Jewish Immigrant Aid Society of Canada ( J. I. A. S.) was officially organized in Canada on March 19, l9l9 to administer Jewish immigration to Canada after World War I. The head office was in Montreal and branches in most Canadian cities, including Ottawa. In 1955, the national organization changed its name slightly to Jewish Immigrant Aid Services of Canada. It is a welfare organization which provides social services of housing, loans, and jobs for immigrants. The Ottawa branch was initially called the J. I. A. S. Committee of Ottawa and then JIAS-Ottawa Branch. It was formed during World War II. Miss Helen Abelson, a social worker with the Ottawa Hebrew Benevolent Society, was the secretary between 1945 and the early l960's. With the first Russian Jewish immigrant family arriving in Ottawa in January, l975, the JIAS-Ottawa Committee was formed in response to the new situation as a means of helping immigrants during the process of integration into the Jewish and general communities. Evelyn Lieff became chairman.
The Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth Le'Israel) began in 1901, and commenced in Canada in 1906 as a Zionist movement dedicated to redeeming land in Palestine. Its mission to redeem the land of Israel has been steadfast and unwavering, serving as trustee of that land for the Jewish people of the world. In 1948 the first Negev dinner was held in Montreal. The first Negev dinner in Ottawa was held in 1957 as a National Farewell for His Excellency Michael Saul Comay, first ambassador to Canada. Lawrence Freiman was chairman, and Sam Kizell Vice-Chairman. From 1964 onwards, Negev dinners were held in Ottawa on a regular basis. Traditionally, prominent members of the Ottawa community who have contributed to the development and strengthening of both Ottawa and the State of Israel are honoured at these dinners. Occasionally non-Jewish friends of Israel such as Hugh M. Grant and Bob Chiarelli are honoured. In 1990, the annual Negev Dinner was deferred by the JNF until the following year out of recognition of the importance of Operation Exodus by the Ottawa Jewish community. In September of 1990, the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin reported that JNF had embarked on building infrastructure and housing to accomodate Soviet immigrants.
The foundation for the Ottawa school was laid in 1925 with the help of the Montreal Folk Shule and its Director, Mr. S. Weisman. Classes were first held with 25 pupils in a hall on Rideau Street. They moved later to a store on Rideau and still later to larger quarters on York Street. The first teacher was Dr. M. H. Arnoni, followed by Mr and Mrs A. Endelman of Montreal. Additional teachers were Z. Lev and Frank Malamuth. The officers were Mr. Max Baylin, President, Daniel Green, Vice-President and Treasurer, S. Polisky, Secretary and A. Endelman, recording Secretary. Max Baylin and Daniel Green were also a founder for the Ottawa shule. Eventually there were five grades with approximately 100 pupils, both boys and girls. The school had a difficult time as it lacked financial support by the Jewish community. It was maintained by membership fees and the yearly campaign which was generously supported by the late Archibald Freiman, who personally admired the spirit of the people around it. Folk Shule supporters were supporters of the radical left of socialism who desired Yiddish instruction along with Hebrew. Classics were read, poems recited, choirs organized and plays presented. Financial difficulties weakened the Folk Shule. In 1935 or 1936 the Ottawa Talmud Torah Board assumed the institution’s assets and liabilities together with the services of Frank Malamuth.
The Jewish Philosophy & Ethics Study Group was formed in Ottawa in 1955 for the purpose of studying and sharing Jewish learning and experience in an outgoing way that related to life. Members came from divergent backgrounds and degrees of Jewish learning. Initially the study group was under the leadership of Rabbi Burstein. Later the group became more self-reliant. Membership evolved into a process of self selection. Members gave papers within certain guidelines. A social closeness developed among many members in the group. There was also a resolution of some personal conflicts about Jewishness and a greater social consciousness and participation of many in community and synagogue functions. Roz Dreskin instituted the group and remained the group’s leader throughout. Other long time members were Nate Dreskin, Inge and Al Hoffman, Eve Kassirer, Shier and Shirley Berman, Fenya Brodo, Ed and Miriam Zussman and others. On November 3, l996 the group had a farewell, closing supper to celebrate “the many good years we enjoyed together of stimulating programs and the creation of lasting friendships”.
The Jewish Stage Players began as the Ottawa Jewish Theatre Guild in 1949 with Michael J. Rubin, Bess Kardash, Muriel Schachtel and Harry Kershman as officers. Their aims were “to provide professional instruction and direction to the group as a whole. Tuition is provided by a professional teacher director so that all may benefit from the many phases of stage production”. Their first presentation was a workshop followed by three one act plays, Spring Song by Bella and Samuel Spewack and The family upstairs by Harry Delf.
The Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) was established on 16 June, 1947. After the war, thousands of survivors arrived in Canada in search of homes, education for their children and jobs. The returning servicemen, in turn, were also in need of employment as well. The first two years of its existence, it catered to these two groups. By 1949, it expanded its mandate to become a community-wide agency.
Max Enkin, the founder of the famous post-war "tailor scheme," became its first president and chairman of the board. Under this scheme, he and other members of his delegation were able to bring over 6000 survivors to Canada. Other members of the board included Lipa Green, Sydney Harris, Dr. Albert Rose and Louis Locksin. The executive director was Norman Stack. He served for a few years and was replaced by Milton Freidman in 1949. Freidman was a social worker who relocated to Toronto from Buffalo and spent close to 40 years in this position, retiring in 1985.
Its early mandate was to serve as a placement service for applicants and employers and to provide individual counselling services to its clients. Its office was situated above the original Tip Top Tailor building at 455 Spadina Avenue. It later moved its office to 152 Beverley Street and then in the 1960s to Tycos Drive. By the 1960s, JVS began to expand its services to all segments of society including newcomers, people with disabilities and from all sectors of life. The staff included social workers, psychologists, job counsellors and clerical staff.
During the 1980s, Bernie Berger became the new executive director. He served in that capacity until 1991. He was replaced by Ed Segalowitz. During this period, JVS set up a seniors' program called ATLAZ on the grounds of the Baycrest Home for the Aged. It was funded by the Bick family and was intended to create programs to keep seniors occupied. Today, this program is called the Al Green Resource Centre and provides employment, placement, training and volunteer opportunities to adults of all ages and with developmental disabilities. JVS also launched a youth program called Youthinc and a women's program.
Karen Goldenberg became executive director in 1998 and was replaced by Frank Markel in 2011 after her retirement. JVS has expanded its clientele, helping people from all backgrounds with diverse needs to identify their strengths and goals, develop skills, and achieve success in school, work and life. By 2009 it offered an expansive range of over 40 employment-related support programs and services throughout the Greater Toronto Area to thousands of unemployed and underemployed individuals and served 23,000 people.They operated out of 12 locations and have approximately 200 professionals on staff.
Kim Coulter became President and CEO in 2013.
Norman Jewison, Canada’s most distinguished and celebrated film director, was born in Toronto in 1926. He attended Kew Beach School, and while growing up in the 1930s displayed an aptitude for performing and theatre. He served in the Navy (1944–1945) during World War II, and after being discharged travelled in the American South, where he confronted segregation, an experience that would influence his later work.
Jewison attended Victoria College in the University of Toronto, graduating with a B.A. in 1949. As a student he was involved in writing, directing and acting in various theatrical productions, including the All-Varsity Revue in 1949. During the summer he worked as a waiter at the Banff Springs Hotel, as well as doing local theatre production. Following graduation he was determined to work in show business, preferably as an actor, and ventured to Hollywood and New York in search of opportunities.
Finding the employment prospects in the United States dim and the cost of economic survival high, Jewison came back to Toronto to drive a taxi for a living, but maintained his ambitions by acting and writing during the summer. After seeking Canadian television production work but finding it unavailable, he moved to London, England, where he worked sporadically as a script writer for a children’s show and bit part actor for the British Broadcasting Company, amid supporting himself with odd jobs. Out of work in Britain in late 1951, he accepted an offer to be a production trainee for CBC-TV in Toronto.
When CBC went on the air in the Fall of 1952, Jewison was an assistant director. During the next seven years he wrote, directed and produced a wide variety of musicals, comedy-variety shows, dramas and specials, including the “The Big Revue,” “Showtime” and “The Barris Beat.” In 1953 he married Margaret “Dixie” Dixon, a former model. They would have three children—Michael, Kevin and Jennifer—who would all pursue careers in the entertainment world, sometimes working on a Jewison film.
His reputation for high quality work was established, and in 1958 Jewison was recruited to work for CBS in New York, where his first assignment was “Your Hit Parade,” followed by “The Andy Williams Show.” The success of these shows led to directing specials featuring performers such as Harry Belafonte, Jackie Gleason, and Danny Kaye. The television production that proved pivotal to Jewison’s career was the Judy Garland “comeback” special that aired in 1961, which included Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and led to a weekly show that Jewison was later called in to direct. Visiting the studio during rehearsal for the special, actor Tony Curtis suggested to Jewison that he should direct a feature film.
Norman Jewison’s career as a film director began with the comedy “Forty Pounds Of Trouble” (1962), starring Curtis. The next three films he directed, including two with Doris Day, “The Thrill Of It All” (1963) and “Send Me No Flowers” (1964), were also light comedies done under contract for Universal Studios. After “The Art Of Love” (1965), Jewison was determined to escape from the genre and tackle more demanding projects. His breakthrough film proved to be “The Cincinnati Kid” (1965), a drama starring Steve McQueen, now considered one of the finest movies made about gambling. This triumph was followed in 1966 by the acclaimed satire on Cold War paranoia, “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” which was the first film Jewison also produced, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Continuing the string of successes was one of the films that have become closely identified with its director: “In The Heat Of the Night” (1967), a crime drama set in a racially divided Southern town and starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, while Jewison was nominated for Directing. As a follow-up he directed and produced another film with McQueen, using innovative multiple screen images in the crime caper “The Thomas Crown Affair.” From that point Jewison would produce all feature films he would direct, often with associate Patrick Palmer, and would also act as producer for films directed by others, beginning with his former film editor Hal Ashby’s “The Landlord” (1970).
After the completion of the period comedy “Gaily, Gaily” (1969), Jewison, having become disenchanted with the political climate in the United States, moved the family to England. At Pinewood Studios northwest of London, and on location in Yugoslavia, he worked on what would become one of the top grossing films of all time, the musical “Fiddler On the Roof” (1971, re-issued 1979), which would win two Oscars and be nominated for five others, including Best Picture and Directing.
Jewison’s next project was the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973), based on the record album produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. It was filmed in Israel, where Jewison also produced the western “Billy Two Hats” (1974), starring Gregory Peck. “Superstar,” controversial for its treatment of a sacred subject, was followed by another movie that sparked critical debate— this time the violence in “Rollerball” (1975), set in the near future where corporations ruled the world and entertainment centred around a deadly game. The next film he directed, the labor union drama “F.I.S.T.” (1978), also provided some turmoil, this time around the script adapted by star Sylvester Stallone.
In 1978 Jewison returned to Canada, settling in the Caledon area in Ontario, and establishing a farm that would produce prize winning cattle. Operating from a base in Toronto, as well as one maintained in California, he directed high profile actors Al Pacino in “…And Justice For All” (1979), and Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn in the romantic comedy “Best Friends,” as well as producing “The Dogs Of War” (1981) and “Iceman” (1984). During this period Jewison also acted as producer for the 53rd Annual Academy Awards (1981), which was slated to air the day President Ronald Reagan was shot, and had to be rescheduled.
Revisiting the theme of racial tension that had characterized “In The Heat Of The Night”, Jewison’s “A Soldier’s Story” (1984), based on a Pulitzer Prize winning play, was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. His subsequent film was also based on an acclaimed play. The provocative “Agnes Of God,” set in a Quebec convent, starred Jane Fonda, Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft; it received three Academy Award nominations.
Jewison’s next film proved to be one of the most popular romantic films ever made. “Moonstruck” (1987), starring Cher, was a box office hit that garnered three Academy Awards, including Cher as Best Actress. It also competed for the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as providing Jewison with his third nomination for Best Directing. During this period he became the force behind a project that had long been of interest: the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies was incorporated in 1986. Renamed the Canadian Film Centre, it began operations in 1988. As founder, Norman Jewison has continued his efforts for the Centre in many capacities.
For the next decade Jewison continued to direct feature films released by major studios: “In Country” (1989), a drama concerned with Viet Nam veterans and the daughter of a war casualty; “Other People’s Money” (1991), a social comedy about greed in the 1980s; “Only You” (1994) a romantic comedy set in Italy; and Bogus (1996) a fantasy about a young boy and his imaginary friend. He also served as producer for the film “January Man” (1989), and executive producer for the Canadian movie “Dance Me Outside,” and branched back into television both as a director and producer, including the series “The Rez.”
“The Hurricane” (1999) was Jewison’s third film to explore the effects of racism, telling the story of boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who had been falsely convicted for a triple murder in New Jersey during the mid-sixties. Denzel Washington was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Carter. In 1999 Jewison’s work was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when he was bestowed with the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award for lifetime achievement.
The Thalberg award was one of many honours Jewison has been awarded, including Honorary Degrees from Trent, Western Ontario and the University of Toronto, and being made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1992. In addition, he has received numerous tributes at Canadian and international film festivals and retrospectives, and been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame. A park in downtown Toronto was named after him in 2001.
Norman Jewison has continued directing and producing; his latest film to be released was the thriller “The Statement” (2003), based on a novel by Brian Moore, and starring Michael Caine. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, as well as his sustained support, he was installed as Chancellor of Victoria University in 2004. That same year his autobiography “This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me” was published, expressing the enthusiasm, conviction and creative passion that have sustained a rewarding career.
Norman Jewison died in Los Angeles in 2024.
Thomas J. Jewitt (1876-1972) was a Presbyterian/United Church minister in Ontario. Born in Chinguacousy Township, he attended Queen's University, graduating in arts in 1906 and from the Theological College in 1909. He was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in 1909, and served a number of charges in Ontario. He retired in 1944 to Brampton, Ontario.
J.J. Taylor and Sons Ltd. was a Toronto, Ontario-based boat manufacturing company known for making yachts, cruisers, speedboats and sailboats under the trade name of Taylorcraft.
The company was begun in 1922 by James J. Taylor (1872-1945), who entered into partnership with his sons John and William. The firm was incorporated in 1942. During World War Two, the company manufactured patrol boats and mine- sweepers, but it was best known for the peacetime manufacturing of its Taylorcraft line of pleasure boats. The company changed ownership in 1972, and was finally dissolved in 1980.
J.J. turner and Sons was a commercial sign distributor operating in Peterborough, Ontario.
Cyril Joad was born on August 12, 1891, in Durham County, England. He was a philosopher, author, teacher, and radio host. Joad was a pacifist who conscientiously objected to the First World War. He worked at the Board of Trade and Ministry of Labour for sixteen years before taking up the position of Philosophy and Psychology Department Head at Birkbeck College, starting in 1930. Joad is also remembered for his part in the "BBC Brains Trust" program from 1941 to 1947. He died on April 9, 1953, in London, England.
Elgie Ellingham Miller Joblin (1909-1993) was a United Church minister and teacher. He studied at Emmanuel College and the University of Toronto. His M.A. thesis was entitled, "The Education of the Indians of Western Ontario." He was ordained as a United Church minister in 1936 and taught and supervised the aboriginal residential school at Muncey, Ontario from 1946 to 1957. He was the Assistant and then Associate Secretary for Home Missions from 1957 to 1971.
Elgie Ellingham Miller Joblin was born in 1909 in Toronto. He studied at Victoria College, Emmanuel College, and the University of Toronto (M.A.). Ordained as a United Church minister in 1936, he served Indian charges in Ontario as a student and minister (South Caradoc, 1936 1944). He taught and supervised the Indian school at Muncey, Ontario, 1946 1957. He was Assistant and later Associate Secretary for Home Missions, 1957 1971. He served at Coboconk, Ontario, until his retirement.
Leonard Wilfred Jodoin (1914-1991) was an amateur photographer who came to live in the Ottawa area in 1962. A veteran of the 2nd World War, he remained in the Canadian army until the late 1960's, after which he worked for the Beach Foundry (manufacturers of electric and gas ranges, furnaces and water heaters) located at 75 Spencer Street.
The Joe Boyle Repatriation Committee was a committee of the Oxford Historical Society in Woodstock, Ontario. The Committee became involved in 1981 when the Oxford Historical Society agreed to the task of returning his body from England to Canada after a plea from Flora Boyle, the 89 year-old last heir of Joe Boyle. The Dept. of National Defence transported his body to Canada on service aircraft in 1983. Joe Boyle (1867-1923) was an adventurer whose expeditions included gold mining in the Klondike and rescuing the Romanian national treasure during the First World War. From Southern Ontario, Boyle ran away to sea as a teenager, returned a few years later, married, had a family and ran a successful business in the United States until the Klondike gold rush. In 1897 he packed up and headed for the Yukon, after a brief interval as a manager for a heavy-weight prize fighter. He remained in the Yukon until 1914, building up a very profitable gold mining enterprise. When the First World War broke out Boyle could not enlist in the Canadian Army because he was too old, but he organized and financed the Boyle Yukon Machine Gun Detachment, which served in France under British command. Boyle did go to Europe and became an honourary Lieutenant-Colonel. He helped to organize Russia's food distribution system and tried to save the Tsar, and subsequently helped to defend Romania from the Central Powers. He received medals from Britain, France, Russia and Romania for his efforts during the war, and afterwards was a friend of Queen Marie of Romania and King George V of Britain. He died in England in 1923. His remains were repatriated to Canada and buried in the family plot in Woodstock, Ontario in 1983.
Not much biographical information can be found on Fritz Johansen. He was a zoologist and a naturalist on the Danish Expedition to Greenland from 1906-1908 under L. Mylius. He was then employed by the Department of Naval Services as an oceanologist on the Canadian Artic Expedition of 1913. He served with the southern party of scientists on the Expedition from 1913 to 1916. In the 1920's, he was employed by the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries to undertake marine surveys off Labrador and Hudson Bay. He published a Description of the Country and Vegetation at Port Churchill, Manitoba in 1933. He would later move back to Denmark, where he died in 1957.