The much-anticipated reconfiguration of the existing Canadian Jewish community national advocacy structure will officially begin on July 1.

Gone are organizations including the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC), Quebec Israel Committee (QIC), the University Outreach Committee (UOC) and National Jewish Campus Life (NJCL).

All their functions have now been absorbed into a greater Canadian Jewish advocacy apparatus under the auspices of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), which had previously acted as the umbrella organization for the above-mentioned agencies.

Shimon Fogel, CEO of CIJA 2.0, confirmed the news to The CJN last week while he was in the midst of personally informing CJC, QIC, UOC, CIC and NJCL staff of their future – or lack thereof – within the new organization.

On June 5, the boards of CIJA and United Israel Appeal Federations Canada (UIAFC) approved a major overhaul of communal organizations.

Several senior employees of Congress have lost their jobs in the wake of the restructuring process.

Notices of dismissal, effective June 30, were sent to Benjamin Shinewald, CJC's Toronto-based acting CEO; Wendy Lampert, national director of community relations; and Enza Martuccelli, director of community relations in CJC’s Montreal office.

Two longtime CJC employees in the Ottawa office – Eric Vernon, the director of government relations and international affairs, and Josh Rotblatt, the director of operations – received notices effective July 31.

Romy Ritter, regional director in Vancouver, was told her employment will not continue with CJC.

The personnel moves were “mandated” by CIJA, said Congress President Mark Freiman in a statement to his board on June 24.

“I grieve for our community’s loss in terms of the talents and devoted service of those whose employment CIJA has decided to terminate,” Freiman said.

Fogel said the need for wholesale restructuring of the Jewish advocacy system stemmed from the fact that the lines between anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism had become almost indistinguishable.

“The lines and distinctions between what they used to call ‘the domestic agenda’ and ‘the Israel agenda’ have blurred so much, that it’s impossible really to tell one from the other,” he said. “When is it anti-Zionism? When is it antisemitism? This is the nature of where things have gone internationally.”

Fogel said these distinctions had become “increasingly artificial,” to the point where it became difficult for CIJA agencies like Congress and CIC to figure out which agency should respond to what.

“We had an opportunity to integrate and consolidate all the thematic agendas – campus, antisemitism, Israel relations, social policy agenda at the local community level – all of those things could be brought into one, holistic institution,” he said.

CIJA 2.0 will now have “departments” that deal with these different items, instead of the agencies that existed to address these issues before.

It’s a top-down approach that is being applied in order to “clarify and simplify” messaging on Jewish advocacy, Fogel said.

All the details of the new structure are contained in a document called CIJA 2.0: A Roadmap for the Reorganization of Jewish Advocacy in Canada.

A national strategy development committee will report to the CIJA 2.0 board on messaging related to campus needs, Israel, social justice and human rights, the defence agenda and domestic needs, according to CIJA 2.0 internal guidelines.

As a national entity, CIJA 2.0 will create policy and messaging for “local partners” throughout the country’s Jewish communities.

Each local partner will be “anchored or embedded” in a local federation – in smaller Jewish communities without a federation presence, there will be an alternative. For instance, in Atlantic Canada, the Atlantic Jewish Council will be the de facto local partner. And each community will be represented by a local public affairs committee, Fogel said.

CIJA 2.0 “will provide resources” for all local partners, and the chairs of the local committees will, together, form a national cabinet.

This cabinet will convene to co-ordinate, share best practices, raise local concerns and flag emerging trends or issues for the national executive to provide guidance on.

CIJA’s Roadmap clarifies the relationship between CIJA 2.0 and UIAFC as one where the latter “defines advocacy policy while CIJA 2.0 develops and implements advocacy delivery strategies to carry out these policies.”

The new board of CIJA 2.0 will be determined at a meeting, “probably in the first week of July” when its nominations committee appoints the members, Fogel said.

The CIJA 2.0 board will have its inaugural meeting “very soon thereafter.”

The members of CIJA 2.0 will be the corporation’s “shareholders.”

“The members are the ones who appoint the board, just like in any conventional corporate model,” he said.

CIJA 2.0 will be headquartered in Ottawa. The organization’s official “brand name” will be announced shortly, Fogel said.

Among the names still being considered is Canadian Jewish Congress, he said, though CIJA 2.0’s branding committee is still finishing its work.

Fogel said the restructuring also affects federation staffing in that many people are being “shifted” from their prior federation roles into CIJA 2.0 roles.

“Federation is handing over all responsibility for advocacy to CIJA 2.0,” he said. “That means that CIJA national, and all its local partners whose staff are embedded in federations, will be responsible for the whole range of advocacy.”

CIJA 2.0 is also getting set to “roll out” its communications strategy to all its local partners, so they can have a list of national contacts to reference for any issue that arises.

Fogel would not comment on who comprised the new senior management team for CIJA 2.0, as there was still one post outstanding, that of communications director.

He said an offer had gone out, but was still being contemplated by the applicant.

“Fundamentally, above all else, [CIJA 2.0 is] a lobby. Our job is to advocate on issues that enhance and improve the position of the Jewish community and the issues that are of concern to them. Everything else is important, but secondary,” Fogel said.

“We were talking about consolidating Congress and CIC more than a decade ago,” he added.

With files from JTA

 

The much-anticipated reconfiguration of the existing Canadian Jewish community national advocacy structure will officially begin on July 1.

Gone are organizations including the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC), Quebec Israel Committee (QIC), the University Outreach Committee (UOC) and National Jewish Campus Life (NJCL).

All their functions have now been absorbed into a greater Canadian Jewish advocacy apparatus under the auspices of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), which had previously acted as the umbrella organization for the above-mentioned agencies.

Shimon Fogel, CEO of CIJA 2.0, confirmed the news to The CJN last week while he was in the midst of personally informing CJC, QIC, UOC, CIC and NJCL staff of their future – or lack thereof – within the new organization.

On June 5, the boards of CIJA and United Israel Appeal Federations Canada (UIAFC) approved a major overhaul of communal organizations.

Several senior employees of Congress have lost their jobs in the wake of the restructuring process.

Notices of dismissal, effective June 30, were sent to Benjamin Shinewald, CJC's Toronto-based acting CEO; Wendy Lampert, national director of community relations; and Enza Martuccelli, director of community relations in CJC’s Montreal office.

Two longtime CJC employees in the Ottawa office – Eric Vernon, the director of government relations and international affairs, and Josh Rotblatt, the director of operations – received notices effective July 31.

Romy Ritter, regional director in Vancouver, was told her employment will not continue with CJC.

The personnel moves were “mandated” by CIJA, said Congress President Mark Freiman in a statement to his board on June 24.

“I grieve for our community’s loss in terms of the talents and devoted service of those whose employment CIJA has decided to terminate,” Freiman said.

Fogel said the need for wholesale restructuring of the Jewish advocacy system stemmed from the fact that the lines between anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism had become almost indistinguishable.

“The lines and distinctions between what they used to call ‘the domestic agenda’ and ‘the Israel agenda’ have blurred so much, that it’s impossible really to tell one from the other,” he said. “When is it anti-Zionism? When is it antisemitism? This is the nature of where things have gone internationally.”

Fogel said these distinctions had become “increasingly artificial,” to the point where it became difficult for CIJA agencies like Congress and CIC to figure out which agency should respond to what.

“We had an opportunity to integrate and consolidate all the thematic agendas – campus, antisemitism, Israel relations, social policy agenda at the local community level – all of those things could be brought into one, holistic institution,” he said.

CIJA 2.0 will now have “departments” that deal with these different items, instead of the agencies that existed to address these issues before.

It’s a top-down approach that is being applied in order to “clarify and simplify” messaging on Jewish advocacy, Fogel said.

All the details of the new structure are contained in a document called CIJA 2.0: A Roadmap for the Reorganization of Jewish Advocacy in Canada.

A national strategy development committee will report to the CIJA 2.0 board on messaging related to campus needs, Israel, social justice and human rights, the defence agenda and domestic needs, according to CIJA 2.0 internal guidelines.

As a national entity, CIJA 2.0 will create policy and messaging for “local partners” throughout the country’s Jewish communities.

Each local partner will be “anchored or embedded” in a local federation – in smaller Jewish communities without a federation presence, there will be an alternative. For instance, in Atlantic Canada, the Atlantic Jewish Council will be the de facto local partner. And each community will be represented by a local public affairs committee, Fogel said.

CIJA 2.0 “will provide resources” for all local partners, and the chairs of the local committees will, together, form a national cabinet.

This cabinet will convene to co-ordinate, share best practices, raise local concerns and flag emerging trends or issues for the national executive to provide guidance on.

CIJA’s Roadmap clarifies the relationship between CIJA 2.0 and UIAFC as one where the latter “defines advocacy policy while CIJA 2.0 develops and implements advocacy delivery strategies to carry out these policies.”

The new board of CIJA 2.0 will be determined at a meeting, “probably in the first week of July” when its nominations committee appoints the members, Fogel said.

The CIJA 2.0 board will have its inaugural meeting “very soon thereafter.”

The members of CIJA 2.0 will be the corporation’s “shareholders.”

“The members are the ones who appoint the board, just like in any conventional corporate model,” he said.

CIJA 2.0 will be headquartered in Ottawa. The organization’s official “brand name” will be announced shortly, Fogel said.

Among the names still being considered is Canadian Jewish Congress, he said, though CIJA 2.0’s branding committee is still finishing its work.

Fogel said the restructuring also affects federation staffing in that many people are being “shifted” from their prior federation roles into CIJA 2.0 roles.

“Federation is handing over all responsibility for advocacy to CIJA 2.0,” he said. “That means that CIJA national, and all its local partners whose staff are embedded in federations, will be responsible for the whole range of advocacy.”

CIJA 2.0 is also getting set to “roll out” its communications strategy to all its local partners, so they can have a list of national contacts to reference for any issue that arises.

Fogel would not comment on who comprised the new senior management team for CIJA 2.0, as there was still one post outstanding, that of communications director.

He said an offer had gone out, but was still being contemplated by the applicant.

“Fundamentally, above all else, [CIJA 2.0 is] a lobby. Our job is to advocate on issues that enhance and improve the position of the Jewish community and the issues that are of concern to them. Everything else is important, but secondary,” Fogel said.

“We were talking about consolidating Congress and CIC more than a decade ago,” he added.

With files from JTA.