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.

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 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.

Oral History interview with John Sitwell. John’s family is from Poland. His grandfather’s house in Poland was a large estate with a registration date of 1136. His family owned a sugar mill and sold bagged sugar. John and Rita went back to Poland and toured around the area his family lived. His parents survived the holocaust and then escaped Uzbekistan. They were on some of the first boats to Israel. In Israel, his grandfather owned a granary. They lived in Israel until John was 8, when they immigrated to Canada. They lived in Regina when they got here. John became a school councillor and moved out to the west coast. His parents followed him after they retired.

Oral history interview with Leon Braverman who was born in Ganchasti, Bessarbia in 1890. He learned to be a watchmaker in Russia. Started his own watchmaking business which collapsed, he than worked at Birks jewelry store in Vancouver, than Miller's Jewelers.

Oral history interview with Louis Eisman in preparation for the 2015 Scribe on Jewish clothiers. Louis speaks on his family history, his grandparents having moved to South Africa from both Russia and Lithuania, as well as his upbringing in Cape Town. In South Africa, Louis began working as a traveling salesman after six months of university, before going on to have an agency and manufacturing plant. In 1977 he moved to Toronto, Canada, where he was successful in his work for a few years. In 1979, he was offered a position in Vancouver, and after spending a weekend there, he and his wife prepared to move there in the following year. He also speaks about his involvement with the Jewish community, and his life and success in Vancouver since moving.

Oral History Interview with Mia Weinberg for the JMABC Artists Scribe. Interviewed by Bill Gruenthal. Mia was born in London, England in 1958. She describes her life as a child of German-Jewish refugees post-WWII, growing up in England and the role this had on her life, including her art work. She discusses her transition from a materials technologist in England to an immigrant in Vancouver, going to art school in her 30s and becoming an independent working artist. Mia is known for working with unconventional materials in her works, most often sculpture and installations.

Oral history interview with Sam Heller, who was born in Poland, later moving to England than emigrating to Canada in 1940. Sam's father Horace was one of Poland's top lumber producers, Sam tried to get into the lumber trade on the east coast of Canada but was impeded, therefore moved to Vancouver. Besides Sam's involvement in the Forestry industry, he was involved in the Zionist Association.

Oral Interview with Sidi Schaffer for the JMABC Artists Scribe. Interviewed by Daniella Givon. Sidi goes over her family history in Romania, where she was born, and across Eastern Europe, and then details her immediate family in Canada. Sidi describes her artistic influences from her parents who were professional photographers after WWII, especially her mother who encouraged her to do art. Being born in 1938, some of Sidi’s earliest childhood memories are of fleeing from the Holocaust with her family. Sidi found art to be an escape from personal traumas, which eventually took her to art school in Bucharest where she met her husband, David. Sidi describes her and David’s time living in Israel, and eventually moving to Edmonton where she pursued more formal arts education. Sidi describes opportunities to show her printmaking and painted works, and teach arts across Canada. She also describes inspiration from nature, freedom of expression, and memories of the Holocaust. She outlines how the Gesher Project helped her develop as a Jewish artist, and how she produces Judaic influenced art with her sister.