Still helping Jewish community thrive at 25

Before immigrating to Winnipeg from Turkey in 2017, Daniel Kazado had never heard of the city.

“We just wanted to find a secure place where we could find work and raise our family,” Kazado, 48, said.

Daniel and his wife, Lora Kazado, never experienced antisemitism directly in Turkey. But being Jewish in that country meant being wary.

“It was like living in a glass bowl, feeling exposed,” he said. “You were always cautious.”

Wanting to live somewhere more secure, they decided to move to Canada. At first, they thought about Toronto or Vancouver — both seemed to be good locations for the couple and their two children.

Then, they heard about GrowWinnipeg, a program offered by the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. The program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, invites Jews in other countries to consider immigrating to the province. The Kazados applied and made a week-long visit.

“The people here were very welcoming,” Daniel Kazado of how the family felt embraced by the Jewish community. “It was clear this would be a great place to live and raise our children.”

Kazado is a mechanical engineer who owns his own business, and teaches at Red River College Polytechnic and the University of Manitoba.

“We feel at home here,” he said.

“The people here were very welcoming. It was clear this would be a great place to live and raise our children.”– Daniel Kazado

The Kazados are among the more than 6,800 Jews who have come to Manitoba through GrowWinnipeg since 2000. They are from places such as Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine and Uruguay.

GrowWinnipeg got its unofficial start in 1997, when representatives from the federation and the provincial government made an exploratory mission to Argentina. The visit was in the wake of the 1994 terrorist attack on the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured more than 300.

“Many Jews in Argentina didn’t feel safe,” said Evelyn Hecht, who went on that mission and met many Argentinian Jews who wanted to emigrate to Canada.

The federation created GrowWinnipeg three years later, and Hecht was its first director.

Through the program, potential immigrants are invited to visit Winnipeg for a week at their own expense. During that visit, they are met by volunteers who help them learn about the Jewish community and city while helping them with networking and providing job advice.

Hecht, who retired in 2006, said the visits are key to the program’s success.

“We want them to come and see the city with their own eyes,” she said.

After the visit, those who would like to make Winnipeg home can apply to the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, through which people who demonstrate the potential to contribute to the economy seek permanent residency in Canada. Their application is accompanied by a letter of recommendation from GrowWinnipeg.

Hecht said the success of the program goes beyond numbers.

“They bring excitement, energy and a love of things Jewish,” she said of their positive impact. “They have rejuvenated the local Jewish community.”

Bob Freedman was also on those early missions. It was supported by members of the Jewish community who wanted to find ways to reverse the declining Jewish population in Winnipeg, he said.

“We’d be in a sad situation” if not for GrowWinnipeg, Freedman said.

“I think we’ve developed a pretty good reputation for attracting newcomers. It turned out to be a successful initiative.”

“They provide emotional, spiritual and other supports, job connections, guide the newcomers through everything, providing them with whatever tools they need to be successful.”– Dalia Szpiro

Dalia Szpiro is one of those early newcomers, arriving here from Uruguay in 2002 with her husband and two small children. She is the director of GrowWinnipeg, which is the only program of its kind in Canada that works in a close partnership with a provincial government to bring immigrants to the country.

“As young professionals, we didn’t see much of a future in Uruguay,” she said. “The Jewish community here was very welcoming.”

Szpiro is passing that sense of welcome on to others, working with about 250 volunteers who welcome, host and help the potential immigrants during their week-long visits.

“It’s a community effort,” she said, adding the support of the community is.

“They provide emotional, spiritual and other supports, job connections, guide the newcomers through everything, providing them with whatever tools they need to be successful,” Szpiro said.

Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman said the influx of newcomers has helped stabilize the Jewish population in the city, which decreased from about 16,000 in 2000 to 13,690 in 2011. It is now about 14,000, the 2021 census determined.

“It’s amazing what we have accomplished as a community,” Lieberman said of the impact of GrowWinnipeg. “The newcomers are great people, educated, able to get jobs, and starting a new life in Winnipeg.”

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