Maritimes - August 2018 - Post #3 - Charlottetown

We crossed into PEI on the Confederation Bridge, a  curved, 12.9 kilometre (8 mile) long bridge, which is the longest in the world crossing ice-covered water, and which is recognized as one of Canada’s top engineering achievements of the 20th century. Until the Bridge was built in the 1990s, the only way to get to PEI was by ferry or by air. 

One word about tolls. You only pay the toll for crossing the bridge when you are travelling from PEI to New Brunswick. And therefore, if you take the route that we took, by entering PEI by Bridge and leaving by the car ferry to Nova Scotia, you save the toll. 

On the way to Charlottetown from the Confederation Bridge, we stopped at the quaint little village of Victoria-by-the-Sea, a fishing and artist village, where we had lunch and browsed the local shoppes. People were so friendly and in every shoppe where we stopped, the proprietor engaged us in conversation and we were able to learn much about their lives living in a small village in Canada’s smallest province. 

Note the contrast in the next picture. This was in a local potter’s gallery. The proprietor was very friendly and he explained that he was the “last person on earth” who does not own a cellphone. He still uses his trusty old cash register, though you can see a bank card processor beside the cash register because his cash register only goes up to $99.99 and cannot process credit card payments. He still hand writes his receipts on carbon paper.



We arrived in Charlottetown mid afternoon and were staying at The Harbour House on Grafton Street. It is a boutique hotel located in a very large, very well maintained old house, about three blocks walk from Confederation Square and about two blocks from the boardwalk along the Charlottetown Harbour. The room we had was large with a fully equipped kitchen.

We took what was remaining of the afternoon to walk thru the downtown area. This is a very small city (only 36000 people; think one third the size of Modiin, Israel), so hard to believe that it is a provincial capital and that it is the place where Canada was declared a country in the 1800s. 

In terms of Charlottetown’s Jewish community, the first recorded Jewish settlers on Prince Edward Island arrived at the turn of the 20th century, although there was a branch here of the “London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews” in the latter part of the 19th century — but no Jews to try to convert.

A newspaper item from 1908 reports a celebration of Passover by the Jews of Charlottetown. At that time the brothers Louis, Israel and Abie Block arrived from Riga, Latvia, established three families, and became prominent entrepreneurs under difficult, pioneer conditions. There were approximately a dozen other Jewish families who operated businesses for various, briefer periods before World War II and the number of Jews increased temporarily during the war when the Air Training Station was active.

Today there are about 50 Jews in PEI. It is the only Canadian province that does not have a Synagogue. An article in the JTA in 2001 spoke about one of the residents Joe Naylor as being the only PEIer to keep kosher, importing his chicken and meat by the freezer load to Charlottetown from Montreal. But a quick Google search revealed that Joe died in 2011 and most probably there is no one today in PEI observing kashrut. 

And so it was quite amazing that when browsing thru a local health food store in the centre of town, I found this in the refrigerated section; Baldwin Kosher Hot Dogs....when I asked the proprietor why he was carrying that particular brand, he answered that his distributor carries it and he has had good feedback on the quality of the product from his customers. 

There is an organized small community that meets for various holidays and celebrations. The Atlantic Jewish Council which oversees the various small Jewish communities in Atlantic Canada has a full time chaplain, Rabbi David Ellis, who lives in Halifax and visits the various communities to conduct High Holiday services and Pesach seders etc., and essentially serves as the roving Rabbi to a number of the remote, sparsely populated Jewish communities. 

After a very delicious dinner of fresh Atlantic salmon and locally grown veggies (at the only kosher restaurant in PEI....our hotel kitchen), we walked back to the centre of town to see the Anne of Green Gables Musical at the Confederation Arts Centre. 

The Theatre was packed and it was a very professional production. Most of the attendees were tourists like us and many were from the cruise ship docked in town. Apparently during the summer there is almost always a cruise ship in town, and during the months of September and October, there could be up to three docked per day. People come from all over to see the fall colours. 

On Wednesday morning, we first walked back again to Confederation Square, did some more craft browsing and interacted with the characters milling around the area who were dressed in period dress from the time of Confederation, and who played the parts of some of the key political figures of the time. Below is Fran with a very stiff looking Sir John A, and then Fran again with still stiff but much more alive characters of confederation. 

We then drove to the area near the cruise port which is the very old part of town, with original wooden, brightly painted buildings on narrow streets. The area was full of visiting tourists, lots of souvenir shoppes and craft stores. 

By 1 PM we had to move on in order to get to the ferry port at Wood Islands where we would sail for a little over one hour to reach Nova Scotia, and proceed with our almost two hour drive to Halifax. 

We reached Halifax in the early evening and checked into our residence for the next four nights. It was a newly built duplex (we had the upper floor), very spacious and very well equipped with 2 bedrooms and a full kitchen. Really a great place to be over Shabbat, though it was a 25 minute walk to the Beth Israel shul on Oxford Street. Once we checked in, we went over to Sobey’s on Queen Street which reputedly had the greatest selection of kosher food in the Maritimes. 

They did have a section labelled KOSHER and carried various packaged cheeses, cold cuts, hot dogs, etc. In their freezer they had a large selection of kosher frozen raw meats, but in the chicken category, it looked as though they were waiting for a stocking order from their supplier. They did have chicken wings and bones for soups, as well as turkey breasts, but they had no supply of whole or cut up chickens. 

We had been invited to the home of Rabbi Yaakov and Lisa Kerzner (formerly of the Mizrachi Bayit on Wilson) for Friday night, but we needed to prepare something for Shabbat lunch, so we decided on fresh salmon and turkey breast as well as a potato salad. 

On Thursday morning I went to shul (the Beth Israel advertises itself as the only daily minyan east of Montreal), and we had a minyan of 14 men. I lained and was also scheduled to lain on Shabbat. Apparently, they usually get a minyan in the morning, which is followed by a complimentary breakfast in the Youth Lounge. 

Rabbi Kerzner told me that there was a relatively new kosher bakery in town, The East Coast Bakery on Quinpool Road, which carried bagels, challah and cookies, all highly recommended by the Rabbi. So on the the way back from shul, I went to the bakery, bought some bagels and ordered challah buns for Shabbat. One caution, the minimum order of bagels or challah buns is six, so if you are just two people like us, prepare to have some buns or bagels that will need to be carried over for a few days use.

We began our touring of Halifax by visiting the Halifax Citadel, which is located high on a hill overlooking the downtown area and the port. 

Halifax Citadel is actually the fourth fortification built on the site. Although earlier fortifications were built in 1749-50, the year that Halifax was formed as a city; 1776-81; and 1795-1800; this latest rendition began construction in Sept 1828 and through construction delays caused by design and structural problems, completion took almost 30 years, and was finally finally completed in 1855-56.

The fortifications were successively rebuilt to defend the town from various enemies. While never attacked, the Citadel was long the keystone to defence of the strategically important Halifax Harbour and its Royal Navy Dockyard. 

Upon departure of the British garrison in 1906, it was handed over to the Canadian militia. In 1951 the site was declared a national historic park. About 1 million people visit the site annually.

There are guided tours on the hour led by summer students dressed in period dress that brings the 8 pointed star shaped Fortress back to life.

The guides that we had were excellent and gave us an education into what it was like to have lived during that time period in Halifax. As well, we were treated to a demonstration in musket shooting and were also present at the Noon Cannon firing, which happens daily. What followed was a bagpipe and drums marching band, again all dressed in the uniforms of the Scottish Highlanders. 

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In the afternoon, we went down to the harbour and toured Pier 21, also called the Canadian Museum of Immigration.

Pier 21 was an ocean liner terminal and immigration shed from 1928 to 1971. Over one million immigrants came to Canada through Pier 21 and it is the last surviving seaport immigration facility in Canada. The facility is often compared to the landmark American immigration gateway Ellis Island. 

A picture from the internet showing an ocean liner beside Pier 21 and in front of the long building you can make out the rail line and train to which people transferred once they were approved as immigrants to Canada, and the next picture shows Pier 21 today as a museum with a modern cruise ship docked beside it in the Halifax Harbour. 




Taking advantage of Halifax’s excellent deep sea harbour and therefore its ability to handle the largest ocean liners, the immigration processing centre was erected here and a rail line was extended to an area parallel to the shed. Immigrants could enter, be processed, and then immediately transferred to a rail car that would take them to wherever they were headed in Canada. 

At the end of the Second World War, many Jewish refugees entered through this facility. Some stayed in Halifax, but many continued to join Family in various other Canadian cities.

It is an excellent tour and you begin to gain an appreciation for the difficulty and trauma that was experienced by so many refugees fleeing oppression, and the feeling of exhilaration when finally approved and walking out of Pier 21 as free individuals. In one of the testimonies that we heard at the Museum, the speaker said that he could not believe that immediately after having his landed immigrant card approved and stamped, he walked out as a totally free person, something he had never before experienced. 

In the evening, we went to Shakespeare by the Sea, and watched a live performance of Twelfth Night. This program, now in its 10th year, is held in a Park by the sea, by an acting troupe that takes Shakespeare plays and presents them with a modern and humourous twist. 

Friday morning, we are scheduled to go to the world famous Lunenburg and Peggy’s Cove fishing villages. 

More to come

Fran and David

Edi