<Jewish-Gentile
Relations.
In the 19th century the small Jewish community of Lower
Canada (Quebec) and to a lesser degree that of Upper Canada
(Ontario) was highly integrated and acculturated. The Hart
home in Trois Rivières was the social center of the area.
[Jewish outstanding
persons]
Judah Hayes was chief of police in Montreal and built the
city's opera house. The Nordheimers, who later intermarried
and converted, wee at home in the circles of the Tory Family
Compact in Toronto. Abraham de Sola was a professor at
McGill University, and the Hart and David families provided
leaders in the military, medicine, and letters.
[[The discrimination, expulsion and the extermination of the
natives is never mentioned in the Encyclopaedia Judaica]].
["Ethnical" influx of Jews
from Russia]
The much more numerous influx of immigrants from Eastern
Europe that arrived near the turn of the 20th century was,
like its sister community in the United States, more
"ethnically" Jewish with its own characteristic life-style,
creating its own institutions, social, welfare, and
educational, with less association with the non-Jewish
population.
The second generation of this immigration came to maturity
in the post-World War II period, and it was at this time
that more effective and conscious efforts were made to bring
the communities together. There had been a Canadian
Conference of Christians and Jews in the 1930s, directed by
Claris E. Silcox, but it had not enjoyed Catholic support
and was regarded as an Ontario project.
[1947: Canadian Council of
Christians and Jews]
In 1947 the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews was
founded with Richard D. Jones, a Methodist minister from New
Jersey, as director, and given an initial subsidy by the
Canadian Jewish Congress. It became financially
self-sufficient and developed on a national scale attracting
leaders of industry and finance.
Jews have made great strides in Canada, especially in
political life, government, civil service, and the arts.
Jewish painters, sculptors, musicians, novelists, poets, and
composers are among the leading talents of the country.
Jews are not in the upper echelons of the country's
chartered banks, although David David was one of the
founders of the Bank of Montreal in the early 19th century.
In heavy industry, too, Jews play a secondary role. They
have been prominent in textiles, clothing, motion picture
distribution, distilleries, and light industry.
Since World War II Jews have become prominent in the
academic field, an area where they previously had few
representatives. Maxwell *Cohen was dean of the School of
Law at McGill (col. 109)
University, and Samuel Friedman of Winnipeg became
chancellor of the University of Manitoba in 1959.
[Integration - and
discrimination from numerous social "clubs" by the
"Christians"]
Socially, Jews and Christians in Canada to an extent still
form separate societies, though there is a degree of mixing
at the margins. There are still numerous social clubs of
some prestige that do not admit Jews, but in some smaller
and middle-sized communities this barrier has been broken in
recent years. Also, in smaller communities the service and
luncheon clubs, e.g., Kiwanis and Rotary, are usually open
to Jewish members.
[Rabbis and the "Christian"
church]
Rabbis and clergymen have been concerned with an interfaith
dialogue. The Anglican Church in the early 1960s gave up its
mission to the Jews, and Reverend Roland de Corneille
devoted considerable effort to promoting understanding; in
1966 he wrote "Christians and Jews: Dialogue". On the other
hand, the consistently anti-Israel expressions of Reverend
A.C. Forrest, editor of the United Church Observer, organ of the
country's largest Protestant denomination, and the absence
of any clear disavowal by the church establishment have been
a serious obstacle to understanding, despite frank
discussions in the matter.> (col. 110)
[[The discrimination, expulsion and the extermination of the
natives is never mentioned in the Encyclopaedia Judaica]].
<CANADIAN JEWISH
CONGRESS,
national Canadian organization. It was founded in 1919 to
assist Eastern European Jewry. Its first president was Lyon
*Cohen; its secretary and architect was Hanane *Caiserman.
During the early days, the chief accomplishments of the
Congress were in giving a sense of unity to Canadian Jewry,
to centralize political action on behalf of European Jewry,
and (col. 113)
to establish the *Jewish Immigrant Aid Society. The Congress
was inactive from the mid-1920s until 1934, when it was
reorganized to cope with the growing effects of Nazi
propaganda. Within the next few years the Congress was
actively engaged in combating Nazism, centralizing fund
raising mainly to assist the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee, and settling refugees through its
Refugee Committee. It played a significant role in war
efforts. During this period the Congress became the accepted
representative organ of Canadian Jews and its acknowledged
official voice.
The Congress supports activities of a national, cultural,
and humanitarian nature for Canadian Jewry. It acts in
matters affecting the status, rights, and welfare of
Canadian Jewry, investigating and combating any
anti-Semitism. It conducts researches and publishes
periodicals, pamphlets, and other literature. The Congress
assists in efforts to improve the social, economic, and
cultural conditions of Jewry, and to mitigate their
sufferings throughout the world.
Not an organization per
se, the Congress is a representative body in which
all Canadian organizations participate. Its officers and
national council are chosen at a national assembly every
three years. Delegates are appointed or elected from
hundreds of organizations throughout the country -
educational institutions, social and national organizations,
philanthropic, labor, Zionist, and synagogue institutions -
and through elections of individuals. An executive committee
of about 75 is chosen by the officers and national council.
[[It seems non-Zionists are not mentioned or not present]].
Leading personalities in the Congress have included Samuel
*Jacobs, Nathan Gordon, Archibald *Freiman, William Sebag
Montefiore, Ferdinand Spielman, Moshe *Dickstein, Samuel
*Bronfman (president for 22 years), Michael *Garber, Harold
Lande, Benjamin Robinson, Archie *Bennett, Monroe Abbey, Sol
*Kanee, Lavy *Becker, and Saul *Hayes.
Bibliography
-- Congress Bulletin (1943- ), monthly
-- Program News (1953- ), 3-4 times a year
-- Canadian Jewish Archives (1955- )
-- Research Papers (1956- ).> (col. 114)
^
