' Order
The United Jewish Peoples' Order is a secular socialist Jewish cultural, political and educational fraternal organization in Canada. The UJPO traces its history to 1926 and the founding of the Labour League...

 and other "left-leaning" Jewish organizations in 1951. At the time, the UJPO was one of the largest Jewish fraternal organizations in Canada. It would not be readmitted to the CJC until 1995.

During the war between Israel and Lebanon
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...

 in 1982, former Prime Minister Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

 issued a public rebuke to the CJC at its annual policy convention for its stance of unconditionally supporting the State of Israel in that war, regardless of what Israel had been accused of doing. During the speech, Clark was interrupted with heckles from the crowd and approximately 50 people left the room in protest. Near the end of his remarks, the audience began to sing Hatikvah
Hatikvah
"Hatikvah" is the national anthem of Israel. The anthem was written by Naphtali Herz Imber, a secular Galician Jew from Zolochiv , who moved to the Land of Israel in the early 1880s....

, the Israeli national anthem.

Recent history

In recent decades the CJC launched campaigns to pressure the Soviet Union to allow Jewish emigration, to pressure the Canadian government to prosecute Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 war criminals who had settled in Canada, and to enact and use hate crime
Hate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...

s legislation against anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...

 such as Ernst Zündel
Ernst Zündel
Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying his visa,...

. The CJC also works to promote tolerance and understanding between religious and ethnic groups, promotes anti-racist work and other campaigns.

The CJC introduced significant changes to its internal organization in June 2007. The previous system of electing representatives to the Board of Directors was discarded, and a new system was introduced wherein Board members will be chosen by indirect elections from "regional Congress representatives" and "delegates from Jewish federations". Congress CEO Bernie Farber
Bernie Farber
Bernie M. Farber is the former chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a social activist. He has testified before the Canadian courts as an expert witness on hate crime....

 supported the change, arguing that it would streamline a complicated process. Others have argued that the new system will give disproportionate power to the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy
Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs was founded in 2004 as the principal advocacy, oversight and co-ordinating body for a number of Jewish Canadian organizations including the Canada-Israel Committee , the Canadian Jewish Congress/United Jewish Appeal and National Jewish...

 (CIJA). One individual, described by Canadian Jewish News
Canadian Jewish News
The Canadian Jewish News is a weekly, English-language tabloid-sized newspaper serving Canada's Jewish community. Though independent, the newspaper has been, since 1971, owned by a group of Jewish leaders involved with Canadian Jewish Congress...

as a "close observer of Congress", has argued that CIJA is "stacking the deck" in a bid to take over the CJC.

In its final years, the CJC was criticized for not being representative of the Jewish community and having an increased emphasis on Israel advocacy despite a diversity of views within the Jewish community on Israel. Abraham Arnold, a longtime CJC activist and a member of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

, opined that the CJC "seem to be spending more time in relation to Israel than in relation to anything else", has become increasingly Zionist, and has turned into a "top-down" group that discourages debate rather than the grassroots organization it once was. Queen's University professor Gerald Tulchinsky who specializes in Jewish Canadian history has said that the CJC fails to resonate with a growing number of Jewish Canadians, particularly among those who question Israeli policy towards Palestinians.

The CJC was the Canadian affiliate of the World Jewish Congress
World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...

.

Restructuring

In 2011, the renamed Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) assumed the functions of the CJC after an 18-month restructuring process in which the functions of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada-Israel Committee, Quebec-Israel Committee, National Jewish Campus Life and the University Outreach Committee were consolidated.

On July 1, 2011, the CJC posted a message on its website declaring that it had halted its activities and that its functions would be assumed by the newly restructured CIJA.

After the process was completed, CJC Ontario region chair Frank Bialystok, claimed that the CJC had not dissolved telling the Canadian Jewish News
Canadian Jewish News
The Canadian Jewish News is a weekly, English-language tabloid-sized newspaper serving Canada's Jewish community. Though independent, the newspaper has been, since 1971, owned by a group of Jewish leaders involved with Canadian Jewish Congress...

, "The national executive of Congress is still intact. Mark Freiman is still the president… and I am still chair of Ontario region". He added, "We have no budget so we can’t operate. But we own the name. We own the logo. And only we can decide to fold up. Under the terms of our bylaws, only we can determine our replacements. So technically speaking, until there’s a regional plenary, I’m still the regional chair. And until there’s a national plenary, Mark is still the national president.”

Presidents

  • Lyon Cohen
    Lyon Cohen
    Lyon Cohen was a Jewish Canadian publisher, businessman and a philanthropist.In 1897, Cohen co-founded with Samuel William Jacobs, the Canadian Jewish Times, the first English language Jewish newspaper in Canada, and was president of the Jewish Colonization Association in Canada.He was elected the...

     1919-1934
  • Samuel William Jacobs
    Samuel William Jacobs
    For the Australian footballer see Sam Jacobs Samuel William Jacobs, K.C., was a Canadian lawyer, Member of Parliament and a leader of the Canadian Jewish community. For many years he was the only Jewish MP in the Canadian House of Commons...

     1934-1938
  • Samuel Bronfman
    Samuel Bronfman
    Samuel Bronfman, was a Canadian business magnate and philanthropist. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Canadian Jewish family dynasty, the Bronfman family.-Early life:...

     1939-1962
  • Michael Garber
    Michael Garber
    Michael Garber was a Montreal based lawyer, Canadian Jewish community activist and a founder and succeeded Samuel Bronfman as president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1962 to 1968 after having chaired its national executive for a number of years.. He was also a president of the Zionist...

     1962-1968
  • Monroe Abbey
    Monroe Abbey
    Monroe Abbey, was a Canadian lawyer specializing in mining law and a Jewish civic leader in Montreal.He was president of Canadian Jewish Congress from 1968 to 1971.He was married to Minnie Cummings...

      1968-1971
  • Sol Kanee
    Sol Kanee
    Sol Kanee, was a Canadian lawyer, former President of Canadian Jewish Congress from 1971 to 1974, former Chairman of the World Jewish Congress Board of Governors, the longest-serving member, for 17 years, of the board of governors of the Bank of Canada, and chairman of the Federal Business...

     1971-1974
  • Sydney Harris
    Sydney Harris (judge)
    Sydney Malcolm Harris , was a Canadian jurist and civil libertarian who worked as a lawyer, both for the federal government and then in private practice for over 30 years before being appointed to the Ontario Provincial Court in 1976.-Early life and education:He was the grandson of Jewish...

     1974-1977
  • Rabbi
    Rabbi
    In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

     W. Gunther Plaut 1977-1980
  • Irwin Cotler
    Irwin Cotler
    Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, MP was Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul Martin lost power following the 2006 federal election. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the constituency of Mount Royal in a by-election...

     1980-1983
  • Milton E. Harris 1983-1986
  • Dorothy Reitman
    Dorothy Reitman
    Dorothy Reitman served as first female president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1986 to 1989.Reitman's parents emigrated from Odessa in her infancy...

     1986-1989
  • Les Scheininger
    Les Scheininger
    Lester Scheininger is a politician and lawyer in Ontario, Canada. He is best known for serving as president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1989 to 1992...

     1989-1992
  • Irving Abella
    Irving Abella
    Irving Martin Abella, is a Canadian writer, historian and academic. He specializes in the History of the Jews in Canada and the Canadian labour movement...

     1992-1995
  • Goldie Hershon 1995-1998
  • Moshe Ronen
    Moshe Ronen
    Moshe Ronen is a Toronto lawyer, and a Jewish community leader.Ronen is vice-president of the World Jewish Congress, was the last national chair of the Canada-Israel Committee and was president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1998 to 2001....

     1998-2001
  • Keith M. Landy
    Keith M. Landy
    Keith M. Landy is a Toronto lawyer and former president of the Canadian Jewish CongressLandy was born in Coventry, England and moved with his family to South Africa, then immigrated to Canada where he was educated at the University of Windsor's law school and is senior and founding partner in the...

     2001-2004
  • Ed Morgan
    Ed Morgan (professor)
    Edward M. "Ed" Morgan is a professor of international law at the University of Toronto.-Education:Morgan attended Northwestern University , the University of Toronto , and Harvard Law School ....

     2004-2007
  • Reuven Bulka
    Reuven Bulka
    Reuven P. Bulka is a rabbi, writer, broadcaster and activist in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and former co-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress...

     and Sylvain Abitbol
    Sylvain Abitbol
    Sylvain Abitbol is an engineer and entrepreneur in the telcom industry as CEO of NHC Communications Inc but is best known as an activist in Jewish affairs and was co-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 2007 to 2009....

     (co-presidents) 2007-2009
  • Mark Freiman
    Mark Freiman
    Mark Freiman is a lawyer, public servant and former president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. He served as Lead Commission Counsel for the Air India Inquiry under Justice John Major. In 2010, he joined Lerners LLP's partnership after having been a partner in the Toronto law firm McCarthy Tétrault...

     2009-2011

See also

  • Canada-Israel Committee
    Canada-Israel Committee
    The Canada-Israel Committee was the official representative of the organized Canadian Jewish community on matters pertaining to Canada-Israel relations....

  • Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee
    Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee
    The Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee , is a Canadian political organization.The Executive Director of CJPAC is Mark Waldman, who has been active with the organization since its establishment....

  • B'nai Brith Canada
    B'nai Brith Canada
    B'nai Brith Canada is the Canadian section of B'nai Brith . It was founded in 1875 and is the country's oldest Jewish service organization.-Members:...

  • Independent Jewish Voices (Canada)
  • Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy
    Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy
    The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs was founded in 2004 as the principal advocacy, oversight and co-ordinating body for a number of Jewish Canadian organizations including the Canada-Israel Committee , the Canadian Jewish Congress/United Jewish Appeal and National Jewish...

  • Atlantic Jewish Council
    Atlantic Jewish Council
    The Atlantic Jewish Council, founded in 1975, is the Atlantic Canadian local partner of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and was previously the Atlantic Canadian office of the Canadian Jewish Congress...

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