The great Samuel Johnson poet and writer once opined that "the two offices of memory are collection and distribution." Indeed then newspapers are for many the official vehicle that both collect memory and distribute it such that we are all better informed.

This week much has been said and written...

Last night, Justin Bieber won the 2013 "Fan's Choice Awards" at the Junos. No real surprise there given his immense, world-wide popularity.

More surprising to me, however, was Justin Bieber's decision while on his European "Believe" tour to make a very special visit to the home...

In a Huffington Post Blog submission last week, B'nai Brith Canada CEO Frank Dimant wrote:

There is already a movement that wants to neutralize Jewish support for the Conservative Party and the mantra is that all three parties have the same agenda regarding Israel, a two-state solution, so...

Wolfie Zimmerman, the little known king of the Toronto smoked meat sandwich passed away a couple of weeks ago.

I will miss him. Very few deli owners had Wolfie's touch. Located in a utilitarian strip mall in Toronto's Jewish enclave just west of Bathurst on Sheppard Avenue, Wolfie's was...

With little fanfare, Canada was scolded last month by both the United Nations and Amnesty International over its human rights record. Yes you read this correctly -- Canada.

The two areas that attracted the most attention by the UN/ Amnesty International human rights experts were Canada's...

It's Christmas day. And as I gaze at the palm trees, green grass and lush vegetation outside my in-laws' condo in Boca Raton, I still cannot reconcile a warm summer-like December 25th with my rich memories growing up in Ottawa, where Christmas meant mounds of snow and icy cold temperatures.

Imagine, if you will, a disease that affects only a specific population group whose symptoms can include muscular numbness, hearing and speech defects, paralysis, insanity, coma and even death. Then consider this, as bad as the symptoms are for adults and children, for pregnant women and their yet unborn babies,...

The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, a 63-year-old rocker who began his career in his native New Jersey struggling for success in the late 1960s and taking off by the mid 1970s has become a musical icon. I saw him for the first time in 1976 at Ottawa's National Arts...

In summertime, the lazy McIntyre River, a tributary of Lake Superior, is a picturesque waterway that meanders through Thunder Bay's George Burke Park. An easy canoe paddle will give you a view of white and black spruce, birch and poplar, and a host of northern Ontario wildflowers.

However for...

On Tuesday October 2, the Federal Court of Canada found S13 of Canada's Human Rights legislation dealing with hate on the Internet to be constitutional. The irony of course is the fact that a few months earlier a federal private members bill repealed this section choosing not to...

As summer's gentle breeze slowly gives way to autumn's brilliant colours and cooler temperatures, the thoughts of Jews around the world inevitably turns towards renewal, memory and atonement. It's the time our New Year rolls around followed by the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the...

A book has been written about him. He has cavorted with mafia bosses, terrorists, smugglers, murderers and thieves. It is even believed that he knows the final resting place of Teamsters' boss Jimmy Hoffa. And why not, he use to be Hoffa's driver in the day....

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

The above statement is known as Godwin's Law. It's based on the principle developed by American lawyer Mike Godwin that if an online conversation goes on long enough, it eventually turns...

Today when immigration and refugee issues are being used as a political football, perhaps a good news story of one immigrant family can help change attitudes.

The story of Tony Loschiavo's family is one such tale that does the heart and stomach a great...

The "North" in North America is somewhat of a misnomer. The vast majority of Canadians and Americans for that matter live within a hundred miles of the 49th parallel. I have had the opportunity to travel to the north of Canada (in the summertime, yes I'm a wuss) and can...

It's the 21st century. How far have we come in respecting the diversity of a modern pluralistic Canada? Many would argue not far at all.

Last week, we saw the beginnings of an uproar over the Bank of Canada producing a $100 bill with the...

It's called "Married Man's Lane" and it's situated by the backdoor of Dolly Arthur's infamous Bordello in Ketchikan Alaska that ran its business from the time Dolly went north to Alaska to make her fortune in 1920.

Realizing as she said "I could make a lot more...

As our attention is turned to the London Olympics, this column heralds a Canadian Olympic champion from 2008.

Why would anyone, even a Canadian gold-medal Olympian, want to row across the Atlantic Ocean? It would take 60-80 days with four people rowing in two-hour shifts, 24 hours a day. It...

Two years ago Craig Munro, a convicted murderer, was granted unescorted temporary passes from his minimum security prison in British Columbia. This week we heard that Craig Monro's regular request for his full parole hearing was quickly adjourned and he was moved from a minimum to a maximum security facility....

What does a smart former Israeli fighter pilot and the last Canadian Great Lakes passenger ship have in common?

History.

Gil Blutrich was born in Ra'anana Israel located in the southern part of the Sharon plain. It means "fresh" an apt word to describe this brash now...