Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives

The Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives is a program of Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA. Previously known as the Canadian Jewish Congress CC National Archives (CJCCCNA), the Archives was established by the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1934. Our general mandate is to collect and preserve documentation of the Jewish presence in Quebec and Canada. Since January 1, 1992, we have benefited from the status of "Service agréé d'archives privées," a program of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Beginning in 2011, we gratefully acknowledge the support of the Alex Dworkin Foundation for Jewish Archives of the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal. Our name officially changed to Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives in January 2016.

The CJ Archives has many programmatic ties to the Concordia University Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies and serves on its Community Advisory Board. We also work in close collaboration with the Association of Canadian Jewish Studies and have ties to the Quebec Anglo Heritage Network and the Montreal archives section of the Reseau des Services d'Archives du Québec.

The focus of our archival holdings was first developed under the direction of archivist/historian David Rome. All aspects of the concerns of the Jewish community are reflected in the collection: immigration, integration into Canadian society, community organization, Zionism, oppressed Jewry in other countries, human rights issues and discrimination, education, literature, genealogy and much more. The total size of the collection exceeds 1450 linear metres. For an inventory of fonds and descriptions of some of the major collections, see under Collections.

CJHNlogo-squareSince 2011, detailed information about much of our holdings is available via the Canadian Jewish Heritage Network database, a project initially funded by the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, now continuing under the auspices of the Alex Dworkin Foundation for Jewish Archives. Information continues to be added to this platform. If you do not find what you are looking for on a Canadian Jewish topic after searching this site, we encourage you to contact us in order to continue your research.

An additional resource available through the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives is our Interpretive Guide to the United Restitution Organization Claims Files, a series of web pages designed to assist historians, survivors, and family members of survivors to understand the complex documents generated in attempts to obtain compensation from the German government after World War II. This project was funded by a grant from the Rabbi Israel Miller Fund for Shoah Research, Documentation and Education of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Genealogy and other family history research using this Archives' resources has become much easier with the launch of our genealogy resource database, a component of the Canadian Jewish Heritage Network website made possible by the support of Penny Rubinoff, with additional contributions from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal.

Another frequently consulted resource that we offer is the database of Canadian Jewish Casualties in the Canadian Armed Forces. This information is now housed on the Family History database of the Canadian Heritage Network.

The Archives publishes and distributes a monograph series, Canadian Jewish Archives, new series, compiled by David Rome. Some of the collection finding aids are also available for purchase. Prices for the Canadian Jewish Archives New Series can be found on our Publications list.

Dr. Norma Joseph, Advisory Committee Chair, Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives
Janice Rosen, Director of the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives archives@cjarchives.ca