Sunday, 29 Sep 2024

Canada’s Jewish Veterans and a Broader View of War

When At War began, it was as a way for The Times to offer expanded coverage from the war in Iraq. But the onetime blog has evolved considerably in the decade-plus since then, and a prime example of that shift was featured in At War this week.

Aron Heller, who reports from Jerusalem for The Associated Press, wrote about two Jewish Canadian airmen who served during World War II: Mickey Heller, his grandfather, and Wilfred Canter, who died in 1948 fighting for Israel’s independence.

[Read: These Jewish World War II Veterans Would Be Legends, if People Knew Their Stories]

While the author’s grandfather, who had a successful career in Toronto and is now 97, has spoken little about his experiences in the war, it was because of the elder Mr. Heller’s memories that Mr. Canter’s story lives on.

“Though he steadfastly refuses to share his personal war experiences, my grandfather notes with pride that about 40 percent of the military-age Jewish male population of Canada enrolled for active service, most of them volunteers who were dispatched overseas,” Mr. Heller wrote.

Lauren Katzenberg, who edits At War, told me that historical articles exploring families’ experiences in past wars are among the many new features that have been introduced since the forum was officially relaunched last year.

But the evolution started well before that. After initially supplementing coverage of conflict, At War grew into a venue for service members, veterans, military families, policymakers and others connected to the military to weigh in on relevant issues, said an earlier editor, James Dao, who is now Op-Ed editor for The Times.

After a brief hiatus, C.J. Chivers, a former infantry officer in the United States Marines and one of The Times’s most prominent war correspondents, championed a revival of At War in yet another form.

“We’ve come to a broad view of wars,” Lauren said. “We’ve expanded the scope beyond the American experience.”

Its coverage now includes accounts from wars without any American involvement, articles on how women are affected by war and first-person accounts from noncombatants like relief workers. The group produces an equally compelling newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

An aside: John Ismay, a staff writer for At War, was an explosive ordnance disposal officer in the United States Navy. (If you’ve seen “The Hurt Locker,” you have some idea of his previous career.) Along with Chris Chivers, he’s a resource for all of us in the newsroom when we need expert guidance on guns, ammunition and explosives.

A New Resource for Parents

A new stand-alone website joined the New York Times fold this week. Here’s how lead editor Jessica Grose described some what NYT Parenting offers:

We will cover everything from fertility and pregnancy to the basics of baby-and-kid care and developmental milestones. We’ll also offer support for your life as a person and a parent, touching on topics including how to make mornings easier and how to not murder your spouse after baby (though you may sort of want to).

One thing NYT Parenting won’t be doing is using the term “natural birth.” Jessica lays out the case against that phrase here.

And, yes, there’s also an NYT Parenting newsletter.

Trans Canada

—In Opinion, the science and environment writer Margaret Munro has written a provocative account of how officials in British Columbia’s Bella Coola Valley are taking a new approach to relations between grizzly bears and people: coexistence.

—As the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Vancouver continues to fray relations between Canada and China, her lawyers previewed arguments they will use in a bid to block her extradition to the United States.

—“This is my experience of having been in many dark places — prisons, psychiatric wards, slums, leper colonies,” said Jean Vanier, who died this week following a life devoted to serving people with intellectual disabilities. “There’s something frightening, but also something beautiful, a sense of wonderment.”

—After spending eight years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, a Pakistani Christian woman arrived in Ottawa.

—Wayson Choy, who died last week, told the Chinese-Canadian experience in memoirs and novels, particularly “The Jade Peony.” His writing also brought to light a secret from his past.

—A spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines said that if Canada doesn’t take 100 containers filled with garbage away by next week, “then we will be shipping them out and throw them to the shores or beaches of Canada.”

—Montreal has a new hotel in a familiar location: the old headquarters of Birks.

Around The Times

—In an extended essay for Opinion, Chris Hughes called for a breakup of Facebook, the social media giant he co-founded with Mark Zuckerberg. “Mark is a good, kind person. But I’m angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks.”

—Elizabeth Grace Saunders, a time management coach and author, offers advice and hope for those of us (and that probably includes me) whose time management blunders have led to regret.

—When seemingly everyone was making money during the 1980s, President Trump may have been losing more money than anyone else in the United States.

A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for the past 15 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.

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