Special guest Jacqui Vital will be in Calgary on Sept. 3 and in Edmonton on Aug. 29

by Regan Lipes

(AJNews) – This month, the Alberta Jewish community will be visited by a very special guest: Jacqui Vital, a woman of courage, perseverance, and above all, hope. Jacqui, the mother of Israeli-Canadian Adi Vital-Kaploun z”l, who was murdered at the hands of terrorists in Israel on October 7, 2023, has an inspirational message of hope to share with the community. “Adi was brave, always,” explained Jacqui during a phone interview with Alberta Jewish News. “She killed a terrorist, saving her children – like a lioness!”

Jacqui will be speaking on August 29 at Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton and at the Paperny Family JCC in Calgary on Wednesday September 3.

33-year-old Adi Vital-Kaploun OBM, is survived by her husband, parents, siblings, and two young sons. They all speak her name with tenderness and admiration. She leaves behind a legacy that the world cannot afford to ignore. “Every group I speak to is different,” offered Jacqui. “But I need to tell Adi’s story to keep her memory alive, and to let the world know that what happened on October 7 was unprovoked terrorism on innocent people.”

On the evening of October 6, Adi hosted Shabbat dinner at the home she shared with her husband and children on Kibbutz Holit within the Gaza Envelope. It was Simchat Torah, and there was no reason for anything but family and celebration. Even though Jacqui was far away visiting her sister in Ottawa, it still was a joyful time spent together: the last they would have before blood-thirsty criminal fear-mongers stormed the peaceful kibbutz mere hours after the family’s Shabbat candles had burned out.

Jacqui was scheduled to return to Israel on an October 8  flight that would never take off. She spent a beautiful Shabbat with her sister, her sister’s children, and grandchildren. “It was so lovely. There was so much laughter. I had never really been introduced to SnapChat before, and the children were taking pictures and turning them into funny faces. There was so much love and warmth at the table,” she recalled. “The next morning my phone was showing alerts and messages. We are seven hours behind them. I called my husband immediately. He was even afraid to talk in case one of the terrorists could hear him hiding in the saferoom.”

Jacqui, who made Aliyah in 1974, and never looked back, again desperately yearned to return to Israel, but this time for truly tragic reasons. “Two RCMP officers came to my sister’s home,” Jacqui explained. “Adi was a Canadian citizen. She spent her summers here, went to camp here, and had ties to Canada. While my father was alive, we could be here visiting every year, and even after that too.” Adi Vital-Kaploun by law was entitled to all the same protections, rights, and liberties as any Canadian, even residing abroad. Yet, aside from these two compassionate and dedicated RCMP officers, Jacqui Vital and her family were met by shockingly little assistance from Canadian officials.  “Melanie Joly called me while I was already out the door to catch a flight to Newark. She said she might be able to get me on a cargo plane to Athens, but that then I’d be on my own to make it to Israel. I said ‘thanks’ but I’ve already taken care of it myself. That’s the kind of lack of assistance we got,” she said with audible resentment.

Jacqui first visited Israel when she was sixteen with a group of other Conservative Jewish youth on a summer excursion. “I immediately felt at home and knew I wanted to make my life there.” Still, she graduated from the University of Toronto before making Aliyah, and always remained close to her family and friends in Canada. “When people in Israel would ask if I am American, I did always enjoy saying: ‘No! Canadian,’” she recalled, musing slightly. With the inhumane treatment the family endured, compounded by the Canadian government’s lack of action, Jacqui has been left with some sour feeling toward her country of birth.

“Very early on there was a rally here in Ottawa, and my nephew went to support Israel, the hostages, the victims, and their families. I didn’t go, because there was just so much going on. My nephew said to Justin Trudeau, ‘Adi is my cousin. She’s a Canadian citizen. What are you going to do for her?’ but Trudeau said nothing.” In the face of such loss and despair the former Prime Minister’s lack of human compassion read as cowardly to the family.

Jacqui, and a friend who was going to Israel to volunteer made their way to Newark. “We had to get from Newark to JFK,” she explained. “The RCMP had contacted NYPD and the local police escorted us from airport to airport. It’s all a blur though; knowing that Adi was gone, I was just focused on getting home, and I barely remember anything in between,” she said candidly. “My friend would delicately explain to people at counters, security, and check-ins so that I didn’t need to explain for myself.”

Funeral arrangements were made on a Friday before Shabbat. “The service was on Sunday, and I spent all of Friday evening texting people. I made a list of my religious friends and messaged them as soon as Shabbat ended on Saturday so that they would know.” There were approximately 1,500 people who attended the funeral. In fact, Jerusalem traffic was backed up for miles as mourners came to pay their respects to the young mother who heroically shot her assailant in order to save her children, only to have her own body desecrated by explosive boobytraps. Adi Vital-Kaploun had to be identified by her wedding ring according to Ari David Blaff’s article in The National Post (October 4, 2024). Adi was laid to rest in consecrated ground just outside of Jerusalem, just as she would have wanted. “Adi’s was one of the first funerals that took place, and so many people came to pay their respects,” remembers Jacqui soulfully.

The appalling treatment the family received from the Canadian government is no surprise sadly, as the new Liberal Prime Minister has decided to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state, seemingly condoning their leadership’s barbaric massacre of civilians on October 7.  Jacqui and her family do not plan to remain silent. A lawsuit was filed, and according to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Jacqui’s lawyer Jillian Siskind: “The government and its actors are not above the law. The Minister’s decision may be discretionary, but it is not immune from review by the Courts. We are grateful that, with this decision, the court reinforced the government’s accountability to every Canadian.”  The lawsuit sheds disheartening light on Canada’s 2024 renewal of UNWRA funding and its highly questionable allocations. On September 12, 2024, CIJA reported “The Honourable Madam Justice McVeigh rejected the Government’s arguments that the Minister of International Development’s decision was not reviewable by the courts or that the enabling statutes did not constrain his decision. This means that the application by Dikla Mizrachi, mother of Ben Mizrachi; Iris Liniado, daughter of Judih Weinstein Haggai; Jacqui Vital, mother of Adi Vital-Kaploun; Raquel Ohnona, mother of Alexandre Look; together with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) to have the March 8, 2024, decision by the Minister of International Development to resume UNRWA funding declared unreasonable will proceed before the Federal Court.”

Now Jacqui and her family must try to rebuild their lives post October 7. She is happy to report that Adi’s two sons, the younger of whom was still nursing at the time of her murder, are now thriving.  They remember Ima Adi and the elder son, Negev, treasures an album of photographs. They have no shortage of love from their father and their strong circle of friends and family. Adi’s memory is truly a blessing, and the community of Kibbutz Holit is eagerly awaiting the day that the family can return.

Jacqui, despite the trauma of having to bury a daughter, now speaks publicly about her loss so that nobody will forget what can happen when people turn a blind eye to hate and evil. She has spent many days over Summer 2025 speaking to young people at Jewish summer-camps, and is available to answer questions, even when they might be painful. “Adi was brilliant,” she said with conviction. “I see so much of her in Negev. He’s athletic and strong, just as she was.” Adi’s story will continue to be told by her family until the world and decision makers in power begin to see that a world in which antisemitism is left to fester, and breed is not a safe one for anybody: both Jews and non-Jews.

The Alberta Jewish community and allies of Israel are invited to gather for this unique opportunity to meet Jacqui Vital. She is a formidable warrior for Israel, and with voices like hers sharing stories like Adi’s there is hope and inspiration.

To register for the Shabbat Dinner at Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton on August 29 email info@e-bethshalom.org or call 780-488-6333, ext. 301. To register for Jacqui Vital’s presentation at the Paperny Family JCC in Calgary on September 3 click here. 

Regan Lipes is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.