Advocacy groups move down to highrise haven.
VERONIKA STEWART
The offices of the CJC and the local Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) now have a combined workspace at the corner of Alberni and Thurlow streets downtown.
After having their office at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) for at least 15 years, Oreck said the move is a reaction to where people now work and live in the community.
"I think [the move is] a great thing for the Vancouver Jewish community that has a growing population of Jews living downtown. And it provides a new centre for downtown meetings," Oreck said.
She said the office will be open for use by organizations not based in the area of 41st and Oak.
"I think our office will be used by the Downtown Jewish Community Association, by the Jewish war veterans ... and other Jewish organizations that need to hold meetings downtown are certainly welcome to use our space," Oreck said. "It's sort of a new landmark of Jewish advocacy in Vancouver."
Mark Weintraub, chair of CJC Pacific Region, agreed.
"I see the effect to be a very positive one for the future of the Jewish community," Weintraub said. "The move to downtown Vancouver really positions ourselves in the heart of what is one of the most creative and dynamic urban centres in North America."
He also said because CJC is mostly involved in advocating for Jewish rights in the non-Jewish community, the downtown office will be better able to facilitate CJC's meetings with organizations outside the community.
Previously housed in the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, CIC director Michael Elterman said, as a new organization, the CIC didn't really have a home until moving downtown.
"At the point that the CJC decided that they needed to move out, it was an opportunity for CIC to consolidate the community's advocacy branches into one space," Elterman explained. "There was going to be a certain savings and economy of scale by having just one office that was essentially divided into CJC and the Canada-Israel Committee."
Elterman said there is a "certain symmetry" in having an organization responsible within the Jewish community for providing information on Israel and an organization responsible for the quality of Jewish life in Canada share the same space.
Elterman said another advantage of sharing space with the CJC downtown is that while the CIC was located in the JCC, it was assumed their work was geared solely towards a Jewish audience, which is not the case."In reality, the work of the CIC is actually addressed to the work of the non-Jewish community: telling the story of what is happening in Israel and doing advocacy on behalf of Israel to the non-Jewish community," Elterman said. "So by having an office that eventually puts us on a professional basis downtown, where we are close to businesses and to professional associations, was really putting advocacy on a much more professional level."
Like Oreck, Elterman said he thinks the new locale will cater to those who base themselves downtown."I think it opens up opportunities for us to have more meetings over lunch hour and during the day for people whose work and business is in downtown Vancouver," Elterman said.
Established in 1919, CJC is a national organization advocating Jewish human rights issues. It has been among many groups at the forefront of advocating a comprehensive approach to human rights, not only for Jewish Canadians, but other minority groups as well.
Its cohabitant, the Vancouver branch of the CIC, was established in 2004 and is a representative of Canada's Jewish community on issues pertaining mainly to Canada-Israel relations. Despite being a fairly new organization in the area, the CIC has created programs to keep the community in touch with Israel and its relations with Canada, including missions to Israel and teaching classes on socioeconomic issues pertaining to Israel.
Veronika Stewart is a student intern at the Independent.http://www.jewishindependent.ca/Archives/April06/archives06Apr07-03.html
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