Oral history interview with Jessie Anne Allman. Jessie worked for 'Children's Aid Society' and the Hadassah, helping to establish over 20 new chapters in Vancouver and Saskatchewan. Worked with the Jewish Family Service Agency.

Jessie's mother started the 'Quick Help Society' and was a member of the Hadassah.

Interview with Jack Huberman for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Jack (he/him) is a gay Jewish man born in Calgary, Alberta. Jack talks about his family’s origins in Poland and his parents’ livelihoods as grocers and property owners upon immigrating to Canada. Jack shares he realized he was gay very late in life, and how little dialogue about being queer and Jewish at the time made him reluctant to ‘come out’ within his Jewish community in Vancouver. He discusses the writing and mentorship of Rabbi Gil Steinlauf as a catalyst for understanding his sexuality within a Jewish context, though shares how ‘coming out’ did not make him feel welcomed across all parts of his Jewish community, including his own congregation. Jack talks about his desire to foster a greater awareness and acceptance for queer Jews. He discusses his experiences through school, including how he eventually became lawyer, and volunteering throughout the Jewish community in Vancouver. Jack closes by talking about his immediate family, including his husband, children, and grandchildren, and the importance of treating others equally and maintaining good relationships with those around you.

Oral history interview with Irma Schneider, interviewed by Cindy Rozen. Irma speaks on her family’s history as well as her early life and adolescence in East London, South Africa. Irma also discusses her childhood education in a Catholic convent and her experience with camp and Habonim. When she was married, she lived in Cape Town, where her children were also born, and in 1980, she immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. She details her family’s and her own experience with immigrating to Canada and speaks about her marriage and her children’s families.

Oral history interview with Helen Waldstein Wilkes. Helen was born in Czechoslovakia in 1936. In the spring of 1939, Helen and her family left their home in Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Canada to escape the Nazis. Helen felt like an outsider during her early years in Canada, but she was educated in Ontario and excelled in school and eventually received her PhD in French Literature.

She spent most of her career as a teacher of French and French education in Vancouver. Around the time of her retirement, Helen became more deeply interested in her Jewish heritage. She is now an active member of the Or Shalom congregation. In 2010 she published 'Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery,' a well-received book which describes her discovery of the desperate letters sent to her parents from relatives who were still trapped in Europe as the Holocaust began, and her growing engagement with her own cultural inheritance.

Throughout Helen's life, reading and philosophy have helped her to make sense of the world and the meaning of her life.

Oral history interview with George Weinstein. . George was born in Romania in 1925 and moved to Vancouver as a small child. He talks about his family and his mother’s involvement with the Vancouver Jewish Community. In 1944, he left high school and joined the Canadian Navy. After the war he went to work for his uncle in the scrap metal business driving a truck. He met his life Mildred at a Jewish Youth Group and they had 3 sons together. He talks about his parents coming to Vancouver in 1900 and his mother’s Journey in 1928. He talks about growing up in Vancouver.

Oral history interview with Elena Bregman. Born in Kraslava, Latvia. She discusses what it meant to be Jewish openly in the Soviet Union. Graduated from Leningrad University after studying finance. She met her future husband in Murmansk. Immigrated to Vancouver in 1991. She describes how the Jewish community in Vancouver aided her in settling in and her job change to cosmetology.

Oral History interview with Elaine Charkow. Elaine was born in Russia. Her family emigrated when she was 8. They first stopped in Winnipeg where her father worked in the grain business. They moved to Vancouver in 1926. During the 1930's Her mother took in 2 refugees from China. Her father was one of the founders of the Vancouver Free Loan Association. Elaine talks about the importance of the Jewish Community Center on 11th and Oak. Elaine instrumental in finding housing for Polish immigrants. She worked with B’nai B’rith Girls, United Jewish Appeal, and Hadassah.

Oral history interview with Dr. Ted Cohn. Theodore Cohn, SFU Professor Emeritus. His research interests include global and regional trade policy, international institutions, theories of international relations, and global cities. He is the author of Canadian Food Aid: Domestic and Foreign Policy Implications (1979), The International Politics of Agricultural Trade: Canadian-American Relations in a Global Agricultural Context (1990), 2 editions of Global Political Economy: Theory and Practice (2000 and 2003), and Governing Global Trade: International Institutions in Conflict and Convergence (December 2002). He is a co-editor of Innovation Systems in a Global Context (1998) and Power in the Global Era (2000). Dr. Cohn has also written many smaller monographs and articles on international trade, foreign debt, international development, crossborder issues, and global cities. Currently he is co-authoring a book on international organization.

Ted is originally from Detroit. He is married To Shirley Cohn.