The CJN Daily with Ellin Bessner

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The CJN Daily with Ellin Bessner

Newsmaker conversations from The Canadian Jewish News, hosted by Ellin Bessner, a veteran broadcaster, writer and journalist.

  1. 4D AGO

    Let my elephants go: a new Canadian documentary spotlights animal welfare in zoos

    Just in time for Passover, Fern Levitt has a message of freedom for Canadian audiences—about elephants. On April 11, her new documentary, Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants, will begin streaming nationwide on CBC Gem. The film casts a harsh spotlight on nearly two dozen elephants owned by parks and zoos in Canada, most notably Lucy, of the Edmonton Valley Zoo, whom protesters have called to be released in recent years due to her age and declining health. To make this film, Levitt spent three years reporting on what she and others believe are irrefutable animal rights abuses. And it isn’t the first time she’s done it: her last film focused on the mistreatment of sled dogs in Alaska’s iconic Iditarod race. After learning that some sled dogs were gassed to death, she couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the Holocaust, which had been a previous artistic focus of hers. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Levitt joins Ellin Bessner to explain why she went undercover to document the treatment of elephants around the world, including Lucy and the approximately 20 living at Ontario’s African Lion Safari—whose management she says has since threatened to sue her. Related links Watch the documentary “Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants”, on CBC Gem, beginning April 11. Learn more about the volunteers lobbying for Lucy’s freedom, on their website Leap for Lucy. Read about Fern Levitt and her family volunteering to help an orphanage in South Africa, in The CJN, in 2008. Read the transcript on our website at Thecjn.ca Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Mark Weisblott, editorial director. 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)

    24 min

  2. 5D AGO

    Olive Branch vs. Sobeys: A kosher food fight erupts in Thornhill

    Sobeys, one of the three biggest grocery store chains in Canada, has vowed to “rectify any issues" after allegations that the manager of its longtime kosher food store in Thornhill, Ont., crossed the line as part of an ongoing feud with the CEO of a rival supermarket. In the first week of April, just ahead of a hectic Passover shopping weekend for Canadian Jews, the CEO of the Olive Branch—a five-month-old kosher market in the Promenade mall, just a four-minute drive down the same street from the Sobeys in question—alleged that the nearby Sobeys manager had threatened kosher caterers looking to do Passover business with both companies. According to a widely distributed letter, Olive Branch’s Justin Lesnick alleged that vendors he hired to sell prepared Passover take out food such as meatballs and kugels at his store were told they would lose their much larger contracts with Sobeys if they did so. The confrontation bled out into social media, where Lesnick’s complaints about corporate bullying took the story viral. Now many customers are vowing to boycott Sobeys over what happened. But is this a true David-versus-Goliath fight? Or is it the latest in a long-simmering war between the two businessmen—neither of whom is Jewish? And what should customers know? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, host Ellin Bessner digs into the story. She spoke to Lesnick and Sobeys and some concerned customers to understand how the face-off is dividing the community before Passover. Related links Learn more about when the U.S. based Savours company entered the Toronto kosher food scene by buying Hartmans, in 2017, in The CJN. When Montreal’s MK Kosher and Toronto’s COR Kashrut organization were feuding over hechsher for Sobeys’ Thornhill location, in 2013, in The CJN. Why Passover food will be exempt from Trump’s extra tariffs this year, on The CJN Daily. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (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)

    23 min

  3. APR 7

    Why 72% of police-reported hate crimes in Canada remain unsolved

    Today, on Monday April 7, the human rights advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada is set to release its annual antisemitism audit, tracking what’s likely to be another record level of online hate speech, graffiti, threats, arson and gunshots targeting Canada’s Jewish community. Last year, the group revealed its highest ever tally: 5,791 incidents happened in 2023–double the year before. And while those numbers may seen surprisingly high, they did come during the surge in antisemitism on Canadian shores after Oct. 7. But experts say that number doesn’t tell the whole story. A new Statistics Canada report on hate crimes handled by Canadian police–4,777 total, including 900 hate crimes against Jews—contains some disturbing findings. According to the data, 72 percent of all hate crimes didn’t get solved in 2023, and more than half of all alleged suspects are known to police as repeat offenders. If there is any good news in the new report, Statistics Canada says that no one got hurt, in the vast majority of hate crimes against Jews in recent years, or 90 percent. Many were crimes of mischief against property, including synagogues and other Jewish community buildings. So what do the numbers mean, and what message should Canadian Jews be demanding of politicians, law enforcement and the courts? On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by two of Canada’s leading experts on police-reported hate crimes: from Statistics Canada, Warren Silver—himself a former Montreal police officer—and Mark Sandler, a criminal lawyer who chairs the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism. Related links Read Statistics Canada’s new report on police-reported hate crimes for 2023 and early 2024. Why antisemitic hate crimes top the police charts in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.), while Jews in British Columbia report being victims of one or more antisemitic incidents. B’nai Brith’s annual audit of antisemitic incidents has surprisingly high numbers. How can this be? On The CJN Daily from 2023, Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director). 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)

    26 min

  4. APR 3

    Canada has a secret list of suspected Nazis. This historian found the files online

    For decades, the Canadian government has held more than a million pages of war-criminal investigation files secret, citing privacy laws and international agreements with foreign countries. Many Canadian organizations, including Jewish ones, have lobbied—unsuccessfully—for the government to release the names, which include many suspected Nazis. It turns out, the names were already public. Jared McBride, a history professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently led his students on a class project that discovered more than a thousand pages of historic Royal Canadian Mounted Police war crimes files—all freely available online. These typed and handwritten files from the 1980s show suspects' names, locations, case numbers, alleged crimes, and the results of the Mounties' investigations, including collaboration with Israel, Germany and Soviet authorities. They appear to match the still-secret parts of Canada's official 1986 Deschênes Commission of Inquiry's records on alleged or actual Nazi war criminals who got into the country. Not knowing about these publicly available documents, Jewish groups and some media outlets still have lawsuits pending to force Library and Archives Canada to release its war crimes holdings. But, as the UCLA students found out, the archives already released the RCMP documents five years ago. And nobody did anything with them—until now. On today's episode of The CJN Daily, Jared McBride joins to to unpack what, and how, he and his students uncovered in this breakthrough moment for national justice. Related links Hear B’nai Brith Canada’s former legal director, and a former war crimes investigator turned historian both weigh in on the importance of Canada releasing the names of suspected Nazi war criminals who entered the country, on The CJN Daily. Why Canada was reluctant to prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals who entered the country, in The CJN. Get the secret RCMP war crimes files officially released by Canada in Jan. 2020, after an Access to Information request. The files are all hosted now on the Canadian-based Investigative Journalism Foundation’s public database collection. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Zachary Judah Kauffman (producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director) 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)

    25 min

  5. APR 2

    Jewish Canadians in Israel could impact election results back home

    When Elliot Gluck recently tried to figure out how to vote in the upcoming Canadian election from abroad in Israel, he was left scratching his head. The 23-year-old Vancouver native, currently interning at a green tech company in Tel Aviv, knew there had to be a better way to help his fellow Canadians exercise their democratic rights. So the political science graduate spent a few days last week creating a new website, IsraelVotes.ca, which is already live. His goal is to make it easier for those eligible voters among the estimated 40,000 Canadians currently living in Israel to receive their ballots and cast their votes in what he's calling "one of the most consequential elections in recent memory," scheduled for April 28. Gluck's website is non-partisan and completely free, and facilitates ballot delivery, including to and from the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv. He joins Ellin Bessner on The CJN Daily to explain his motivations, the nasty antisemitic comments he's received online, and why it matters that Jewish Canadians make their voices heard this month. Related links Check out IsraelVotes.ca to learn more about how to vote from Israel in the April 28, 2025 Canadian federal election. Elections Canada’s website also explains about how to vote in Canadian elections if you are Canadian abroad, no matter how long you’ve lived outside of Canada. When Canada originally barred citizens living in Israel from voting from abroad, in The CJN, from 2015. Credits Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner) Production team: Andrea Varsany (producer), 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)

    19 min

  6. MAR 31

    How Canadian Jewish business leaders are bracing for Donald Trump’s trade war

    Canadians have been bracing for a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump for months—and this week, it might actually kick into high gear. Washington has already imposed 25-percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and is expected to add auto parts to the list as early as April 3. These acts are having devastating effects on Canada’s economy—especially Canadian entrepreneurs. Many domestic business owners are pivoting. Some are focusing more on the Canadian market. Others are looking to expand in Europe and Australia. At least one Jewish business owner in Quebec moved his product assembly to Vermont, helping him keep his Canadian factory open. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we check in with two Canadian Jewish business owners, who give us their perspective on the trade war. Noah Tepperman is the co-owner of Tepperman’s, a furniture and appliance retail chain headquarted in Windsor, Ont., celebrating its centennial this month; and Michael Wiesel joins from Knowlton, Quebec to explain how he’s trying to save his DIY craft kit business, Kiss Naturals, which relies on U.S. customers for 80 percent of its business. Related Links Hear how this Vancouver kosher grocer prepared to handle expected tariffs on imported U.S. Passover foodstuffs (which have since been exempted) on The CJN Daily. Why tariffs might send more Jewish poor to food banks, 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)

    27 min

  7. MAR 27

    This Holocaust survivor rediscovered her Jewish roots decades later—thanks to a Canadian genealogist

    In 1942, while Nazis were forcing the Jews of Krosno, Poland to move into the local ghetto, they missed at least one: an eight-month-old Jewish infant, left in a ditch by her frantic mother, wrapped only in a blanket, with just a birthdate and false first name pinned to the wool. A passing Polish couple found the child, brought her home and raised her as a Christian. She never knew her real name or identity, despite—she told people years later—always feeling that she was Jewish. It wasn’t until 2017 that a band of keen Jewish genealogy researchers, including the late Stanley Diamondof Montreal, managed to crack the mystery and confirm that Maria Vasitinskaya was really Rivka Silber. And despite her parents and two older siblings being murdered in the Holocaust, Diamond was able to reconnect the child survivor, then 78, with her extended family, including approximately 100 relatives in Israel and around the world. In April 2025, this remarkable true story is being published as a new non-fiction book, One in Six Million, by Amy Fish, a Canadian author. Fish joins The CJN Daily to explain how the tale fell into her lap—and how an unexpected genetic twist made telling it literally part of her own DNA. Related links Learn more about the book One in Six Million here. Read about the late Stanley Diamond’s passion for reuniting Holocaust survivors, in The CJN. Hear Stanley Diamond profiled on our newest Honourable Menschen podcast. Learn more about free DNA tests for Holocaust survivors. 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)

    22 min

  8. MAR 26

    We asked Pierre Poilievre about federal funding for UNRWA. Here’s what he said

    Just 24 hours into Canada’s federal election campaign, The CJN has put Jewish issues on the agenda. On Monday morning of Mar. 24, in a hotel near the Toronto airport, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre met with about 40 journalists from significant diaspora communities as part of a media roundtable reserved for “ethnic” news outlets—one of the first media opportunities since the federal election was called over the weekend. Poilievre fielded questions from outlets publishing in Mandarin, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Arabic and Vietnamese—and The Canadian Jewish News was there, too. While the focus was on Poilievre’s general platform—including why he would be better to handle Canada’s trade war with the U.S. than newly elected Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney—he also explained how he plans to tackle hate crimes against Canada’s Jewish community and address the Liberals’ recently announced $100 million in aid for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Hear what he has to say, on today’s episode of _The CJN Daily _with host Ellin Bessner. What we talked about: Why the families of the Oct. 7 victims are suing the Canadian government for funding UNWRA, as is the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, in The CJN. How Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre spent the spring of 2024 courting Canada’s Jewish community, on The CJN Daily. In 2023, Canada committed $100 million over four years in funding for UNWRA, 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)

    16 min
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Newsmaker conversations from The Canadian Jewish News, hosted by Ellin Bessner, a veteran broadcaster, writer and journalist.

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