In absence of The Canadian Jewish News, writers unite to forge new voice

Canada’s flagship national Jewish newspaper of record became a coronavirus casualty when it announced that its April 9 issue would be its last after 60 years of publication.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Newspapers, illustrative. (photo credit: NEEDPIX.COM)
Newspapers, illustrative.
(photo credit: NEEDPIX.COM)
After the loss of The Canadian Jewish News, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress Bernie Farber, along with author and reporter Ron Csillag, founded the Canadian Jewish Record - assembling a team to fill the "void in the absence of a Canadian Jewish voice."
"Like so many others, we were hit hard by the loss of The Canadian Jewish News. The coronavirus collided with greatly diminished advertising revenue and ever fewer subscribers to kill off Canada’s only national Jewish voice," the founders wrote on their website.
"Journalists, academics, pundits, communal personalities and others have come together and donated their time to develop this online presence. It is a modest effort (for now) but one needed in a time when so many hunger for Jewish information," they said.
Canada’s flagship national Jewish newspaper of record, The Canadian Jewish News became a coronavirus casualty after it announced that its April 9 issue would be its last after 60 years of publication.
“Unfortunately, we too have become a victim of COVID-19,” president Elizabeth Wolfe said in an official statement Thursday on the CJN website. “Already struggling, we are not able to sustain the enterprise in an environment of almost complete economic shutdown.”
“There is no other paper. This was it,” Farber told the National Post.
“So, along with everything else that’s going on right now, this just adds another layer of sadness.”
Besides the demise of the print edition, there will no longer be an Internet edition.
"How was it possible, we wondered, that Canada – with the world’s fourth-largest Jewish population (going on third largest if trends continue in France) – no longer had a Jewish voice?" the founders asked rhetorically. "Jewish journalism in Canada has had a long and honorable history but its future no longer seemed tenable."
Another news portal, TheJ.ca, which has been online since May 19, claims that it is the "new Canadian Jewish News media platform." 

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Its editor-in-chief is Marty Gold, whose Manitoba Post author page says he is "standing up to bullies and the PC culture." Gold cites one of his inspirations is political activist Nick Ternette. 
 
Gold and publisher Ron East are openly opposed to what they say is progressive Jewish activists vilifying Israel and the IDF, according to World Israel News. 
 
While they pride themselves on having a variety of writers from all Jewish cultures and groups, all writers are "proudly Zionist," Dave Gordon, the website’s managing editor, told World Israel News.
The Canadian Jewish Record newspaper, then a weekly, was launched January 1, 1960, under the editorship of Myer Nurenberger. It fell victim to the economic devastation of COVID-19 after struggling to stay afloat since coming to the brink of closure once before, in 2013. It revived after a groundswell of community support.
At the time, the newspaper let go about 50 staffers in Montreal and Toronto, relaunching with new editorial leadership, a fresh look and layout, and a trendier variety of content. But losses continued to mount and the paper succumbed to the economic woes brought on by the pandemic, said Wolfe, who is a member of the board of directors of 70 Faces Media, JTA’s parent company.
"The CJN suffered from a pre-existing condition and has been felled by COVID-19," Wolfe wrote in the online statement. "It is with tears in my eyes that I conclude: It had a good run. Everything has its season. It is time."
The staff was informed of the newspaper’s demise via video-conference call. Its circulation at closure was about 32,000.
"The Canadian Jewish Record is truly a labor of love. It is akin to an old-style collective, but dressed in twenty-first century digital clothing. We will work toward providing news, views, arts and culture, features, rabbinic perspectives, and all the things you would expect from a quality Jewish publication – and it will all be original content," the founders concluded, making a plea to writers in the process.
"Please enjoy… and if any budding writers out there want to contribute, please send pitches or completed work (700 words max) to canadianjewishrecord@gmail.com."
Zachary Keyser and David Lazarus/JTA contributed to this report.


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