Introducing the Canadian Jewish Community Forum

By Hal Joffe

(AJNews) – Please allow me to introduce you to the Canadian Jewish Community Forum. The CJCF is a recently formed national organization created as a space to discuss, and debate issues of interest and concern, both regional and national, that impact Canada and the Canadian Jewish community and to educate each other about those issues and develop advocacy for our community. Its goal is to promote participation in, engagement with, and a sense of ownership of the Jewish agenda in Canada by all members of the Canadian Jewish community. We aim to build a big tent democratic organization where Jewish Canadians of diverse views will have a space to raise and discuss the community’s important issues with each other.

The Steering Committee of CJCF, of which I am a member, was formed by a group of former Canadian Jewish Congress leaders from coast to coast as well as some new young community leadership. We are guided by the principle that the Canadian Jewish community should decide what issues are important for our community to discuss and pursue.

CJCF’s first major undertaking is to survey the Jewish community of Canada. The purpose of the survey is to go beyond assumptions of what issues or concerns are of key importance to individual members of the community. Rather, it is an attempt to take the pulse of Canadian Jews right now and ask you directly what your community priorities are. This will be an opportunity for as many Jews as we can canvass from across the country to share with us the issues that concern you most. The survey is designed to canvass a prioritization of the issues themselves rather than seek approval or disapproval of the means of addressing those issues.

The Survey is accessible either directly at www.research.net/r/CJCFSurvey or from the Survey page on CJCF’s website: canadian-jewish-community-forum.ca. The survey will be confidential. We will not be collecting any identifying information. At the end of the survey there will be an option for people to opt-in to our mailing list. We intend to make the survey results available to any Jewish organization that requests it.

The results of the survey will better inform us where to put our resources for programming and advocacy. Once we have the results of the survey, we plan to create forums and other opportunities for Canadian Jews across the country to engage with each other to discuss and explore topics that our community identifies as being important to us and the various ways we can approach those issues.

If we have learned anything from the pandemic it is that available technology allows us to engage with each other easily and productively regardless of where in the country we are. The CJCF’s forums will be a safe place for Jews to respectfully discuss and debate with each other, from our differing perspectives, issues of concern both regional, national and international that impact Canada, the Canadian Jewish community and Israel. Our goal is to truly be a democratic Forum for Canadian Jews. We hope that open, yet respectful, discussion of important communal issues will give all members of our community an opportunity to engage with the community- those who are currently engaged, those who are seeking a way to engage and especially those who, for whatever reason, have so far chosen not to engage or be involved in communal activities or have backed away from engagement and/or involvement.

It is vitally important that members of the Alberta Jewish community have and take the opportunity to express their priorities. We hope to include in the survey results the opinions of as many members of the Alberta Jewish community as possible. Please take the survey and ask your family, friends, and contacts to do so as well. Please help us open a new channel of communication and discussion amongst the members of the Alberta and greater Canadian Jewish community.

Beyond issues that are specific to our community we believe that we are committed, as Jews, to engage with other faith, Indigenous, racial, ethnic, and cultural communities to find common cause in matters of promoting civil discourse, tolerance, and mutual understanding and to fight against antisemitism, discrimination, racism and hatred in all their forms. Many important issues facing our society at large are viewed as being relevant to the Jewish Community. If we are to have a voice in the society we are creating together, we must discuss and address existing issues together with our fellow Canadians and, together, address new issues as they emerge.

CJCF is a wholly volunteer driven organization. Please ‘opt-in’ to our mailing list when you finish taking the survey. One of our goals is to further develop our volunteer base through the involvement of those who are interested in what we are doing.

For more information about the CJCF, who we are and more background on our initiative we invite you to look at our website: canadian-jewish-community-forum.ca and to contact us at thecjcf@gmail.com.