A Labour of Love: A Brief History of the Jewish Independent

Jewish Western Bulletin (July 2, 1937)

Jewish Western Bulletin (November 24, 1939)

Jewish Western Bulletin (February 2, 1945)

Jewish Western Bulletin (March 26, 1953)

Jewish Western Bulletin (May 13, 1955)

Jewish Western Bulletin (November 27, 1970)

Jewish Western Bulletin (March 20, 1980)

Jewish Western Bulletin (March 20, 1980)

Jewish Western Bulletin (July 12, 1990)

Jewish Western Bulletin (December 8, 1995)

The Jewish Independent (September 30, 2005)

Local community newspapers play many important roles in animating and reflecting communal life. From the most personal announcements to institutional news to local insights on major global events, they connect and inform community members about what is happening around them. Stories can bring attention to diverse and marginalized perspectives, editorials and letters provide a forum for discussion and debate, and social pages help families mark milestones from birth to death. As a historical record, within their pages we find the hopes and fears of people across time.

The 96-year-old Jewish Independent, British Columbia's Jewish community newspaper, actually had its beginnings in 1925, with a short-lived mimeo, which went through a series of names and publishers before becoming the Jewish Western Bulletin, a tabloid that has been published since 1930, its name changing to the Jewish Independent in 2005.

Over its long history, the Jewish Independent serves as the most continuous chronical of Jewish communal life. The current paper (available online and in print) and its archives (made freely accessible online via the SFU library newspaper collection from 1923–2005), are a priceless historical and educational resource.

In this talk, editor of the Jewish Independent Cynthia Ramsay will offer a broad overview of the paper's history, from its pre-origins to today.

Monday, April 27th, 2026

5:30pm PST / 8:30pm EST (Zoom)

Registration is required (by donation, no minimum)

This event is part of the Peretz Centre's new Doikayt Speaker Series: four public, online talks with with local scholars and activists to help us think about what it means to be here, right now -- and how we can be part of the work to sustain and initiate change for the sake of a better, more beautiful world for all.

Like our Zhargon program, the Doikayt Speaker Series extends classroom learning for students enrolled in Doikayt: Histories of Jews Going West and opens discussion with the broader community. Located on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, the Peretz Centre's Doikayt program invites a lovingly critical engagement with Jewish histories of migration and settlement, and the role that Jews have played in colonial projects of nation-building.

We acknowledge the support of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation with funding provided by the Government of Canada.

About Our Speaker

Cynthia Ramsay is the owner/publisher of the Jewish Independent, British Columbia’s Jewish community newspaper, which was established in 1930. In addition, she was the editor of the Jewish Museum and Archives of BC’s annual journal, The Scribe, for more than 10 years. She was a founding board member of JQT (Jewish Queer Trans) Vancouver and is on the board of directors of the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation.

Event image: A collage made from front covers of the Jewish Independent and its predecessors (via the SFU library newspaper collection), by Adi Burton (2026).