New Canadian Advocacy Group Moving Forward

from The Canadian Jewish Congress:

CIC Exec Named to Lead Restructured Agency

A plan to restructure the landscape of Jewish advocacy and consolidate all of its parts into one unified entity is not on hold, despite recent reports to the contrary, community officials say.

In fact, the initiative is “absolutely on schedule,” and a new CEO has been found to lead the yet-to-be-named organization, according to Steven Cummings, chair of the umbrella group Canadian Council for Jewish and Israel Advocacy’s (CIJA) and head of the reorganization committee working on the changes.

Media reports earlier this month said that at a Dec. 12 meeting in Montreal, United Israel Appeal Federations Canada (UIAFC) – officially CIJA’s governing body – voted unanimously to put CIJA’s restructuring plan on the back burner. The stories also said UIAFC wants the issue to be studied further and is asking for a final report on outstanding issues to be prepared by June.

But the reports were “totally inaccurate,” Cummings said.

“We are completing the process [on the] issues of branding, membership, creating bylaws, etc… and we hope to be able to present these to the CIJA and UIAFC boards toward the end of March,” he said. “I think that will be the time where the [restructuring] will get full approval. We hope to be hitting the ground running well before the summer.”

Cummings said that at CIJA’s Dec. 8 board meeting, a CEO was picked to head up the new centralized entity. That person is Shimon Fogel, current CEO?of the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC).

He’s scheduled to assume his new post on Jan. 1, Cummings said.