FEDERATION CJA West Island

96 Roger Pilon Blvd., Dollard des Ormeaux, Québec

Since 1971, when less than 3,000 Jews lived on the West Island, the population has exploded to more than 13,000 as of 2001, the most recent census. This makes the West Island the second largest Jewish community in Montreal and one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in all of North America.

FEDERATION CJA has had a presence in the area since the early 1980s. With rapid growth came an increase in the need for services. 2003 marked the beginning of consultation with West Islanders on a strategic plan for an expanded presence. Priority needs include services for the elderly, children, the poor, and families. Committed to the delivery of these services, FEDERATION CJA opened a West Island branch in the Westpark section of Dollard des Ormeaux in January 2006.

The West Island is a young community, with the largest number of Jewish children (3,590), teens and young adults (2,130), and Jews between the ages of 25 and 44 (3,540) in Montreal. However, by 2011, the population of Jewish seniors in the area will double, to a total of more than 1,200.

More than 10% of Montreal’s Sephardic population lives on the West Island. 1,005 West Island Jews live below the poverty line.

FEDERATION CJA joins three synagogues and the YM-YWHA as Jewish institutions serving the social and spiritual needs of the West Island’s Jewish community.

Proud sponsor of FEDERATION CJA West Island

Stories from the West Island

Brahm Solomon: Taking a global perspective on community

Though it sounds counter-intuitive, Brahm Solomon’s Jewish identity solidified after he left the Jewish day school system and found himself in CEGEP and university. (more)

Participants from a recent Palmach Mission to Israel.

Palmach Mission from Montreal celebrates with the Youth of Adanim in Bnei Shimon

On Monday, May 14th, Adanim celebrated the opening of a new youth village in the Bnei Shimon Regional Council, in Montreal's Partnership 2000 region, thanks in large part to a donation from the Palmach Division of Combined Jewish Appeal. (more)

Helping the Vulnerable on the West Island

Life had been going along pretty much as Adele had always planned. She stayed at home, raising her four kids while her husband went off to work every morning. They owned a comfortable house in Dollard des Ormeaux and, though the mortgage consumed a considerable amount of their monthly budget, she had no reason to worry about whether the payments would be met. Suddenly, things began to go horribly wrong. (more)

West Islander Returns to his Roots as Chair of FEDERATION CJA West Island

When Sandy Jesion, 37, got married three years ago, it was natural for him, and his wife Bonnie Leiner, to move back to the West Island, where he had grown up and where his parents still live. (more)

Raising Their Family in the Jewish Environment of the West Island

“The area just seemed so full of life and it was important for us to be in proximity to other Jewish families,” says Laurence Chriqui, 36. She and her husband chose to move to Dollard des Ormeaux three and a half years ago with their three young children because the area struck them as an ideal place to raise a young family and offered better value and newer homes than they could afford in the city of Montreal. In many ways, the family is illustrative of the typical West Island Jewish household. (more)

Stanley Sculnick avec ses enfants Courtney (gauche) et Chelsea (droite) et sa femme, Linda.

Stanley Sculnick: West Island Campaign Chair Sees Strength of Jewish Identity in his Own Family

In addition to sitting on the West Island Management Committee, Stanley Sculnick has taken on the responsibility of chairing the West Island division for the 2006 Combined Jewish Appeal. (more)

Camp B’nai Brith Offers Summer Fun for All

Michael’s family was living comfortably, if at the limits of the joint income his parents earned. Outwardly, they appeared to be doing well, with a nice home in the West Island, a car, and an annual trip south during the winter. (more)

Career Boosted from JEM, Now Resolved to Give Back to the Community

“I’m not so much religious as I am concerned about Judaism,” says Gilbert Tordjman when asked to explain his attachment to the Jewish community. He acts upon this concern by being involved in the Jewish community. He is the treasurer of Or Shalom, the Sephardic synagogue in Dollard des Ormeaux, where he has lived for the past six years with his wife and two children, and sits on the West Island Management Committee of FEDERATION CJA. (more)

FEDERATION CJA West Island Opens

On Sunday, May 28, FEDERATION CJA and its family of agencies celebrated the grand opening of its West Island branch. (more)

West Island Hillel is on the Mark

West Island Hillel is using creative approaches to engage local Jewish youth with each other, their identity and, ultimately with the broader Jewish community. (more)

Derek Cassoff with his daughter, Sarah,
who just turned two.

The West Island

"I have to admit that I was surprised when I was first asked to write about my 'unique' experiences as a West Island Jew. Considering that I have spent half of my life living in the West Island, my situation has never struck me as being any different from that of Jews who live closer to, say, the Cavendish Mall." (more)

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