Activity
Direct compensation payments are made from the Article 2 Fund and the Hardship Fund. The Claims Conference negotiates on an ongoing basis with the German government to include additional Nazi victims in compensation programs, increase payments, and provide increased funds for social services.
Canada’s largest populations of Nazi victims are in Toronto and Montreal, but the Claims Conference also allocates funds for services in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Winnipeg.
Toronto
Claims Conference grants to Circle of Care are aimed at enabling approximately 1,000 Nazi victims to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible. Services include homecare, case management, medical equipment, emergency assistance, kosher meal delivery, and transportation for medical appointments, grocery shopping, and visiting spouses in nursing homes and hospitals.
The Holocaust Resource Program of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care addresses a range of psychosocial and health care needs of approximately 500 Nazi victims and their families. The Claims Conference funds ongoing counseling, support groups, outreach, homecare, purchases of medical equipment and medications, and Café Europa and special events.
Bikur Cholim Jewish Volunteer Services of Toronto provides programs and services to meet the ongoing physical, social, and psychological needs of the elderly so that they may live independently and with dignity for as long as possible. The Claims Conference supports transportation to and from medical appointments, socialization, meals, financial assistance for homecare and housekeeping services, and a friendly visiting program for approximately 100 Nazi victims.
Jewish Family and Child Service serves approximately 500 Nazi victims annually, providing counseling, case management, emergency assistance, and socialization programs with the help of Claims Conference funds. The Café Europa is extremely popular, and the JFCS hosts two events every month, each attended by 200 Nazi victims.
Montreal
The Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors (CJCS) is the central address for services to Jewish seniors in Montreal. Claims Conference funding has enabled the Cummings Centre to develop and maintain services specific to the needs of Jewish victims of Nazism, including homecare; food services, including in-house cafeteria food, meals on wheels, and food gift cards; financial assistance with medications, medical equipment, dental care, and other necessities; mental and physical health programs; and case management. Day programs include a weekly socialization Drop-In center exclusively for survivors and day programs for seniors experiencing memory loss. The Montreal community is also home to a large Moroccan population. Eligible Moroccan community members will now be benefitting from Claims Conference funding.
A national program run by CJCS and supported by Claims Conference emergency assistance aids Nazi victims living in small communities outside Montreal. Supplemental assistance is also provided for more than 100 Hungarian survivors, most in and around Montreal, and some in small communities.
Montreal Child Survivors, Hidden Children holds eight or nine Café Europa events each year for approximately 45 Holocaust survivors in the Montreal area, supported by the Claims Conference.
Ottawa
Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Ottawa works with seniors and their families to support elderly clients, decrease their isolation, and allow them to live safely in their own homes for as long as possible. The agency provides financial assistance for medical equipment and dental services, food vouchers, chore/housekeeper services, case management, and funds for housing needs to approximately 45 Nazi victims in the Ottawa area.
Vancouver
The Nazi victim social service program of the Jewish Family Service Agency provides homecare, food vouchers and kosher meals, transportation, funds for medical equipment and medications to about 100 Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.
The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) maintains exhibitions, coordinates educational programs on the Holocaust, and provides services to Nazi victims and their families such as socialization, case management, and restitution assistance. With the help of Claims Conference funds, the agency provides case management and socialization programs for more than 100 Nazi victims. Approximately 15 socialization events are held each year between the Survivor Drop-In program and the Child Survivors Monthly Gathering.
Winnipeg
The Jewish Child and Family Service of Winnipeg operates a Café Europa program for more than 100 Jewish Nazi victims. In addition, the agency receives an emergency assistance grant from the Claims Conference, which provides financial and medical assistance to Nazi victims.