Jewish Connection

Canadian Jew helps bring OAS Forum to Windsor.

SHARON LUCKERMAN
Editorial Assistant

IV

hile some wait to see if
presidential candidate Al
Gore picks Sen. Diane
Feinstein (D-Calif.) for
his running mate, possibly making her
the first Jewish vice president, our
neighbors already have a Jewish
Canadian in their No. 2 leadership
position.
Herb Gray, whose parents came from
Belarus, is not only the deputy prime
minister of Canada, but also responsible
for bringing the. Organization of
American States (OAS) conference to
Windsor earlier this week.
Gray made the proposal two years
ago to Canadian Foreign Minister
Lloyd Axworthy after he learned
Canada was chosen as the site for 2000.
"I asked how big the meeting was
and if a site was picked," he says over
the phone. "[I was told] 900 delegates
and journalists. My city, Windsor, I
knew could handle a meeting that size."
Gray, 69, is a first-generation

Canadian. His parents met in Canada,
but he also has a small Detroit connec-
tion. He said, "My mother worked as
a nurse at Harper-Grace Hospital in
Detroit." His father built a retail busi-
ness, Gray's Department Store, which
was on Windsor's Ottawa Street.
A member of Shaar Hashomayim,
the -Orthodox synagogue in Windsor,
Gray is married Sharon Sholzerg-Gray,
the current executive director of the
Canadian Health Care Association.
They have two grown children.
When asked about the protesters at
the OAS conference, Gray said,
"There's a lot of misunderstanding.
They think the OAS is like the WTO
(World Trade Organization), but we're
not involved in negotiating trade.
We're promoting and strengthening
labor and human rights."
Still, Gray knew he had to be
braced for controversy, considering
the violent demonstrations at the
WTO meeting in Seattle.
"Any international meeting must
learn from the experience in Seattle,"
he said. "The idea of special arrange-

ments is normal
and prudent."
The Radisson
Hotel, where
delegates stayed,
and Cleary
International
Auditorium,
where OAS
meetings were
held, were sur-
rounded by blocks of cyclone fencing
with cement foundations. Helicopters
buzzed overhead, and there was a large
presence of local, provincial and
national police.
"I'm delighted people are out
protesting and thinking about the
issues [surrounding the OAS]," said
symposium keynote speaker Noam
Chomsky, who was in Canada to
receive an honorary degree at the
University of Toronto.
Chomsky, a linguist and political
theorist at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, continued to say that
the OAS, like the United Nations, has
a mixed role in both continuation of

Rte .

THE JEWISH r LIFE •

$20 million

G.fis of $1 Million
and above

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

$30 million

Eugene and Marcia Applebaum ---
Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish
Community Campus

Leonard Brooks Trust'
Unrestricted

6/9

14

D. Dan and Betty Kahn Building

The Kresge Foundation ---
Unrestricted capital

Edward and Judith Narens —
Edward and Judith Narens Fund for
Children with Special Needs

Sarah and Irving Pitt —
Sarah and Irving Pitt Child Development
Center

Nora Lee and Guy Barron —
Nora Lee and Guy Barron Partnership
2000 People-to-People Fund

Madekine aiLd Mandell L Berman
Madeleine and Mandell L. Berman
Family Life Fund

Penny and Harold 1311nnenstein —
Blumenstein Family Young Adult
Mission Fund

Leonard Brooks Trust —
Alliance for Jewish Education of
Metropolitan Detroit

Samuel and Jean Frankel
Unrestricted

Ina and Murray Pitt --
Sarah and Irving Pitt Child Development
Center

Marion and David Handleman —
Marion and David Handleman Hall and
Auditorium

Irving and Audrey Rose, Leslie and
Marjorie Rose —
Rose Family Fitness Center

Samuel and Lillian Hechtman —
Samuel and Lillian Hechtrnan
Gymnasium

Irving A. Rubin —
Irving Rubin Family East Entrance

William Davidson —
Hermelin-Davidson Center for
Congregation Excellence

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Foundation —
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Judaic
Enrichment Center

Ambassador David B. and
Doreen Hermelin —
Hermelin-Davidson Center
for Congregation Excellence

William and Shirlee Jacobs —
William and Shirlee Jacobs South
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2000

D. Dan and Betty Kahn --

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Samuel and Maly Cohn Millennium
Fund

Keynote
speaker Noam
Chomsky passes
Canadian
police on the
street as he
heads towards
a workshop on
human rights.

the traditional policies that impose
corporate power, and in responding to
a rising concern for human rights.
Citizens at the demonstration,
most of them Canadian, made their
voices heard on issues of social justice,
education and the environment.
Gray says he is proud the Canadian
government funded this conference,
which is unusual, and that it was
staffed by volunteers, who handled
press relationships and hospitality.
"You might be interested to
know," he added, "there are dele-
gates here who are observant and
people helped them to get kosher
meals and go to services." ❑

Frances and Joseph Fetter —
To be determined

Irwin and Bethea Green —
Irwin and Bethea Green
College Life Fund

James and Nancy Gmsfeld ---
To be determined

Schostak Farr*
Schostak Family
Jewish Academy
of Metropolitan Detroit
Millennium Fund

Jane and D. Larry Sherman —
Jane and D. Larry Sherman Family Israel
Experience Fund

Dr. Milton and Lois Shiffinan —
Shiffman Family Day School Tuition
Assistance Program

Ben N. Teitel Charitable Trust (Gerald S.
Cook, Trustee) —
Ben N. Teitel Millennium Fund

Related story: page 12

