In big cities, Jews have large organizations that can advocate on their behalf. In small towns, it’s the locals themselves that need to step up. That’s what happened when antisemitic incidents were recently revealed to have happened at a school in Stratford, Ont.—just one of a rash of similar incidents in Ontario schools this year.

After Carrie Wreford heard about Hitler salutes and inflammatory videos at her son’s school, she wasn’t satisfied by the school’s reaction, which focused on this specific incident—but didn’t get at the root of the problem. So she initiated class tours of a local Holocaust museum exhibit on loan from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, which she hopes will educate local kids about the dangers of hatred and bigotry against all people, not just Jews.

Wreford shares her story, and describes life as one of the few Jews in Stratford, with Ralph Benmergui on Yehupetzville, The CJN’s podcast about Jews in small-town Canada and beyond.

Credits

Yehupetzville is hosted by Ralph Benmergui. Michael Fraiman is the producer and editor. Our music was arranged by Louis Simão and performed by Louis Simão and Jacob Gorzhaltsan. Our sponsor is PearTree Canada, which you can learn more about at peartreecanada.com. This show is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, watch this video.