North Star with Ellin Bessner – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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North Star with Ellin Bessner

The CJN Podcasts

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Religion & Spiritualité

Fréquence : 1 épisode/2j. Total Éps: 880

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

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Données mises à jour le 31/10/2026

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CFB Wainwright's Jewish victim: Pte. Aidan Goulding’s family remembers their ‘ambitious’, ‘brilliant’ hero

vendredi 30 octobre 2026 • Durée 25:18

When Pte. Aidan Goulding was given his Hebrew name, his family chose Ilan, after Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in 2003, just a month before Goulding was born. Goulding, 23, was raised in an interfaith home. He attended Hebrew school at a Vancouver synagogue and celebrated Jewish holidays with his grandparents and extended Jewish family.

Goulding was one of four soldiers serving with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment who died Oct. 17 at CFB Wainwright when a wildfire engulfed the terrain during a training exercise. He had been in the army for only eight months. His family says the young mechanic loved being in uniform and was “laser-focused” on a future serving his country. They remember him as “brilliant,” “very ambitious” and big-hearted. He hoped eventually to work as a police officer in a tactical unit.

On Thursday, Oct. 29, Goulding’s body was released by the medical examiner’s office in Calgary and escorted by motorcade through the city, accompanied by Calgary police, RCMP and military members, to a local funeral home.

His remains will be flown to Vancouver next week, The CJN was told, ahead of several services. An official military service is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Seaforth Armoury in Vancouver, with a rabbi participating to honour Goulding’s Jewish roots. Before that, his father, Sean Goulding, and other family members will attend services Friday, Nov. 6, at Temple Sholom in Vancouver. There may also be a separate Catholic service.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner and The CJN’s news editor, Lila Sarick, speak with the young soldier’s grieving family about how they want him to be remembered.

Related links:

To watch the synagogue service Friday Nov. 6, follow the livestream at 8 p.m. Vancouver time.
To donate to the Jewish-founded charity helping all the military families impacted by the CFB Wainwright fire:
Watch our interview with the late Pvt. Goulding's father and aunts, on The CJN's YouTube channel.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

Subscribe to North Star.https://thecjn.ca/newsletters/
Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
Watch our podcasts on YouTube
Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

Lire plusRéduire

Hear the courtroom drama over a Winnipeg synagogue's fight with former members

mercredi 28 octobre 2026 • Durée 22:45

Related links

Read detailed coverage of the Oct. 7, 2026 Court of King's Bench hearing, in The CJN.
Winnipeg police charge suspect after antisemitic graffiti sprayed on synagogue, park, homes, school, in The CJN.
Why Winnipeg’s Asper Jewish Community Campus has started scanning IDs, in The CJN.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
Music: Bret Higgins

Support our show

Subscribe to North Star.https://thecjn.ca/newsletters/
Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
Watch our podcasts on YouTube
Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)

Lire plus

Meet the Israelis travelling from Canada to vote in the Knesset election

lundi 26 octobre 2026 • Durée 31:58

An estimated 67,000 Israelis living abroad say they planned to fly back to the Jewish State to vote Tuesday Oct. 27 in the historic national election – the first one since Oct. 7, 2023. Many Israelis living in Canada are among those making the long trip.

Most of the voters who spoke to The CJN say they hope to see the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defeated, the weakening of the power of the Haredi bloc and also the far-right religious “Messianics” in the country’s life, and the creation of a renewed path for peace with the Palestinians.

But “Bibi” still has his admirers in Canada, too – even though they blame him for Oct. 7’s horrific terrorist attack. The long-serving Israeli leader is being praised for his audacious exploding pager operation against Hezbollah and the assassination of many Islamist leaders, as well as for expanding the Jewish presence in the West Bank, and presiding over a strong economy.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner sits down with four Israelis who are making the long trip from Canada to try to make a difference: Marty Strub and Debbie Strub from Hamilton, and Eviatar Tron of Toronto, on why they are voting for change, while Avi Miller, also of Toronto, will likely vote to keep the government as is.

Related links:

There likely won't be a clear winner right away in Israel's election on Tuesday, says Concordia professor Csaba Nikolenyi. What happens after Oct. 27, on The CJN's North Star podcast.
Why so many expat Israelis must fly back in person to vote, in The CJN.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)

What's at stake in this month's votes in Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and the Prairies? The CJN's Political Panel weighs in

vendredi 23 octobre 2026 • Durée 33:39

It’s hard to remember when Canadians have had so many elections in such a short span. In three weeks this October, there will have been seven—including municipal and provincial votes, plus the referendum in Alberta.

Albertans voted “No” on Monday, Oct. 19, to consider a Brexit-style split from Canada, while on Oct. 5, Quebecers elected a separatist government, with only 28 per cent of the popular vote.

Meanwhile, in B.C., they’ve just finished a municipal election that saw Vancouver city hall sweep left and include a majority of politicians who signed anti-Israel pledges. In Toronto, the race for mayor comes into the final stretch this weekend before the municipal election on Monday, Oct. 26, where Jewish community safety and the front-runners’ stances on antisemitism and Israel are in focus.

Manitobans also hold municipal elections this coming week, while voters go back to the polls this weekend in British Columbia in a snap provincial election that is seeing NDP Premier David Eby’s treatment of a Jewish cabinet minister in 2024 come back to haunt him.

Now that same former NDP cabinet minister, Selina Robinson, joins The CJN’s political panellists Dan Mader, a Conservative strategist with Loyalist Public Relations, and David Birnbaum, a former Quebec Liberal MNA, to talk immigration, separation, and why Israel-Palestine is being seen in some races as more important than filling potholes and fixing homelessness.

Related links

The Toronto Jewish community focuses on who will be the new mayor, in The CJN.
Vancouver’s new city hall is decidedly anti-Israel, and the school board, too, in The CJN
Ahead of the Alberta referendum, Jewish Albertans were divided, in The CJN.

'This is my Torah scroll': Artist's travelling exhibit of 54 parshas opens in Toronto

mercredi 21 octobre 2026 • Durée 18:14

Montreal artist Sheila Nemtin Levine didn’t plan to fulfill the final commandment of the Torah, which says that every Jew should write their own Old Testament. But that’s what ended up happening after she painted 54 vibrant, mixed-media canvases—one for each parashah in the Torah—and imbued each with a modern take on the ancient Biblical verses.

Her exhibit, Tablet Tableaux, has just opened for a three-month tour of prominent Toronto synagogues. It begins at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda this week, then heads to Holy Blossom Temple until the end of December, and finally moves to Darchei Noam for all of January 2027.

Nemtin Levine calls the panels a journey of exploration. Audience members are encouraged to physically engage with the works by touching the grains of sand, family photos and architectural blueprints for the Israelites’ portable desert tabernacle.

Her works have been displayed at several synagogues across Montreal and, last month, at Ottawa's JCC. Jewish high schools have used them for special b’nei mitzvah study modules. The project has also spawned a coffee table book, a free audio guide, and a forthcoming documentary video series.

On today’s episode of The CJN's North Star podcast, we bring you Nemtin Levine's interview with host Ellin Bessner, who visited the artist's studio in Montreal in July 2025.

Related link

Learn more about Tablet Tableaux at the artist's website.
See the original story on The CJN.ca from 2025

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)

[Menschwarmers] Welcome to the golden age of Jewish NHL players

lundi 19 octobre 2026 • Durée 45:56

Ellin is off today, so we're bringing you the latest episode of Menschwarmers, The CJN's Jewish sports podcast. Hear more at thecjn.ca/menschwarmers

Jewish hockey is having a moment. Players like Adam Fox, the Hughes brothers, Zeev Buium, Zach Hyman, Jake Walman and Devon Levi are having a major impact on the ice—and with more Jewish players joining the NHL each year, fans are holding them up as role models for the community’s youth.

Jonny Lazarus has lived through both sides of that story. The Long Island native played Division I hockey at UMass Amherst and Mercyhurst and represented the United States at the 2017 Maccabiah Games. But during the COVID shutdown, realizing he wasn’t going to make it pro, he pivoted to making hockey content. These days, he co-hosts Morning Cuppa Hockey and is working on a new interview series with Bleacher Report.

Lazarus joins Menschwarmers to give a wide-ranging preview of the 2026-27 NHL season. They chat about major Jewish players to watch—including Lazarus’s childhood friend and former campmate, Adam Fox—and Lazarus shares his own journey of breaking into the hockey-talk industry.

Plus: the Jewish MLB postseason comes to an end, the PWHL approaches its new season, NBA hopefuls Noam Yaacov and Lajae Jones fight for roster spots, and the boys preview the incoming crop of International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
Music: Bret Higgins

Canadian Jewish military member takes legal action after nearly 30 discrimination claims rejected

vendredi 16 octobre 2026 • Durée 24:24

Note: This episode contains explicit and offensive language.

When the Canadian Armed Forces issued an official apology in October 2025 for decades of racial discrimination and harassment experienced by its members, Toronto-based Capt. Rabbi Jonathan Jaffit, a Jewish officer, was one of many who subsequently applied to a Federal Court–approved claims process to receive financial compensation and restorative justice.

The landmark $150-million class action lawsuit at the source of the compensation package was filed in 2016 by three military veterans who were released from their service early after years of bullying and harassment because they were Black or Indigenous. The military settled without accepting liability. Deloitte was mandated to process the claims. The claims portal closed Thursday, Oct. 15— and, as The CJN reported in our full-length investigative story, nearly 30 Jewish claimants have had their applications rejected. Like Jaffit, they received the same form letter from Deloitte saying their racial identity made them ineligible.

The court-approved Final Settlement Agreement uses a broad scope to define racial discrimination, including race, ethnicity, colour and/or Indigeneity. So why has Deloitte told the Jewish claimants it is applying only the narrower Employment Equity Act requirements, and adhering to the categories of “visible minorities” as per the national census?

Capt. Jaffit has now taken legal action on behalf of the Jewish members. His lawyer applied Thursday, Oct. 15, to the Federal Court to become an intervener in this class action case. He joins a second application, by a non-Jewish French Canadian officer whose claim was also rejected, which was filed earlier this fall.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner brings you the latest developments and an interview not with Jaffit—who is not allowed to speak to the media—but with a second Jewish member whose claim was rejected. We have disguised their identity to protect their career.

After 22 years at the TDSB, Shelley Laskin has a message for her successors

mercredi 14 octobre 2026 • Durée 30:20

After six terms and 22 years of public service, Shelley Laskin is stepping away from the Toronto District School Board. The board's longest-serving active trustee has decided not to run again on Oct. 26, when Ontario voters head to the polls and choose their next local leaders.

In doing so, one of Toronto's most prominent Jewish advocates at the school board level leaves during a sensitive time. The TDSB has been mired in issues surrounding antisemitism and anti-Zionism ever since Oct. 7, 2023. Last year, the board was commandeered by the provincial government, which, Laskin says, left trustees without resources and parents without elected representatives who can properly act on their concerns.

But Laskin can point to significant accomplishments, too. She's proud to have helped usher in citywide Holocaust education and her work with the TDSB's Jewish Heritage Committee, which built resources and partnered with other heritage groups on cross-cultural programming.

On today's episode of North Star, The CJN's education reporter Zenith Wolfe speaks with Laskin about public education, Jewish inclusion, local democracy and what she wants the next generation of trustees to understand. Zachary Kauffman sits in for Ellin Bessner.

Correction: We said Laskin's first term was 2014. Indeed, she has served since 2010. The CJN regrets the error.

Credits

Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner )
Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer and video editor), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)
Music: Bret Higgins

Grieving Out Loud: Inside Toronto’s new open mic for loss

vendredi 9 octobre 2026 • Durée 20:25

When Rachel Carmela’s mother died just before the COVID pandemic, her family was able to sit shiva. But the sudden lockdown in March 2020 curtailed communal gatherings where she could say Kaddish for the rest of her year of mourning.

At the time, Carmela was working as a music and mindfulness teacher. She began writing songs to help cope with her grief and immersed herself in books and courses on the subject.

When pandemic restrictions ended, Carmela found there were few spaces where young adults like her could publicly express grief through song and poetry after the initial loss. So she created one.

She calls it Grieving Out Loud, a series of pay-what-you-can gatherings in Toronto that launched in late August. The second session, on Oct. 1, sold out, with about 75 people registered, although only a few performed at the microphone.

Carmela is now trained in expressive arts therapy. Over two hours, with yoga mats and tea available, she helps people living with grief find community without requiring them to talk about a specific loss, whether a person, pet or life circumstance.

While most participants have not been Jewish, Carmela plans to expand the open-mic gatherings to include events specifically for Jewish audiences, including opportunities to process collective grief over Oct. 7.

She joins host Ellin Bessner on today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast to discuss the open mics where grief takes the stage.

Related links

Learn more about Creative Grieving, and follow founder Rachel Carmela, the therapist, through her Instagram.
Read a new op-ed by Ezra Shanken about Canadian Jews being denied even their own Oct. 7 grief in The CJN.
A new book by a Canadian Rabbi Avraham Plotkin, who is also a bereaved father, on how to cope with the death of a difficult parent, in The CJN.

Canada’s first Oct. 7 memorial inside a Jewish cemetery is in Calgary

mercredi 7 octobre 2026 • Durée 22:36

When Calgary’s new sculpture, Shattered Into Light, was transported from the artist’s California studio in a wooden crate, Calgary Jewish cemetery operators thought it looked like an artifact from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The sculpture and an adjacent plaque were installed in a renovated community space inside Calgary’s historic Erlton cemetery, now called the Garden of Remembrance. Dedicated during a community ceremony in late August, the metal artwork stands 1.86 metres tall, or just over six feet—about the height of a full-size refrigerator.

Other Canadian Oct. 7 memorial projects have been created in recent years—locations include a garden at a Vancouver synagogue, two Jewish community centres in Toronto, and outside the Ottawa JCC. But the Calgary monument is believed to be the first permanent Oct. 7 memorial inside a Canadian Jewish cemetery—and possibly among the first of its kind in North America.

Organizers felt they needed to provide a peaceful place where people could honour those lost on Oct. 7 and in the ensuing conflict. Calgary is home to the brother of murdered Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver, as well as Israelis impacted by the 2023 terrorist attack. The sculpture has already attracted visitors, including non-Jews.

While the local Chevra Kadisha isn’t actively soliciting funds for the project, which was covered by local sponsors, financial contributions to its upkeep are welcome.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, artist Charles Sherman joins host Ellin Bessner, along with Harold Lipton and Susan Dvorkin of the Calgary Chevra Kadisha, to discuss the new garden, the Oct. 7 sculpture and why the community wanted this memorial now.

Related links

How Toronto’s hostage dog tags and yellow pins worn for 843 days turned into an eternal sculpture and also a second piece of art connecting Canada and Israel, in The CJN.
Learn more about a Vancouver Oct. 7 memorial garden erected inside the Temple Sholom synagogue, in

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