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July 22, 2005
Green's Jewish roots
From the Lower Eastside to mayor of Vancouver?
PAT JOHNSON
Amid the bric-a-brac and local art in Jim Green's cramped City
Hall office is a Jewish National Fund certificate declaring that
a tree has been planted in Israel in honor of the feisty Vancouver
city councillor and longtime Downtown Eastside activist.
The certificate – and the tree it represents – holds special
meaning for Green. It is a rare connection between Green and his
father, who shared a deeply strained relationship.
"I found one day these documents where he was planting trees
in Israel," Green said of his father. The discovery sparked
his curiosity and a little research by Green's sister-in-law has
led the family to conclude that Green's father was Jewish.
It wasn't something the pair were likely to discuss when Green's
father was alive.
"He was a very difficult man, very ill-educated man,"
Green said. "He was a severe, severe alcoholic and a very vicious
man."
Yet the JNF tree represents a rare coming together.
"My dad and I, who never got along, have done something together
now," Green said.
The genealogical discovery intrigues Green, who considers himself
a Jew using the Lenny Bruce definition, if not the halachic one:
He lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan for a time. He is also
a gastronomic Jew, whose first friends in Vancouver filled him up
with familiar Jewish foods.
"The first person, when I got to Vancouver and I didn't know
a soul in this city, the first person who took me in was a woman
named Cathy Berson," said Green. Berson, whose son Josh is
now the photographer for Green's political grouping, fed Green the
bialys he had developed a taste for in New York.
"They were like my family for, say, the first year I was here,"
Green said of the Bersons.
Green was hesitant to share the story of his Jewish connection for
fear it would seem like an election-year attempt at personal gain.
Politicians including Hillary Rodham Clinton have been accused of
currying favor by unveiling remote Jewish family connections. The
timing could seem suspect.
When Larry Campbell announced earlier this month that he would not
run for re-election as Vancouver's mayor, he publicly urged Green
to succeed him. The wildly popular Campbell's departure leaves a
vacuum and Green, Campbell's closest council ally, hopes to fill
it.
But he will have a fight on his hands from his traditional allies,
as well as from the Non-Partisan Association, the centre-right coalition
that COPE trounced in 2002. When the Coalition of Progressive Electors
swept the civic election three years ago, it marked the first time
since its inception in the 1960s that the left-wing COPE had held
power in the city. Soon enough, the council caucus split into what
are dubbed COPE Classics – the leftists who carry the torch
reflecting COPE's roots – and the COPE Lites – the more
moderate, New Democrat-leaning crowd led by Campbell.
Green's group, known as Friends of Larry Campbell until Campbell
announced his departure, is now called Vision Vancouver. The group
is in the midst of acrimonious negotiations with COPE to come to
some agreement that will prevent competition between left-of-centre
candidates.
Emerging as Green's opponent on the left appears to be Councillor
David Cadman. On the right are the two NPA councillors, Sam Sullivan
and Peter Ladner. How the field shakes down will not be clear probably
until September.
In the meantime, both Cadman, who is co-chair of the city's Peace
and Justice Committee, and Green are declaring themselves sensitive
to an issue that has some Jewish Vancouverites on edge. Next June,
the Peace and Justice Committee is co-hosting a World Peace Forum,
which will bring together a panorama of peace and anti-war activists.
Some observers fear that the event holds the potential for vilifying
Israel, as some similar events in recent years have done.
"I'm very aware of it and I'm very, very concerned about it,"
said Green. "It troubles me and it troubles the mayor. It could
be a real, real problem. I hope there's a resolution in place."
Cadman defends the forum, saying organizers are putting in place
a code of conduct and other measures to reduce the chances that
condemnatory resolutions or rhetoric will trump the good work of
the event. The forum will draw about 1,000 Mayors for Peace, representatives
of 96 Peace Messenger Cities and countless individuals and nongovernmental
organizations with a goal of finding ways that cities – which
now represent more than half the world's population – can have
a positive influence on global security.
"Our intention is not to give space and voice to those who
would be anti-Semitic, racist in any way, preaching hate that is
against the laws of this land," said Cadman. "Don't want
that. But, that said, if somebody, in their personal capacity, chooses
to hold up a sign, would I throw them in jail? No. We live in a
free speech society. You can't stop somebody from expressing."
Hateful expression, though, is governed by federal criminal law,
Cadman said.
"If what they in fact express is against the law, then the
full force of the law should be used to prosecute them," he
said.
Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.
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