Editing Canadian Jewish Congress (section)

==History==
===Founding and early history===
[[File:1943–44 Jewish calendar for the Canadian Armed Forces.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Jewish calendar]] for the [[Canadian Armed Forces]] in World War II, published by the Canadian Jewish Congress]]
The immediate predecessor to the CJC was formed in 1915 by the Montreal chapter of [[Poalei Zion]], a [[working class]] [[Labor Zionism|Labour Zionist]] organization. They were soon joined by thirteen other organizations, mostly other chapters of Poalei Zion and the [[Workmen's Circle|Arbeiter Ring]], in forming the Canadian Jewish Alliance. The organization, composed of elected officials, set out to represent all of Canadian Jewry on its major political, national and international affairs. It also aimed to respond to problems arising from the [[First World War]], specifically the [[Antisemitism in Europe|oppression of Jews]] overseas, the immigration of [[Expulsions and exoduses of Jews|Jewish refugees]], and Britain's [[Balfour declaration|promises]] to create a [[Jewish state]].<ref name=juifsdici>{{cite web|title=Canadian Jewish Congress|website=Juifs d'ici|url=http://www.juifsdici.ca/en/canadian-jewish-congress/|year=2017|access-date=14 November 2018}}</ref><ref name=discredit>{{cite book|title=Social Discredit: Anti-Semitism, Social Credit, and the Jewish Response|first=Janine|last=Stingel|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2000|jstor=j.ctt809xh|isbn=9780773520103}}</ref>

In 1919, over 25,000 Jews from across Canada voted for delegates to the first convention of the CJC held in [[Montreal]] that March.<ref name=EJ>{{cite EJ|title=Canadian Jewish Congress|first=Irving|last=Abella|author-link=Irving Abella|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/canadian-jewish-congress}}</ref> Groups including the [[Zionist Organization of Canada|Canadian Federation of Zionist Societies]], [[Poalei Zion]], [[Mizrachi (religious Zionism)|Mizrachi]], and the [[Arbeiter Ring]] were present at the convention. While there, they were addressed by the [[Canadian Solicitor General|Solicitor General of Canada]], and were entertained at [[Montreal City Hall]], where a large [[Zionism|Zionist]] flag was draped over the Mayor's chair. The main decision at that meeting was the founding of the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society to assist Jewish settlers and refugees in Canada. They also passed motions expressing the Jewish community's loyalty to Canada and others declaring their support for the [[Balfour Declaration]]. The convention elected [[Lyon Cohen]], former President of the Montreal Clothing Manufacturers Union, as their President.

Despite this auspicious start, the CJC fell into abeyance and was inactive until 1934, due to lack of leadership and funding.{{r|discredit}} With the rise in [[anti-Semitism|antisemitism]] and restricted immigration policies in the 1930s, the CJC re-convened in 1934 and held the Congress' second plenum in [[Toronto]] in January. Cohen's friend and close colleague, [[Samuel William Jacobs]], a prominent Jewish leader and [[Member of Parliament]], became the revived Congress' first president.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shuchat|first=Wilfred|author-link=Wilfred Shuchat|year=2000|url=https://archive.org/details/gateofheavenstor0000shuc|url-access=registration|quote=Jacobs Congress.|title=The Gate of Heaven: The Story of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim of Montreal|page=[https://archive.org/details/gateofheavenstor0000shuc/page/114 114]|publisher=McGill-Queens University Press|isbn=978-0773520899}}</ref>

In 1938, the Canadian Jewish Congress partnered with [[B'nai Brith Canada]] to create the Joint Public Relations Committee, with the goal of developing a strategy to combat discrimination and find allies within other [[minority group]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Walker|first=James W. S. G.|title=The 'Jewish Phase' in the Movement for Racial Equality in Canada|journal=Canadian Ethnic Studies|volume=34|number=1|year=2002|pages=1–29|url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9002218}}</ref>

===Post–World War II===
[[File:News. Canadian Jewish Congress - Meeting at His Majesty's Theatre BAnQ P48S1P13832.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Meeting of the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1946]]
The CJC was active before and during [[World War II]] in lobbying the government (with limited success) to open the borders to Jewish refugees fleeing Europe.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Goldberg|first=Adara|title=Canada and the Holocaust| encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|publisher=Historica Canada|date=6 May 2016|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/holocaust|access-date=16 November 2018}}</ref> After the war, over 1,100 [[Sh'erit ha-Pletah|child Holocaust survivors]] immigrated to Canada in the War Orphans Project, a refugee resettlement program administered by the CJC.<ref>{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Fraiman|date=28 March 2018|url=http://www.cjnews.com/perspectives/features/the-story-of-1123-orphans-who-came-to-canada-after-the-holocaust|title=A fresh start: The story of Canada's postwar Jewish orphans|newspaper=[[The Canadian Jewish News]]}}</ref> The CJC also organized relief aid for [[the Holocaust|Holocaust]] survivors who were being detained in [[Displaced Person]]s camps. Along with the efforts of Senator [[Arthur Roebuck]] and Rabbi [[Avraham Aharon Price]], the CJC helped obtain the release of young, Jewish refugees from internment camps, bringing them to study in Toronto.

The Congress' dominant figure from 1939 to 1962 was its president, [[Samuel Bronfman]] who was elected president following Jacobs' death in 1938. During the [[Cold War]] at Bronfman's urging, the CJC expelled the [[United Jewish People's Order]] and other [[Jewish Bolshevism|communist Jewish]] organizations in 1951. At the time, the UJPO was one of the largest Jewish fraternal organizations in Canada. It would not be readmitted to the CJC until 1995.<ref name = "Ester2">{{cite conference |first1=Ester|last1=Reiter|first2=Roz|last2=Usiskin|url=http://www.vcn.bc.ca/outlook/library/articles/jewsontheleft/p05Forum1.htm|title=Jewish Dissent in Canada: The United Jewish People's Order|conference=Forum on Jewish Dissent|publisher=Association of Canadian Jewish Studies|location=Winnipeg|date=30 May 2004}}</ref>

In 1967, the CJC gifted approximately 7,000 volumes of rare [[Judaica]] to the [[Library and Archives Canada|National Library]] on behalf of the Canadian Jewish community in honour of the [[Canadian Centennial]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thediscoverblog.com/tag/canadian-jewish-congress/|website=Library and Archives Canada Blog|title=From the Lowy Room: commemorating a centennial gift|date=19 September 2017|first=Michael|last=Kent|publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]}}</ref>

One of the initiatives sponsored by the CJC was the International Jewish Correspondence, founded in 1978, whose goal was to link Jews around the world as [[pen-pal]]s.<ref>{{cite news|last=Struthers|first=Gord|date=13 September 1986|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O0VgAAAAIBAJ&pg=1087,3384572&dq=barry+simon+pen+pals&hl=en|title=Pen-pal service connects thousands around world|newspaper=[[Star-Phoenix]]|access-date=14 May 2012}}</ref> With the rise of the internet in the 1990s, IJC became less active and had folded by 2002. The organization also provided addresses for Jews living in Arab and Soviet Bloc countries as well as Jewish prisoners who were put in contact with others in the same situation. Jewish people from nearly 20 countries participated in the initiative, including those with declining Jewish populations such as [[Estonia]], [[Morocco]] and [[Zimbabwe]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Davis|first=James|date=9 January 1987|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-01-09/features/8701020647_1_pen-pals-american-jewish-congress-simon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002045844/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-01-09/features/8701020647_1_pen-pals-american-jewish-congress-simon|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 2, 2013|title=Canadian Teacher Brings Jewish Pen Pals Together|newspaper=[[South Florida Sun-Sentinel]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite archive|publisher=The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network|collection-url=http://www.cjhn.ca/permalink/86|collection=International Jewish Correspondence|institution=Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives|fonds=I0084|access-date=14 May 2012}}</ref>

===Later history and disbandment===
In its later decades, the CJC launched campaigns to pressure the [[Soviet Union]] to allow [[Refusenik|Jewish emigration]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jewishtoronto.com/wendyspeech|date=May 2015|first=Wendy R.|last=Eisen|title=Canadian Soviet Jewry Movement|website=UJA Federation of Greater Toronto|access-date=16 November 2018}}</ref> to pressure the Canadian government to prosecute [[Nazism|Nazi]] war criminals who had settled in Canada, and to enact and use [[hate crime]]s legislation against antisemites and [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust deniers]] such as [[Ernst Zündel]]. The CJC actively opposed [[Quebec separatism]] in the 1990s and formed a national coalition of Canada's [[Italian Canadians|Italian]], [[Greek Canadians|Greek]] and [[History of the Jews in Canada|Jewish]] communities during the debate on the [[Charlottetown Accord]].<ref name=globeandmail>{{cite news|last=Sallot|first=Jeff|title=New president wants CJC to be more active: Winner of bitter leadership race is convinced fences will be mended soon|newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|date=17 May 1995|issn=0319-0714|page=A4|id={{ProQuest|1143983045}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=CJC to maintain role in boosting Canadian unity|date=15 February 1996|newspaper=[[The Canadian Jewish News]]|page=22|issn=0008-3941|language=en|volume=36|issue=41|location=Victoria|id={{ProQuest|351423336}}}}</ref> The CJC also worked to promote tolerance and understanding between religious and ethnic groups, promote anti-racist work and other campaigns.

The CJC introduced significant changes to its internal organization in June 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/June07/archives07June22-01.html|first=Freeman|last=Poritz|title=Plenary brings change|newspaper=Jewish Independent|date=22 June 2007|access-date=4 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928162054/http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/June07/archives07June22-01.html|archive-date=28 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>  The previous system of electing representatives to the Board of Directors was discarded, and a new system was introduced wherein Board members were chosen by indirect elections from "regional Congress representatives" and "delegates from Jewish federations." Congress CEO [[Bernie Farber]] supported the change, arguing it would streamline a complicated process.<ref>{{cite news|first=Paul|last=Lungen|title=Congress prepares to elect new president|newspaper=[[The Canadian Jewish News]]|date=16 April 2007}}</ref>  Others argued that the new system would give disproportionate power to the [[Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy]]. One individual, described by ''[[The Canadian Jewish News]]'' as a "close observer of Congress", argued that CIJA was "stacking the deck" in a bid to take over the CJC.<ref>{{cite news|first=Paul|last=Lungen|title=Congress headed for joint presidency|newspaper=[[The Canadian Jewish News]]|date=21 June 2007}}</ref>

In 2011, the renamed [[Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs]] (CIJA) assumed the functions of the CJC after an 18-month restructuring process in which the functions of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the [[Canada-Israel Committee]], the Quebec-Israel Committee, National Jewish Campus Life and the University Outreach Committee were consolidated, a move that left the Jewish community divided.<ref name=restructure>{{cite news|title=Canada's restructured Jewish advocacy agency gets name|url=http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/08/23/3089089/canadas-restructured-jewish-advocacy-agency-gets-name|access-date=23 August 2011|newspaper=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=23 August 2011|archive-date=29 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929094229/http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/08/23/3089089/canadas-restructured-jewish-advocacy-agency-gets-name|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Canadian Jewish Congress has been replaced by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs|first=Kenneth|last=Kidd|date=30 August 2011|newspaper=[[The Toronto Star]]|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/08/30/the_canadian_jewish_congress_has_been_replaced_by_the_centre_for_israel_and_jewish_affairs.html}}</ref> On 1 July 2011 the CJC posted a message on its website declaring that it had halted its activities and that its functions would be assumed by CIJA.<ref name=levy>{{cite news|last=Levy-Ajzenkopf|first=Andy|title=Congress era over as CIJA reboot start|url=http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21927&Itemid=86|access-date=24 August 2011|newspaper=[[The Canadian Jewish News]]|date=25 August 2011}}</ref>