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May 18, 2007
New CJC leadership
Cuttler takes over as Pacific Region chair.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
There was a changing of the guard for Canadian Jewish Congress
Pacific Region (CJCPR) at its triennial meeting last week.
After three years as chair, Mark Weintraub passed the baton to a
new leader, former CJCPR honorary legal counsel Gerry Cuttler. Weintraub
will be running for the position of national CJC chair at the Congress
plenary in Ottawa June 17.
Cuttler, a partner in the Vancouver law firm Getz Prince Wells,
will lead a new slate of officers that will serve CJCPR for the
next two years. He is a litigator with expertise in adminstrative
law and dispute resolution and has worked with nonprofit organizations
for many years.
At the triennial on May 9, Cuttler thanked Weintraub for three years
of "leadership and determination ... your efforts have led
to concrete accomplishments, both locally and nationally."
Key among those accomplishments was Weintraub's spearheading of
the effort to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
It was at his urging, said Sen. Mobina Jaffer at the meeting, that
she visited refugee camps in Darfur and helped bring the issue to
national attention.
Along with outgoing board member Tony DuMoulin, Weintraub was also
involved in interfaith outreach, liaison with the First Nations
community and advocacy for affordable housing.
In his speech at the triennial, Weintraub urged that the community
not underestimate "the continued need for passionate voices
for social justice." The Canadian Jewish community, he said,
has always envisioned, "a society committed to the attainment
of personal dignity. But to talk of personal dignity without talking
about the eradication of the racism and poverty and violence which
afflicts our society as a whole is empty rhetoric."
Working with Cuttler on the new executive committee will be vice-chairs
Mindi Cofman, Richard Kurland and Mark Wexler, secretary-treasurer
David Schwartz and honorary legal counsel Stephen Schachter.
Kurland is an immigration lawyer and policy analyst, Schwartz, a
lawyer and arbitrator, and Wexler, a consultant and professor of
business ethics at Simon Fraser University.
Including 12 officers at large, more than 30 per cent of the board
is now comprised of women. Board members are of a wide range in
age and come from across Greater Vancouver, Victoria and Bowen Island.
"We will continue," noted Cuttler, "to strive to
make CJC's volunteer board even more inclusive and representative
of our diverse community."
He spoke about the need to be vigilant and proactive around issues
of tolerance, sustainability and social justice.
"As we move forward," he said, "CJC Pacific Region
will seek to stand together with all people of good will and to
make a difference in the world we live in on a foundation of justice
and respect for human dignity."
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