The future of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), launched at the beginning of 2004 as a kind of superstructure to the community’s existing public advocacy organizations, is about to be reviewed.

“It will undergo a complete re-evaluation, an independent evaluation, in the fall, with a report due by the end of the year,” said Stanley Plotnick, the new president of UIA Federations Canada (UIAFC).

“Intuitively, I think [CIJA] is working well. We see some changes taking place. We are explaining ourselves better to non-Jews, but whether this is cause-and-effect, we can’t really say.”

Plotnick said it was not yet decided who would conduct the evaluation. He added that when the Toronto-based CIJA was founded, it was understood that it would be reviewed within 18 to 24 months.

Plotnick agreed that the existence of CIJA may have created confusion in the public’s mind over its role in relation to the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) and Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), the organizations it oversees. CIJA also supports the National Committee for Jewish Campus Life.

“But I can tell you there was confusion for many years before about what the CIC does and what CJC does,” he said. “CIJA is an attempt to define the roles of the CIC and CJC, to make sure that each knows what the other is doing.”

While its effectiveness may be debated, Plotnick said, he is confident that CIJA is efficient and is not just another layer of bureaucracy.

“Total administrative costs are now less because of centralization. There is one accounting office today instead of three, for example.”

CIJA was created as a separate body by UIAFC, in concert with a group of leading businessmen, who wanted to increase the Canadian government and public’s support for Israel and issues of Jewish concern by taking a more sophisticated strategic approach. CIJA was to streamline and co-ordinate the community’s advocacy efforts and mobilize broad-based action.

Substantial additional financial and human resources were allocated. Hershell Ezrin, a former diplomat, political adviser and public policy expert, is CIJA’s chief executive officer.

Plotnick, who succeeds Shoel Silver of Toronto, stressed that strengthening the “partnership” between Canadian Jewry and Israel is one of the main goals of his two-year term.

“The ties between Jewish Canadians and Jewish Israelis have to be continuously reinforced. When there is a crisis, everyone jumps in to help, but at other times, it’s a diminished priority.”

Canadian Jewry’s support of Israel should not only be monetary; the community has a responsibility, he thinks, to explain Israel’s position and policies to government and opinion-makers.

Plotnick, a past president of Montreal’s FEDERATION CJA, firmly believes that Israel is “the primary identification of the Jewish people,” and how Israel fares is directly linked to how Jews everywhere are regarded.

However, he also believes in maintaining a strong Jewish life in the Diaspora, although he feels the number of countries where that is possible is declining.

“The success of Israel is important to the success of Jewish communities in the world… It reflects back on us… There is no contradiction in supporting a strong Israel and a strong Diaspora.”

Within Canada, Plotnick is committed to maintaining and bolstering small Jewish communities. He’ll visit Halifax in August to meet leaders of the Atlantic Jewish Council, and over the next six months, he will try to get to all of the member communities from coast-to-coast.

“I want to see what they need and if we can help them. I believe it is the responsibility of the large communities to support the smaller communities,” he said. Keeping young people in the smaller communities and grooming them as future leaders is a big part of his goal.

Plotnick has a long history in Jewish education and youth projects. A decade ago, he founded ProMontreal, a federation project to encourage young Jews to stay in Quebec. He is a past president of the Jewish Education Council of Montreal, now known as the Bronfman Jewish Education Council, and he is a past Montreal and national chair of the March of the Living.

Encouraging young people to have the “same passion and dedication as their parents and grandparents” about Israel and Jewish life is his wish.

It was under Plotnick’s watch that the Montreal federation underwent an expansion and renovation costing tens of millions in the late 1990s, a time when the community’s mood was sombre.

Plotnick’s natural optimism came through in his acceptance of the UIAFC mantle: “While the needs are great, and the challenges might even appear overwhelming, we have a great opportunity to make a difference,” he told the annual general meeting.

Plotnick is the fifth president since the UIAFC was established in 1998 as a result of the reorganization of United Israel Appeal of Canada and the Council of Jewish Federations of Canada. It brings together 10 federations and 40 non-federated regional communities (27 in Ontario alone).

One of its major functions is funnelling the funds raised in annual UJA/CJA campaigns that are not spent locally. Last year, it sent $27.3 million to Israel and elsewhere overseas, and it allocated $25.6 million to national programs and services in Canada.