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The Russians >> Former Soviets, most of them Jews, have emerged as one of Montreal's fastest-growing immigrant groups by PHILIP PREVILLE
Sirota herself arrived in Montreal before those freedoms existed, back in 1972; she now works at the Saidye Bronfman Centre, and her husband, Israel Sirota, is Montreal's only Russian-speaking rabbi. Since the beginning of the 1990s, they have witnessed a dramatic increase in numbers at Congregation Anshei Ozeroff on Bourret street in Côte-des-Neiges. Now, more than 500 people come to celebrate Jewish holidays there. And Bourret, a nondescript row of apartment buildings one block south of Côte-Ste-Catherine, is becoming known in the area as Montreal's own Little Odessa, as immigrants from the former Soviet Union--most of them Jewish--settle there in ever-increasing numbers. And if the community has its way, their numbers will keep on growing. Many Russian Jews, concerned about anti-Semitism in their home country, are taking steps to bring other family members from Russia to Montreal. "We are getting lots of pressure from our community to increase our efforts," says Bob Luck, director of Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS). "People here are concerned for the safety of their family members in Russia." Community growing fast According to statistics published by Quebec's immigration department, Montreal's Russian community is growing faster than most. In 1997 alone (the most recent year available), a total of 1,758 former Soviets came to Quebec. For that specific year, their numbers are greater than those from China, Haiti and Hong Kong. Only immigration from France (a total of 1,978) surpassed immigration from Russia in 1997. All told, for the five-year period from 1993 to 1997, a total of 6,700 former Soviets came to Quebec--and over 90 per cent of them settled in Montreal. According to JIAS's best estimates, at least two-thirds of those 6,700 Russian immigrants are Jewish. While most Russians arrive in Montreal with a very high level of education, they by no means have an easy time of it when they arrive here. Those with engineering and computer-science degrees have greater success finding well-paying jobs, and have settled in all parts of the city. But hard-luck stories abound: history professors reduced to washing toilets, or trained doctors working as homecare nursing assistants. "Canadian professional associations have a lot of power," says Luck. "Even highly trained engineers can't get professional equivalency right away. It takes a lot of time and money." Escaping anti-Semitism It also takes a lot of time and money to bring family members from Russia to Montreal--a growing preoccupation within the community. "Anti-Semitism has risen drastically in Russia," says Mark Groysberg, editor of Montreal's Russian-language newspaper Voice of Our Community. "In Moscow alone, at least 15 neo-Nazi newspapers have begun publishing in the past year. And Moscow is probably the most hospitable place for a Russian Jew to live." Adds Groysberg: "People have shown me letters from family members over there, and the incidents they describe are very disturbing." Groysberg declined to share any of the details from those letters with the Mirror, though he intends to read some segments aloud at an upcoming community meeting. The meeting's goal: to raise money for a renewed effort to get more Jews out of Russia. "In most cases, it's families that want to be reunited with their parents who are still in the former Soviet Union," Groysberg says. He admits that bringing parents to North America is a primary concern for all Russian immigrants, but insists that the situation is far more pressing for Russian Jews. According to Bob Luck at JIAS, the cost of bringing two people from Russia to Montreal, including paperwork, airfare and the $975-per-head landing fee, can run up to $7,500. "For someone who has just arrived here, that kind of money is hard to come by," says Luck. "Some members of the community have it. Most of them don't, and they need to ask the broader community to help them out." The effort to sponsor Jewish immigration from Russia begins with a meeting on Tuesday, April 20 at 7:30pm in the Grover Auditorium at the Hebrew Y, 5480 Westbury in Côte-des-neiges
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The way Anna Sirota sees it, freedom is a very peculiar beast. "When the Iron Curtain came down, people rejoiced because it meant freedom at last," she says of her home country. "After years of being locked inside the Soviet Union's borders, now there's the freedom to get out. Suddenly, everyone's allowed to leave. When you look at how bad things are in Russia right now, it's no surprise people are exercising that freedom."