The Quebec-Israel Committee hosted a cocktail at the Quebec National Assembly on June 9 to savour a selection of fine Israeli wines along with a variety of prize-winning Quebec cheeses and other domestic delicacies. Ministers, MNAs, party officials and political staffers from the three main parliamentary caucuses, as well as senior civil servants from the Ministries of International Relations, Economic Development, and Tourism attended with members of the Montreal and Quebec City Jewish communities.

Sixteen young Quebecois leaders, representing the Parti Québécois, the Liberal Party of Quebec, the Action Démocratique du Québec, the Conservative Party of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada, and the Bloc Québecois, as well as university campus leaders, visited Israel over the Christmas and New Year holidays. In addition to attending Midnight Mass in Jerusalem and celebrating the New Year in Tel Aviv, participants traveled across Israel, and met with political leaders and their campus counterparts.

With over 200 quotes in the Quebec print media and dozens of interviews in the electronic media, the Quebec-Israel Committee (QIC) was at the forefront of pro-Israel advocacy efforts during Operation Cast Lead. Journalists regularly turned to QIC for expert analysis of the situation in Gaza and southern Israel, and we took the opportunities to ensure that Israel’s case was made in the Quebec media.

In February, Quebec-Israel Committee (QIC) staff accompanied forty non-Jewish undergraduate business students on the eight day Schwartz-Reisman Ivey-Desautels mission to Israel, organized by the Canada-Israel Committee, in collaboration with the University of Western Ontario and McGill University. The participants were exposed to all of Israel’s major tourist sites, as well as meetings with Israeli business leaders.

QIC organized a mission to Israel, in partnership with the Regroupement des Jeunes Chambres de Commerce du Québec (RJCCQ), this past May. Seventeen young Quebecois entrepreneurs, business people, and professionals visited major tourist attractions and attended meetings with leading Israeli entrepreneurs and business people, as well as visiting major companies, including Applied Materials, Project Better Place, Given Imagining, and the Teffen Industrial Park, home of Iscar.

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal performed at the Suzanne Dellal Center in Tel Aviv, to mark Tel Aviv’s 100th anniversary, and as part of the Israel Festival in Jerusalem to celebrate 60 years of Canada-Israel diplomatic relations. The Ballet was extremely thankful for the support it received from major Montreal Jewish community organizations, including the Quebec-Israel Committee, which worked with media and assisted with the visit.

In September, QIC travelled to Israel with nine Members of the Quebec National Assembly. MNA’s from the Liberal Party of Quebec, the Parti Québécois and the Action Démocratique du Québec met politicians, journalists and leading opinion makers, as well as with Palestinians. The MNAs were very enthusiastic about the common values shared between Quebec and Israel and look forward to working together to strengthen their relationship.

The Quebec-Israel Committee (QIC) invited Ha’aretz Diplomatic Editor Aluf Benn for a two-day visit to Quebec in November. In anticipation of his visit, La Presse ran an op-ed by Aluf Benn on Israel’s diplomatic overtures to the Palestinians. While in Montreal, Benn briefed some 25 community leaders on Israel’s current political, diplomatic and security challenges. He appeared on CJAD to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations and the Iranian threat. He gave a lecture, co-sponsored by Federation’s Israel and Overseas Committee, on the same topic at the Gelber Conference Centre, which was attended by 280 people. In Quebec City, Benn briefed officials from the Ministry of International Relations, briefed parliamentarians at the Quebec National Assembly, and had dinner with MNAs who have travelled to Israel with QIC.

In November QIC travelled to Israel with Soeur Angèle, a well known Quebec personality in the world of food, and Beatrix Marik, editor of ”Les Idées de ma Maison,” a leading decor magazine with some 976,000 readers. During their stay, they explored new culinary trends and met with leading Israeli chefs. They were also introduced to Israeli designers and architects. Back in Montreal, they gave interviews to different radio stations and newspapers about the discoveries they made during their trip. The March issue of  ”Les Idées de ma Maison’ will feature a spread on  Israeli lifestyles. Soeur Angèle will be presenting Israeli recipes for Quebec radio and television shows in the coming months.