In less than two months on the job for Noah Shack, the interim CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has had to speak out after someone shot at a Jewish girls' school in Toronto; decry a repeated arson attack on a Montreal-area synagogue; and oversee the response in Winnipeg after five swastikas were spray-painted on a community centre in a Jewish area during the final days of Hanukkah. But none of those moments marked his true national introduction, which came on Jan. 27, when he delivered a televised speech from Ottawa's Holocaust monument as part of the official ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Shack—who spent nearly 15 years working for CIJA in Ottawa and Toronto—has now risen to become the organization's public face, following the exit of Shimon Koffler Fogel, who managed Jewish government relations in the capital for approximately 40 years. Insiders have told The CJN that CIJA's board wanted a change of leadership ahead of an expected change in government in the coming federal election. Shack is also clear that CIJA is eager to combat anti-Israel policies, such as federal funding for the UN-backed Palestinian relief agency UNRWA—but insists CIJA isn't hitching its wagons to the Conservative party. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Shack sits down with host Ellin Bessner to explain why he took the job, why he's calling for unity among Canada's Jewish organizations, and why he hopes Jews soon won't need to think about fleeing Canada for their own safety. Related links

• Read more about Noah Shack’s Holocaust survivor relatives, the late Zalman and Pola Pila, of Toronto, in The CJN.
• Read Shimon Fogel’s outlook for the Jewish community, in The CJN archives.
• Watch Shimon Fogel’s final testimony to the Canadian Senate about antisemitism, on Dec. 2, 2024. sure how? Click here)

Monday Jan. 27 was a busy day for Canadian politicians pledging to remember the Holocaust, fight antisemitism, and, in some cases, stand by the embattled State of Israel. The historic day—80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz—also provided a convenient ramp for some early campaign pledges as the country heads into a federal election later this year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made one of his final international visits, to Poland to visit Auschwitz and attend the official commemoration ceremony, where he spoke with two Canadian survivors of that infamous death camp. Back in Canada, his minister of addictions and mental health, Ya’ara Saks, visited the Toronto Holocaust Museum to explain how $3.4 million federal dollars will go toward six organizations to combat Holocaust denial and antisemitism while a million more goes to UNESCO; in Ottawa, his minister of official languages, Rachel Bendayan, revealed the date of the forthcoming second national summit on antisemitism while speaking at Canada’s official national Holocaust monument. At the same event, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre attacked the Liberal record on protecting Canadian Jews and standing up for Israel. On this episode of The CJN Daily, you’ll hear all these voices and more—including Canadian survivors Howard Chandler and Miriam Ziegler, and U of T law student Pe’er Krut, who had a front row seat in Poland—part of a sweeping glance at what the monumental day sounded like across Canada and beyond.

Related links

• Learn more about the federal funding for Holocaust education and museums in Canada, announced on Jan. 27, in The CJN.
• Read Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's speech.
• Listen to Calgary’s Daniel Pelton’s launch of three new compositions of music inspired by “The Tattooist of Auschwitz:, and recorded using the Violins of Hope, once owned by Holocaust survivors, on The CJN’s Culturally Jewish podcast.

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)

Pinchas Gutter, 92, and Mariette Doduck, 89, were both children when they survived the Holocaust. But now something else unites them: when a government representative called them a few months ago to inform them they would be receiving the Order of Canada, both thought it was a prank call. Eventually, the two renowned speakers realized it was for real. They are among 88 Canadians recently named to the honour by the governor general. Gutter and Doduck’s families and friends, it turned out, had kept the four-year-long application process a secret. As the world gathers on Jan. 27 to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz—where Dodeck’s mother and two brothers were among the million Jews murdered—both survivors sit down with Ellin Bessner on The CJN Daily to explain what keeps them going, how Holocaust education has shifted post-Oct. 7, and how they hope to change the world for their great-grandchildren.

Related links

• Watch the ceremony live at 10 a.m. ET on Monday Jan. 27 from Auschwitz here.
• Learn about Toronto survivor Pinchas Gutter’s story in The CJN; interact with his hologram testimony done by the USC Shoah Foundation, which we covered in The CJN.
• Discover Mariette Doduck’s struggle as a Holocaust orphan after she arrived in Canada with three of her surviving siblings, and laterfounded the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, in The CJN. Her new book is called A Childhood Unspoken.

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)