Interview with Susan Dempsey 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. Susan (she/her) is a Jewish woman, born in St. Catharines, ON and living in Victoria. She identifies with the lesbian community, but confides the idea of a sexuality without boundaries is something she’s getting more used to. Susan shares about her parents’ and their respective upbringings and livelihoods as mostly assimilated Jews in Chicago and Toronto or Southern Ontario. She talks about chosen family like her klezmer bandmates in the Klezbians, coming out to her family, and when she realized herself that she was a lesbian. She reflects on her childhood and growing up aware of political events like the JFK assassination. She talks about eventually finding the field of psychology, studying in St. Catharines, working in peer counseling initiatives and non-profits. Susan talks about relationships and reconnecting to the Jewish community through feminist and/or lesbian Seders after negative experiences and ambivalence. She talks about the Klezbians and feeling valued to queer and Jewish communities, wondering about the place for young people in current Jewish community, and wishing she was more proud to be Jewish and out throughout her life.

Oral history interview with Sam Barrett who was born in Winnipeg in 1897, fought during the First World War where he sustained a life-long eye injury.

Oral history interview with Ronald Greene in preparation for the 2014 Scribe with a focus on Jewish scrap metal dealers.

Oral History interview with Rita Sitwell. Her family is from Vilna Poland. Her grandmother was a baker and would make all the traditional baked goods for the holidays. Rita talks about growing up in Vilna under communism and antisemitism in the USSR. They move to Israel in 1970, when Rita was 25. She talks about finding freedom in Israel and later Canada. Her family moved to Montreal. Rita worked as a hairdresser, she tried to work with Jewish people so she could switch to Yiddish when she didn’t know the English words. Her mother loved Montreal because it was better for her health than Israel. They all moved to Vancouver in 1974. Her and John got married in 2000 and she moved to Victoria with him.

Oral history interview with Rabbi Victor Reinstein who discusses rabbinical studies and the importance of adjusting to contemporary shifts in attitudes, views and societal understanding. Rabbi Reinstein is supportive of and has tried a number of times to increase interfaith connections, not just at the public level, but administrative or religious officials.

Oral history interview with Rabbi Victor Reinstein who was born in Boston, 1950. His wife Sue is a journalist. Moved from Maine to Victoria in 1982.

Oral history interview with Phyllis Serota. Interviewed by Jean Gerber. Phyllis is a painter living and working in Victoria, BC. She graduated with a BFA from the University of Victoria and has shown extensively throughout Western Canada and the United States since 1977.

Oral Interview with Phyllis Serota for the JMABC Artists Scribe. Interviewed by Daniella Givon via remote Zoom call. Phyllis talks about her upbringing in inner city Chicago, Illinois and her relationship with both her immediate and extended family who lived in the same neighborhood. She speaks about her religious and secular education leading to being an artist, including her discovery of art when going to art classes at the Chicago Art Institute, and at the University of Victoria. Phyllis and her family relocated to Victoria due to the political climate of later 1960s America. Phyllis discusses her career as a painter including her painting style, her way of selling art, and painters who inspired her. She talks about her life in Victoria, and how her wife, place of residence, and institutions inspired her work. She closes with the importance of her place in the queer community, and the acceptance of her queer identity in the Jewish community.

Oral history interview with Norman Brown who arrived in Vancouver in 1907 and Bernice immigrated to Vancouver after marrying Norman in San Fransico in 1930. Norman attended Talmud Torah school when he was a child. Both were involved in a variety of Jewish community organizations. Bernice was president of both Federated Jewish Women and National Council of Jewish Women. Norman was president of the Canadian Jewish Council. He discusses memories of early life in Strathcona and Mount Pleasant. Interview ends with a discussion of photographs.