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For about a dozen years, the City of Toronto has displayed Israel’s flag each spring on a ceremonial courtesy pole to mark the Jewish State’s Independence Day. The annual event drew little attention—until the Oct. 7 war reshaped the context and protests have spilled onto local streets ever since. Last fall, a Jewish advocacy group sought to block what would have been the first Palestinian flag raising at Toronto City Hall. The court challenge failed. But the escalating tensions prompted Toronto City Council, including Mayor Olivia Chow, to vote on March 26 to end all foreign flag raisings as of Dec. 1, in hopes of “lowering the temperature.” Chow had previously called the Israeli flag ceremony “divisive.” Toronto now joins other municipalities stepping back from the practice, including Calgary and Mississauga, where a sudden ban adopted on Passover cancelled the planned Israeli flag raising there this week. On this episode of The CJN’s North Star, host Ellin Bessner went to what may be Toronto’s final Israel flag ceremony—one marked by defiance and sadness, and a surprising absence because for the first time in two years there were no protesters. Related stories Opinion: Are Israeli flag raising in Canada good or bad for the Jewish community, on The CJN’s Not In Heaven podcast. Tensions over Palestinian flag raising last November at Toronto City Hall, in The CJN . Check out the list of flags raised at the City of Toronto courtesy flagpole in 2026. Israel was the last one, so far. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

On Israel’s 78th birthday, Israelis are marking that moment during a very different reality—two years after the October 7 attack, and in the wake of a ceasefire from a widening regional conflict that includes the U.S., Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 1948, the founders declared Israel’s independence with a manually typed paper invitation to a secret, hurried ceremony in a secure basement, with a sense of both triumph and fear. Modern Israel has a powerful army, but the country continues to sacrifice its young defenders, while Israelis have spent countless hours in recent months sheltering in their secure basements and safe rooms to hide from incoming enemy rockets and drones. This Yom ha-Atzmaut, our guests say the Jewish State is both an idea fulfilled, and a story that is still unfolding. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner brings you her interviews with two guests who embody the story of Israel: Hadassa Kingstone, 89, who was an eye witness to the birth of her country, and David Matlow, The CJN’s “Treasure Trove” columnist. Follow David Matlow’s “Treasure Trove” columns about the history of Israel through his vast collection of Zionist and Herzl memorabilia, in The CJN . Our readers share their own memories of Israel on her recent 75th birthday, in The CJN from 2023 . Hear Israeli American writer Yossi Klein Halevi, who lives part time in British Columbia, speak for Israel’s 76th birthday on why Israelis are "still an enormously powerful people” after Oct. 7, on The CJN Daily . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

In his new book, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, Matti Friedman sets out to uncover the short life of Holocaust heroine Hannah Senesh and several of her comrades. It is the second book of late to revisit the story of the Hungarian-born Zionist who became a British-trained parachutist sent from Mandatory Palestine into Nazi-occupied Europe. Friedman argues that after Senesh’s capture and execution in 1944, the young State of Israel helped shape her into a national icon because of a broader need for stories of heroism to inspire the next generation. His book is dedicated to the memories of two modern-day symbols of Jewish bravery after Oct. 7 whom Friedman knew personally: slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the young Nova Festival captive and Yuval Shoham, his friend who was an IDF tank corpsman and went searching for Hersh while on duty in Gaza before he, too, lost his life. The book arrives ahead of Yom ha-Shoah, Yom ha-Zikaron—the memorial day for Israel’s war dead including victims of terrorism, which begins tonight—and Yom ha-Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, which falls the day after. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Matti Friedman about why, tragically, heroism is still being asked of the descendants of Senesh’s generation. Related links Learn more about Matti’s Friedman and his new book “Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe” by McClelland and Stewart Canada . Watch the new rap song about Hannah Senesh by Kosha Dillz, on YouTube . Hear Canadian author Douglas Century explain why he resisted Hannah Senesh’s life in his new book which came out in November 2025, called “Crash of the Heavens”, on The CJN’s North Star podcast. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Forgiveness is often framed as a moral ideal. But what happens when the wound is still open? In his new book The Forgiveness Experiment, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath of Montreal makes the case that forgiveness is a form of self-liberation, not a gift to those who caused you harm. After Yom ha-Shoah but ahead of Yom ha-Zikaron on Monday April 20, that idea collides with a painful reality: for many Jews, October 7 is not history: it is still happening. As is the war with Iran and Hezbollah. Among the 30,000 soldiers and victims of terror being remembered is the name of Yotam Haim. The kidnapped Israeli hostage managed to escape his captors in Gaza but then was mistakenly killed by the IDF. His family has publicly forgiven the troops involved. That story of grace despite horrific pain is part of Rabbi Bernath’s new book. Bernath is a relationship expert, leader with the Chabad community in N.D.G. and at Concordia University. He lays out his own personal path and tackles the question of how to move on from being a victim. On today’s episode of The CJN’s “North Star” podcast, Rabbi Bernath sits down with our producer Andrea Varsany to reveal how he did it. Related links Learn more about Rabbi Yisroel Bernath Find the book “ The Forgiveness Experiment” to read his lessons on forgiveness and on moving forward from trauma and pain to peace. Rabbi Bernath was one of The CJN’s relationship columnists before the pandemic and now runs a Jewish matchmaking service. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Toronto entrepreneurs Daniel Carson and Daniel Schreiber have been revelling in the spotlight ever since the Artemis ll astronauts blasted off into space on April 1. That’s because the best friends’ Goldy’s Superseed Strawberry Lavender breakfast cereal was along for the ride as part of the historic mission’s menu. Their product is made in a KSA-certified kosher plant in Etobicoke. It was personally selected by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen to be among his home-grown pantry during the crew’s 400,000 kilometre journey around the moon. It is the farthest distance any human, or cereal, has ever traveled from Earth. And while that floating jar of Nutella in the capsule garnered global attention, which was also made in Canada and is kosher, the two Daniels’ all-natural, nut-free breakfast choice comes with a secret ingredient: Jewish pride. Carson has been deeply rooted in the Jewish community, working for Camp Robin Hood and also the Magen Boys, while his childhood pal Schreiber, who he met growing up in Thornhill, was born in Israel. On today’s The CJN “North Star” podcast, they speak with host Ellin Bessner about how it all started and about their next-level ambitions to bring kosher cereal to infinity—and beyond. Related links Learn more about the two Daniels behind Goldy’s kosher KSA-certified oatmeal and cereals. Read more about the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, killed when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry in 2003, in The CJN. Interview with Gregory Chamitoff, a Jewish astronaut who grew up in Chomedey, Que. and went to space on board Discovery, in The CJN from 2013. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As Yom HaShoah begins, award-winning Canadian children's author Kathy Kacer explains how 100,000 small brass plaques across Europe—known as stolpersteine—help pass Holocaust memory to the next generation. That’s why after publishing over 30 kids books with Holocaust themes, her newest effort Last Known Address, dropped just before Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Kacer uses “stolpersteine”s or “stumbling stones” to connect her young readers with the lives lost or disrupted during the Holocaust. Kacer showcases the last homes where Anne Frank and 12 lesser-known victims of Nazi persecution lived. Most of the book focuses on Jews, but she also broadens her storytelling to include others targeted by Hitler’s regime: a Roma couple, a gay German man and a mentally disabled brother. Several of her subjects survived, including the late Vera Katz Schiff of Toronto and Salman Schocken of Israel. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, Kathy Kacer joins host Ellin Bessner to describe her voyage of discovery tracing the stumbling stones, and why she keeps speaking about the Holocaust to thousands of students at hundreds of schools. Related Links Learn more and buy Kathy Kacer ’s latest book “Last Known Address ” through Second Story Press. Read more about Ellin’s personal encounter with Stolpersteine in the small German Rhine River town of Bacharach in 2017, in The CJN. Search more about the Stolpersteine on artist Gunter Demnig’s project site . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

For Marci Stepak, Toronto Public Library branches were never just about books—they were where she spent time with her mother. Eunice Stepak died of breast cancer on April 7, 2025, one day before what would have been her 88th birthday. This week, marking one year since her mother's death, Stepak set out on a 10-day, 300-kilometre walk to all 100 TPL branches. She’s calling it Every Library TO and is raising funds for library outreach programs that supported her mother in her final months. In this episode of The CJN’s "North Star" podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Stepak about grief, memory and finding a way forward. Related links Follow Marci Stepak ’s memorial walk for her late mother to all of Toronto’s 100 public libraries. Learn how to donate to her TPL fundraiser. Read more about Marcie Stepak’s background in The CJN from 2010, about the show “Being Erica.” Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Two weeks after Toronto police’s new rules of engagement were announced for the duelling anti– and pro-Israel weekly demonstrations at the intersection of Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave., a small core of marchers nevertheless spread out through the heavily Jewish area. That prompted renewed expressions of frustration on Sunday, April 5, from some local residents and Jewish leaders who believe that the protesters should not be permitted to expand their traditional protest zone at the intersection. But police say there’s obviously some confusion, because they were never going to ban the anti-Israel protests entirely. Rather, they just want to keep marchers off residential side streets. So did the new rules improve safety at all? Or was the heavy police presence the key factor in keeping things a bit quieter this time? On today’s episode of The CJN’s "North Star" podcast, host Ellin Bessner brings you her on-the-ground report from the three-hour long duelling rally and march. You’ll hear from several voices, including Toronto police Inspector Israel Bernardo, who explains why the new rules may have been misunderstood; James Pasternak, the local city councillor who says the protests are taking up valuable police resources for the sake of “glorified babysitting”; lawyer and activist Michael Teper, who describes his role in sparking a recent hate crime arrest; and one resident of the neighbourhood who feels the police’s new protest zone rules actually allowed the anti-Israel demonstrations to escalate. Related stories Read more about how the new police protest rules were enforced at Bathurst and Sheppard on April 5, in The CJN. Why Toronto police announced March 22 that no protesters would be allowed to enter side streets, in The CJN. Hear legal experts denounce why so many antisemitic or anti-Israel protesters in Toronto are having their charges dropped, on The CJN’s “North Star” podcast . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

As extended families gather this week for their Passover seders, discussions are bound to get tense. That tension is taken to a whole other level in a new feature-length film by Toronto filmmaker and lawyer Joel Etienne, called Sisters of Fate. In the film, an Orthodox family gathers together for Passover, when long-buried allegations of abuse at the hands of an old rabbi teacher surface, forcing everyone to break years of uncomfortable silence. Etienne and many of his actors are themselves Orthodox. They worried about staging this controversial topic on the big screen, because of how reluctant their community has been to discuss the problem and deal with the predators. Joel Etienne and first-time actor Ahava Spillman, who plays Rebbetzin Rosen, join today’s episode of North Star, just ahead of Passover. If you are in need of help Jewish Family & Child Service in the Greater Toronto Area runs a 24-hour phone hotline 1-800 404-1393. During business hours contact 416-638-7800 Related links Learn more about the film “Sisters of Fate” and the cast, and how to book screenings. Read The CJN’s coverage of the Rabbi Mund tria l in Montreal in 2025. The elderly teacher was acquitted of two sex crime charges, after being arrested on Passover 2022. Why do sexual abuse cases go unpunished in the Orthodox community, in The CJN from 2022. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director), Yael Sher (graphic designer) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

At a time he calls a “national crisis of antisemitism,” Simon Wolle has stepped into one of the most visible advocacy roles in the country: CEO of B’nai Brith Canada. He took over in October, leading the 150-year-old Jewish human rights organization at a moment of growing concern for Jewish Canadians. He had little time to settle into the role before the security situation changed dramatically: Wolle calls it “seismic shifts". In recent months, Toronto police foiled an ISIS-linked terror plot; a boycott campaign targeted Jewish summer camps; and protests continue to spread through Jewish neighbourhoods, often without police intervention. Then, after Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran began again in late February, tensions escalated further. In the span of a single week, three Toronto-area synagogues and several Jewish-owned businesses were targeted in drive-by shootings. Elsewhere, hate charges were dropped against a Montreal café owner who had threatened Jews with “the Final Solution”; a long-standing Holocaust education event at Vanier College was cancelled; and political rhetoric around Israel drew renewed national attention ahead of Sunday’s election of Avi Lewis, a Jewish anti-Zionist, as leader of the NDP. When Wolle started the job five months ago, his priorities included encouraging mainstream Jewish organizations to put aside “their egos” and work together more closely to fight antisemitism. He also hoped to persuade Canadian Jews not to abandon this country, but to stay and help improve the situation –even if this will take time. Wolle spoke with The CJN’s North Star podcast host Ellin Bessner in an interview recorded in mid-February, right before the latest escalation between Israel and Iran. In that conversation, he laid out how he believes B’nai Brith’s role must evolve — in ways that now feel even more urgent. Related stories: Hear Simon Wolle in his first interview with The CJN in February 2026 as B’nai Brith CEO push back on the disturbing campaign financially targeting Jewish summer camps, or watch it on The CJN’s YouTube Channel. Simon Wolle made his national debut as CEO of B’nai Brith Canada at a press conference in Ottawa in January, among other things calling for a Royal Commission to be created on antisemitism, in The CJN . See what B’nai Brith Canada told the Quebec government about secularism and rising antisemitism, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director), Yael Sher (graphic designer) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

It took five years of DNA testing, forensic analysis and genealogical sleuthing to restore his name — and reveal a hidden past. Pte. Albert Henry Detmold, was the son of British Jews from London, and the nephew of Rufus Isaacs — better known as Lord Reading — who served as Britain’s Chief Justice and later as Viceroy of India. It is the first time since Canada launched its missing war identification unit in 2007 that a Jewish soldier has been identified, although Detmold enlisted instead as Presbyterian. In this episode of The CJN’s “North Star” podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with the historians and forensic experts who identified Detmold through DNA and traced his family. Sarah Lockyer, Alexandra McKinnon and Melissa Davidson of the Department of National Defence’s Casualty Identification Unit describe how they uncovered both his identity — and a family history that had been largely forgotten. Related links Learn more about Pte. Albert Detmold , and also about the 100,000 Canadians who fought in the Battle for Hill 70 in August 1917 Read more about the 4,700 Jewish troops who wore a Canadian military uniform in the First World War, in The CJN from 2021 , and from 2016 , Register to help identify Canadian war dead with no known grave, for the Department of National Defence’s Casualty Identification Program Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director), Yael Sher (marketing and communications coordinator) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Members of Canada’s New Democratic Party are meeting this weekend to choose a new party leader, with a decision slated for Sunday. And for the first time since the 1970s, a Jewish candidate has a strong chance of being elected. Avi Lewis could follow in the footsteps of his late grandfather David Lewis, who led the NDP shortly after Avi was born. David Lewis remains the first Jewish Canadian in history to lead a national political party. (Annamie Paul led the Greens from 2020-2021) But a lot has changed since his grandfather's reign. The NDP was decimated in the 2025 election, winning only seven seats and losing official party status. As they hope to rebuild and expand their coalition, some party members are worried about the younger Lewis’s criticism of Israel and his anti-Zionist beliefs; he is a member of the anti-Zionist organization Independent Jewish Voices Canada and his roster of prominent endorsers includes many activists with similar views. Lewis’s closest rival is widely seen as Heather McPherson, the NDP MP for Edmonton Strathcona. She’s not Jewish, but holds similar sentiments about Israel. She has supported seven petitions against the Israeli government, wore a Keffiyeh in the House of Commons during a vote on Palestinian statehood, and wants Canada to investigate anyone who ever served in the Israeli army. The CJN reached out multiple times to Lewis’s camp for an interview, but they declined. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, NDP insider and The CJN Political Panelist Noah Tepperman joins host Ellin Bessner to explain why he believes both front-runners are problematic for the country—but why Avi Lewis is much worse for Jewish Canadians. Jewish former broadcaster Avi Lewis widely seen as the front-runner, but concerns are being raised about his strong anti-Zionist views. Tags: #Canada politics, #NDP, #Avi Lewis, #Heather McPherson, #Jewish Canadians, #Israel, #antisemitism, #cdnpoli Related links Read how the two leading NDP leadership candidates criticized the current U.S. and Israeli war with Iran, when the attack began Feb. 28, in The CJN . Learn more about the five candidates on the NDP’s leadership convention’s website. Hear The CJN’s Political Panel’s early prediction about the NDP leadership race, on “North Star” with Ellin Bessner , from Jan. 2026. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Will Bill C-9 make it safer for Canada’s Jews? The federal government’s Combating Hate Act is heading toward a final vote—after weeks of committee study. and a move recently to limit debate. The bill is being framed as as Canada's signture response to rising antisemitism after Oct. 7. But will it actually work? In this episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with two Jewish MPs from opposite sides of the aisle: • Anthony Housefather (Liberal, Mount Royal), who argues the bill gives police the tools they’ve been asking for and Roman Baber (Conservative, York Centre), who says the law won’t make Jews safer and raises concerns about free speech Both were asked about the same issues. Their answers could not be more different. In this episode:• What Bill C-9 would change—and what it wouldn’t• Why the government moved to cap debate• The argument over enforcement vs. new laws• Concerns about free speech and religious expression• Whether the bill will actually reduce antisemitic incidents Keywords: Bill C-9, Combating Hate Act, antisemitism Canada, hate crime laws Canada, free speech Canada, Anthony Housefather, Roman Baber, Canadian politics. Related stories Learn more about the Private Members’ Bill that would have banned promotion of terrorism which Roman Baber, MP for York Centre, tried to have passed to strengthen Bill C-9, in The CJN , from November 2025. Why Canadian Jewish leaders supported Bill C-9 when it was at the Justice committee, in October 2025, in The CJN . Why the Canadian government said Bill C-9 is their response to growing antisemitism, in The CJN from Sept. 2025. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

The Liberal MP for Eglinton–Lawrence, Vince Gasparro, says his heart dropped when he heard a synagogue in his riding was recently targeted. Now he is calling for arrests, increased police support and expanded intelligence sharing, and hints there will be additional funding coming in the spring budget for Jewish security. The rookie MP represents the riding with third-largest concentration of Jews in Canada.  Gasparro was narrowly elected to Parliament last April 2025 on a platform to fight antisemitism and protect the Jewish community living in the area where he grew up. After discovering that no one had been hurt or killed, Gasparro’s next thought was “We need to find these cowards who did this and we need to put them away.” As Canada’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State for Combatting Crime, Gasparro has been at the forefront of the federal government’s recent push to tighten bail, expand police investigative powers and crack down on hate crimes. But while those policy changes have moved through Parliament in recent weeks, Gasparro says the synagogue shootings mark a dangerous escalation—and require resources beyond local policing. On today’s episode of The Canadian Jewish News’s “North Star” podcast, Vince Gasparro sits down with host Ellin Bessner to discuss the incidents, the $10 million just granted for Jewish security and that there may be more coming. Related stories What Jewish leaders and local Toronto-area politicians including Vince Gasparro said after three March 2026 synagogue shootings, in The CJN. Terrorism charges dropped against Irish band Kneecap in 2025’ MP Vince Gasparro had announced they were banned from performing in Canada, in The CJN. Vince Gasparro narrowly won the Toronto area Liberal riding of Eglinton-Lawrence in the April 2025 federal election, defeating Karen Stinz, in The CJN . Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)

Two Israeli seniors were killed overnight when an Iranian cluster bomb hit their Ramat Gan apartment. The husband reportedly needed a walker to get around. When a missile warning sounds in Israel, people have only seconds to act — to get to a safe room or bomb shelter. But what if you can’t get there in time? Nearly one in five Israelis lives with a disability. And for many, reaching safety isn’t always possible. Some shelters can only be accessed by stairs. Others may not receive alerts in time — or at all — if they’re deaf, blind, or unable to use smartphone apps. And for seniors or those without access to technology, those life-saving warnings can fall short. Canadian lawyer and disability rights advocate David Lepofsky says this is a hidden crisis — one that’s been known for years, but still not fully addressed. On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star, he joins me to explain how this war is exposing those gaps — and why they’re now a matter of life and death. Israel, disability rights, accessibility, emergency alerts, public safety, war, human rights, bomb shelters, civil defense, Canada, CJN, North Star Podcast Related stories Learn more about the Israeli disability rights organization Bizchut Subscribe to David Lepofsky’s new podcast called “Disability Rights and Wrongs: The David Lepodcast.” Hear Montrealer Neil Oberman’s first-hand account of receiving alerts on the phone and running to a bomb shelter, on The CJN’s ‘North Star’ podcast from March 2. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner ) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director) Music: Bret Higgins Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to North Star (Not sure how? Click here ) Watch our podcasts on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@TheCJN Help others find this podcast by leaving us a review for “North Star” on Apple Podcasts via your iPhone or iPad device, or with your Android. (Spotify allows only starred ratings but you can do that, too!)