JULY 28 • 2022 | 13

economic and political instability whose 
residents may be looking for a more 
stable living environment, Brotman 
says, adding that he’d also like to 
include South Africa, where he moved 
from 10 years ago.

CROSSING THE RIVER
Brotman, who has been living in 
Windsor about a year-and-a-half after 
stints in Boston, Israel and South 
Africa, says the program and its 
leadership are ready to help people 
interested in crossing the river for more 
agreeable living conditions. “There 
are a lot of people who say, ‘We’re not 
happy with what’s happening with the 
elections; why don’t we just move to 
Canada,’” he says. “We would love to 
help them in any way we can, and we 
have a program to help them. They 
don’t have to sever their links at all 
because we’re right across the river.”
He has been helping guide people like 
Kaitlin Mosseri, her husband, Nathan, 
and their 5-year-old daughter, who 
are eagerly eyeing a move from Metro 
Detroit to Windsor. When a draft of 
the Supreme Court decision that would 
overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked May 2, 
the family of three decided it was time 
to get moving. 
After reaching out to the Windsor 
JCC’s immigration service, they toured 
the facility and connected with a 
Reform synagogue nearby. 
“We’ve only been at this a little while, 
but it feels like we’re really building a 
network out there for when we’re really 
able to land,” Nathan Mosseri says. 
He adds that he and his wife want to 
get as involved with synagogues locally 
in Canada as they have been in the U.S., 
both for themselves and to provide 
consistency for their daughter. “We’re 
hoping that staying involved in the 
Jewish community will help her make 
the transition easier.”
Between May 2 and the end of June, 
they completed their paperwork to 
be put in a pool of those applying 
for permanent residency. While they 
haven’t been selected yet, the Waterford 
residents say they’re hopeful by the end 
of the summer it will be their turn to 

move across the border, where they 
hope to find a better life for their 
child.
“Roe v. Wade has been the big 
kicker for us,” says Kaitlin Mosseri. 
“We started the process when the Roe 
v. Wade draft was released, and we 
are currently waiting on an express 
entry.” 
In the meantime, they’ve been 
getting to know Windsor’s Jewish 
community, which includes many 
individuals and families with close 
ties to Metro Detroit. Part of the 
draw is that they’ll also be only a 
short drive from family in the U.S., 
Kaitlin says.
“Windsor is so close, and we’ll be 
able to continue to have those close 
relationships with my daughter’s 
grandparents, who live in Waterford 
and West Bloomfield,” she says. “Rosh 
Hashanah will still be coming up, 
Purim, Passover … It’s just a really 
stable piece of her life that will continue 
over there.”

DETROIT CONNECTION
Meanwhile, for Jews considering 
moving to one of the initiative’s cities, 
having access to Detroit’s kosher 
restaurants, supermarkets and Jewish 
day schools are a big draw, says 
Brotman, who himself goes to Detroit 
several times a week. 
“I consider them to be the same city, 
and I tell people I get the best of both 

worlds — I get universal healthcare 
and peace, but at the same time I get 
everything Detroit has to offer. I get 
to be part of a much larger Jewish 
community while still living on the 
other side of the border.”
Brotman says he would overall like 
to see Windsor and Detroit’s Jewish 
communities become even further 
integrated. “I’d like there to be more 
fluidity between people going to events, 
synagogues and just living,” he says. 
“You can live in one community and 
participate in the other.”
Efforts are underway to help develop 
stronger bonds between Detroit’s 
Jewish community and its Canadian 

continued on page 14

Participants came 
together at an art 
gallery in Windsor.

Nathan and Kaitlin Mosseri at 
the Windsor Riverfront in 2013, 
nine years before they started 
planning to make it their home.

