May 30, 2011: Mayor did the right thing by withdrawing Whitton proposal

By Michael Regenstreif

Mayor Jim Watson did the right thing on May 8 when he withdrew his proposal that Ottawa’s new archives and library building be named in honour of Charlotte Whitton.

The proposal had been approved by the city’s Finance and Economic Development Committee on May 3 following six presentations by individuals and organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Friends of the City of Ottawa Archives, who were opposed to Whitton being honoured with the naming of the building. There were no presentations from citizens or organizations in support of the Whitton proposal.

While Watson wanted to honour Whitton’s place in history as Ottawa’s first female mayor – in fact, the first female mayor of a major Canadian city – the Jewish community was opposed to honouring her because of the major role she played, years earlier, in ensuring that Jewish orphans not find refuge in Canada during the Holocaust, thus sealing the fate of hundreds of Jewish children at the hands of the Nazis.

Despite the objections, the committee voted 8-1 to approve the proposal. Only Councillor Keith Egli stood against it.

“Our job is to listen to our constituents,” said Egli. “With the Jewish, French Canadian and historical communities all opposed [to naming the building for Whitton], I must vote against.”

The measure was to go to the full city council for ratification, but didn’t when the mayor withdrew his proposal following the online and media brouhaha that erupted as a result of news coverage of the committee vote. Emails from many in the Jewish community and beyond to the mayor and city councillors, an online petition, op-ed pieces and letters-to-the-editor in the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun, all helped convince the mayor that withdrawing the proposal would be the best course of action.

“These kinds of commemorative namings should be positive occasions that bring the community together. Instead, this suggestion, which was mine, and mine alone, was creating disunity in parts of the city, and as mayor, I felt it my obligation not to allow the matter to continue to divide,” wrote Watson in his memo to city councillors advising them he was withdrawing the proposal.

In withdrawing the Whitton proposal, the mayor, like Egli, listened to his constituents.

The May 8 revocation of the proposal, and the new plan for a proper consultative process before a new name proposal for the building next comes before council, was the best possible outcome for the Whitton-naming controversy. But, it did mean that my editor’s column in the May 16 issue of the Bulletin – which called for the building not to be named for Whitton – was out-of-date three days before anyone read it. Such things occasionally happen with publications that have a lengthy lead time.

The column was written on May 5 and we went to press on May 6. Copies of the May 16 Bulletin were first available for sale on May 11 (and arrived in most mail subscribers’ homes on May 12 and 13).

My plan, of course, was for the mayor to read my column, agree with my logic, and then retract the proposal. That’s not the way it worked out. But, all’s well that ends well.

openOttawa

On May 18, I attended the first follow-up session to April’s openOttawa symposium, an ongoing initiative aimed at engaging Ottawa’s young Jewish adults with the community and providing assistance to 20- to 35-year-olds in their quest to express themselves Jewishly in ways that are relevant to them. We’ll have a full report on the session from reporter Jacqueline Shabsove in the June 13 issue of the Bulletin.

While the openOttawa discussion was fascinating, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how similar the discussion was – minus, perhaps, the Facebook, Twitter and website references – to discussions I was party to in Montreal during the 1970s and ‘80s when I was in that age group. And mine was hardly the first generation to have that discussion.

It is up to every generation to find ways of engagement that are relevant to them and it’s also up to the preceding generations to help them in their quest and to make room in the open tent for those new ways of engagement.

May 16, 2011: Charlotte Whitton’s name should not be on new archives and library building

 By Michael Regenstreif

Since moving to Ottawa in 2007 to work at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I’ve met Mayor Jim Watson on a number of occasions – first, in his earlier role as an Ontario cabinet minister and MPP and, more recently, as a candidate for the mayoralty and as mayor.

He has always struck me as a friendly and very astute politician. He has always been well-briefed and understanding of issues of concern when I’ve seen him talk to Jewish groups, and he has proven himself to be a friend of Ottawa’s Jewish community. He even says nice things about the Bulletin.

That’s why it’s hard to fathom why Watson is pushing so hard to have the City of Ottawa’s new archives and library building named in honour of Charlotte Whitton.

What is to be gained by honouring Whitton now – some 36 years after her death?

Yes, she made history by being the first woman to be mayor of Ottawa. But that notable achievement looks small in comparison to her ensuring that 500 Jewish refugee orphans ended up in Auschwitz instead of Canada during the Holocaust, to her efforts in helping to ensure that Canada not be a haven for Jews seeking to escape the Nazis.

Whitton’s role in that shameful of chapter of Canadian history is well documented in None Is Too Many by Irving Abella and Harold Troper, and in Open Your Hearts: The Story of the Jewish War Orphans in Canada by Fraidie Martz. (The Jewish war orphans that Martz wrote about were only allowed into Canada beginning in 1947.)

Whitton was deeply antisemitic. She also hated French Canadians, Armenians, Ukrainians … the list goes on.

I attended the committee meeting at City Hall on May 3 (see my news report on page 4) when the mayor’s recommendation to name the building for Whitton was given preliminary approval. There were six presentations – including representations from the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and Canadian Jewish Congress – that argued compellingly against honouring Whitton. Not one citizen or organization came forward in her favour.

And, yet, with the notable exception of Councillor Keith Egli, the mayor and the rest of the councillors on the committee voted in favour of naming the building for Whitton.

To be blunt, I was appalled at some of the things I heard the councillors say in their discussion. Councillor Marianne Wilkinson said she didn’t consider Whitton’s antisemitism or her actions to be a “civic issue.” Councillor Doug Thompson reduced Whitton’s actions during the Holocaust to the level of “comments.” Councillor Diane Deans suggested we had to recognize the time Whitton was living in.

The fact is Whitton was not just a product of her time – she was one of the leaders who shaped that time, who ensured that “none is too many.”

Surely, in today’s multicultural Ottawa, there are many better examples of persons deserving of honour than Charlotte Whitton.

Thanks Deanna

You may have noticed that Deanna Silverman’s Kid Lit column – a regular feature in almost every issue of the Bulletin over the past 20 years – has been missing from several issues of late. Unfortunately, Deanna has been having some health issues and has now decided to retire from writing the column.

I would like to thank Deanna for her contributions to the Bulletin over so many years. So many Jewish kids in Ottawa have had their childhoods enriched thanks to the hundreds of books she’s reviewed and recommended over the past two decades.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with her.

April 25, 2011: Commemorations and celebrations – A busy time of the Jewish year

By Michael Regenstreif

This is one of those particularly busy times of the Jewish year.

I’m writing this column just before we celebrate Passover. By the time you read it, the seder nights will have passed. Although the issue is dated April 25 in keeping with our official Monday publication dates, we have timed the production of this issue so that we go to press before Passover and so that the newspaper will arrive – if Canada Post cooperates – in Ottawa subscribers’ homes on April 21, the first of the intermediate days.

Less than a week after the end of Passover, we’ll gather, Sunday, May 1, 7:00 pm, at the Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building, for Ottawa’s Yom HaShoah Commemoration featuring keynote speaker Ada Wynston, a child survivor of the Holocaust whose many years of dedication to Christian-Jewish dialogue, and for recognition of the Righteous Among the Nations, led Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands to honour her with knighthood.

On Sunday, May 8, 7:30 pm, Yom Hazikaron, the memorial day for Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, will be marked at the Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building.

The solemnity of Yom HaShoah and Yom Hazikaron give way to the celebrations of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day.

Although Yom Ha’Atzmaut actually falls on May 9 this year, Ottawa’s major Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration will be at Lansdowne Park’s Aberdeen Pavilion on Tuesday, May 10, beginning at 5:00 pm and continuing through the evening with activities for all ages.

Goldstone and Dylan

Speaking of Israel, a major conclusion of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, known as the Goldstone Report, that Israel committed war crimes by targeting civilians during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, has now been disavowed by none other than Richard Goldstone, the retired South African judge who chaired the UN fact-finding mission.

“If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document,” Goldstone wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on April 1.

Goldstone now says the evidence shows that Israel did not target civilians during the conflict.

The Goldstone Report has been a major factor in the delegitimization campaign against Israel since its release in September 2009. Goldstone, who is Jewish, became a hero to the anti-Zionist hard left. No more. Anti-Zionist activists have turned on Goldstone as quickly as they embraced him.

Another current target of anti-Zionists is legendary folk-rock singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Dylan has announced that he’ll return to Israel on June 20 to perform a concert at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv. This despite the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign applying heavy pressure on artists not to appear in Israel.

Actually, Dylan has been a target of anti-Zionists at least since releasing “Neighborhood Bully,” his 1983 allegorical song about Israel and the Jewish people that left no doubt as to where he stood.

April 11, 2011: The Passover legend continues to inspire movements for freedom

By Michael Regenstreif

Welcome to “the Passover edition” of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – the issue that precedes the first seder which falls, this year, on April 18. We’ve included several Passover features and a couple of our columnists focus on Passover themes.

One of the Passover features is a very interesting piece on page 17 by Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Rabbi Phyllis Berman, both of whom are well-known leaders of the Jewish Renewal movement. One thing they point out is that the universal lesson of the Passover legend, of rising up and overcoming slavery, has not only resonated with Jews these past 3,000 years, it has also inspired other religions and secular liberation movements.

When I was a 10-year-old in 1964 watching the modern American Civil Rights Movement’s Freedom Summer unfold every night on the news, I quickly understood what it was all about because I heard leaders like Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. speak about, and take inspiration from, the same lessons I had learned in Torah study at my Jewish day school, and around the seder table every Passover.

It’s not at all surprising to me that the Passover legend is now providing inspiration to people who have been rising up this year against some of the brutal Arab dictators, who are being referred to as modern-day pharaohs.

And, perhaps, it should come as no surprise that some of those dictators, like Syria’s Bashar Assad, are saying that the protesters are being duped by Israel.

Three thousand years after the Exodus in the Passover legend, we still live in a world where modern-day pharaohs dominate many countries, where true freedom remains a dream for billions of people, and where millions still live in actual slavery. The journey begun by Moses continues.

Federal election

I’m writing this column during the first week of the official campaign leading to the federal election on Monday, May 2. (The unofficial campaign, of course, has been on for months.)

During the week of April 11, the Communications and Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa will hold roundtable discussions with Ottawa-area candidates from the Conservative, Liberal and New Democratic Parties on issues of concern to the Jewish community. I will be reporting on those meetings in our April 25 issue.

Bulletin columnist Alan Echenberg notes below that the Montreal riding of Mount Royal is one of 10 “very ethnic” ridings across Canada that the Conservatives are looking to capture in this election. While Asian and South Asian communities dominate most of the other “very ethnic” ridings, it is the Jewish community that makes up more than a third of the population in Mount Royal.

The Harper Tories are banking on their solid support for the State of Israel and against antisemitism over the past five years to deliver the Jewish vote in Mount Royal – and in other ridings with identifiable Jewish populations.

I live in Ottawa West-Nepean and recently received a targeted mailing from John Baird drawing my attention to the Conservative record on Israel and antisemitism.

Alan raises the question of whether the Conservatives will win enough Jewish votes to take Mount Royal on May 2. Frankly, I’ll be shocked if they do, despite their having recruited former Montreal city councillor Saulie Zajdel, a well-known member of the Chabad Lubavitch community, as the Tory candidate.

The Liberal incumbent in Mount Royal is Irwin Cotler, a legendary law professor and international human rights lawyer, a former president of Canadian Jewish Congress and a former justice minister of Canada. There is probably no parliamentarian in the entire Diaspora with a stronger record on Israel and antisemitism than Cotler.

Happy Passover

On behalf of everyone at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I extend our best wishes to all for a joyous and happy Passover. Chag Sameach.