Over the past 12 months, The CJN team has produced more than 700 podcast episodes, news stories, opinion pieces and foreign dispatches. The overwhelming theme has been the reverberation of Oct. 7: firebombed synagogues, gunshots at schools, anti-Zionist campus encampments, cancelled Jewish artists, a crackdown on Jewish charities—and more.

But we always make sure our coverage balances heartache and hope. Throughout the year, we've also reported on the powerful resurgence of Jewish pride and engagement in Canada's spiritual and communal life—increased numbers of Jewish conversions, secular artists embracing their Jewish identities, solidarity across political lines—which gives us a cause for optimism, even while tense conversations about the Israel-Hamas war continue dividing families, colleagues and civil society at large.

On today's episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner assembles a team of CJN reporters from across the country to weigh in on the most talked-about stories of the past year and predict what we might expect in 2025. You'll hear from news editor Lila Sarick; Quebec correspondent Joel Ceausu; Western Canada correspondent Sam Margolis in Victoria, B.C.; staff reporter Jonathan Rothman, who covers Toronto city hall and culture pieces; Local Journalism Initiative reporter Mitch Consky, whose beat is campus life and education; and the producer of this very podcast, Zachary Kauffman.

What we talked about:

• Read more about Indigo Books winning legal action to block the BDS movement’s effort to boycott the retailer, in The CJN.
• Hear the interviews with Anthony Housefather about his decision to stay in the Liberal Party, and also our interview with Ya’ara Saks on her choice to meet with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, both on The CJN Daily.
• Read more about Selina Robinson’s new tell-all book, in The CJN.

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)

Just in time for Hanukkah, comes a century-old-tale of a young Jewish boy’s courage to take on an adult’s responsibilities as chief light keeper in his Russian shtetl. It’s the true story of Ottawa’s Samuel Saslove, who stepped up to keep his community's brand new electric street lights working, at the tender age of ten. Saslove arrived in Canada in the 1920s and while he didn’t divulge much about his experiences growing up in “the old country”, his daughter, Sheila Baslaw, preserved those memories for decades. Now, at 92, Baslaw has found a whole new audience for her father’s inspiring tale of bravery and resilience. Her debut children’s book “The Light Keeper”, co-written with Karen Levine of “Hana’s Suitcase” fame, has just been published by Second Story Press and is already a Heather’s Pick at Indigo. While Baslaw’s father did have to overcome antisemitism–and the persecution of Jews in Czarist Russia that sparked mass emigration to this country in the 1900s–her book’s message deliberately highlights the universal challenges many of her young readers could face. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Sheila Baslaw joins along with her co-author to explain why it’s never too late to learn a new skill.

What we talked about:

• Learn more and buy 'The Light Keeper' book at Second Story Press.
• Read more about Hana’s Suitcase, the true story of the Brady family, on The CJN Daily.
• Hear more stories about the author’s family in her oral history with the Ottawa Jewish Archives from 2001.

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)

High drama continues in Ottawa, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces loud calls from his own MPs and opposition leaders to step down, following the surprising resignation of his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, from cabinet. Trudeau has so far withstood the criticism, shuffling his cabinet on Dec. 20—the same day that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh confirmed he would make a no-confidence vote as soon as Parliament resumes, on Jan. 27, sparking an election that the Liberals will almost certainly lose.

Amid the chaos, Jewish Canadians have been caught in the middle. Since Oct. 7, politicans' responses to the Israel-Hamas war—and the ensuring flood of violent antisemitic attacks on domestic soil—have sharply divided political parties and the public. As a result of the federal cabinet shuffle, the Montreal-area MP for Outremont, Rachel Bendayan, has been given two portfolios—official languages and associate minister for public security—and immediately revealed that she'd been tasked to convene a new national summit on antisemitism in the new year. But will the Liberal government even last that long?

As 2024 comes to a close, The CJN Daily called on its political panel to reflect on the tumultuous year that was—and kvell about their predictions from their last appearance on this program. They are David Birnbaum, former Liberal MNA for the Montreal riding of D’Arcy-McGee in the Quebec National Assembly; Emma Cunningham, the former NDP riding president in Pickering-Uxbridge who quit over antisemitism, and is now a school board trustee; and Stephen Adler, a Conservative insider and senior director at National Public Relations in Toronto.

What we talked about:

• Hear the political panel on The CJN Daily in 2023 to hear if their predictions came true.
• Ottawa is convening a second national antisemitism forum focused on policing and law enforcement, in The CJN.
• Why Canadians and Jews are turning their backs on the Liberals, on Bonjour Chai.

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)