Jewish communities in Hamilton, London and Windsor join forces to attract more people

When Laura Wolfson thinks about her work supporting newcomer Jewish families, one stands out — an Argentinian couple with their two young kids, who were on their way to their new home in Hamilton when things started to go wrong.

The family missed one of their three connecting flights, ran out of their kosher food, had their luggage not arrive, and their rental car not show up.

Instead of arriving at 6:30 p.m. like they were supposed to, the family arrived at midnight "tired, hungry and frustrated," said Wolfson, who was waiting for them at the airport.

She showed up for them as part of the J Welcome Home project — which she coordinates in Hamilton with the Hamilton Jewish Federation — a partnership with the Windsor and London Jewish communities to welcome people who are either moving out of pricey Toronto or newcomers to Canada.

"I called my partner at midnight and said 'don't go to bed, please meet us at this address 1 a.m. and bring toothbrushes, bring sleeping bags, bring pillows, bring some stuffed animals for the children and bring food,'" said Wolfson.

She said she was very happy to be able to support the family, who after a week of saying bye to family and a long, tiring trip, had at least an "instant community and instant friends who will come right away."

Project seeing success, increasing Hamilton numbers

The J Welcome Home project wants to bring people in by helping them in their process of moving to any of the three cities and was inspired by a similar project in Winnipeg.

From airport pickups, help finding employment and housing, to finding synagogues and kosher food, Wolfson said their goal is to make the transition "as easy for them as possible when they first arrive."

The Hamilton Jewish Federation started a similar project in 2020, when they saw trends that showed their population declining over the "past decades."

"We were finding that the older population was naturally declining," said Wolfson, "and the younger population were moving away at the same time."

So far, the project has seen success, and due to Hamilton's headstart, Wolfson said the declining trend started to reverse. This year, 23 Jewish families have already reached out to say they're considering Hamilton as their new home.

Giving Jewish newcomers a sense of community

Wolfson expects the project will keep growing.

"Partly because Canada has increased their immigration goals for the next at least two years, and partly because through word of mouth and through our increased marketing campaign," she said.

The J Welcome Project is also hosting information seminars as part of its campaign to advertise in other countries, with the first one happening in South Africa, and the upcoming one in Argentina.

Dan Brotman, executive director at the Windsor Jewish Federation, said he hopes to get at least 15 new families per year moving to Windsor and joining their community.

Windsor's federation is in a specially dire situation, as the only shrinking Jewish community in Canada.

Brotman said he and the head of the Hamilton Jewish Federation are both newcomers to Canada, and the head of the Jewish Community Centre in London is from a different part of the country, so they know first hand what it's like to arrive at a new place.

He recalls his first evening in Windsor, when members of the community dropped groceries off at his front door.

"Every single Friday night in Windsor I have somewhere to go, I'm never left alone for the holidays. I don't think that's an experience I would've had had I moved to a larger city," said Brotman.

"That's the type of experience we're trying to provide to other newcomers joining our community."