9th Annual JCANA Conference

When

May 21–May 24, 2016

Where

Holiday Inn Vancouver-Centre

Registration

Registration Closed

Accommodations

Reservations Closed

Conference Highlights

 

 

Keynote Speaker – Michael Geller

Michael Geller has had a career as an architect, planner, and real estate developer. He also serves on the Adjunct Faculty of Simon Fraser University. A frequent commentator on urban issues, he writes a bi-weekly column in the Vancouver Courier.

Since arriving from Toronto in the mid 1970s, Michael has been active in Vancouver’s Jewish community, serving on the boards of the Jewish Community Centre, Family Services, Federation, Louis Brier Home and Hospital, and as trustee of the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia.

Over the past five decades Michael has travelled extensively including a 9-month around-the-world journey in 2007. During his trips, he has photographed Jewish institutions and cemeteries on six continents and brought back many stories on the theme where Jews go to remember, which he will share.

The conference will include many topics to be covered by experts in their respective fields that are of great interest to Jewish cemetery operators. Below is a synopsis of these topics:

• Cemetery Restoration
  Shirley Barnett is a long-time community leader in Vancouver. After some vandalism that took place in the Jewish section of Mountain View Cemetery – an old, almost abandoned Jewish cemetery located inside a public cemetery – Shirley decided that simply repairing the damage was not enough. Instead, Shirley put together a committee and raised over $600,000 to fully restore the property that had been used in recent years only for the burial of indigent Jews.
• Cemetery Design and Project Management
  Bill Pechet, Principal of Pechet Studios in Vancouver, is a world-renowned architect with a specialty in cemetery projects. When Shirley Barnet decided to restore the Mountain View Cemetery, she knew she needed the best cemetery architect around, and brought Bill in to design the restoration.
• Large Cemetery Management
  Glen Hodges is the General Manager of the Mountain View Cemetery. He oversees Vancouver’s only cemetery is located west of Fraser St, between 31st Ave and 43rd Ave. Owned and operated by the City of Vancouver since 1886, Mountain View is made up of 106 acres of land with approximately 92,000 grave sites and 145,000 interred remains.
• Cemetery Security
  This most relevant and timely topic will include a presentation by Dave Jones, Principal of JSI Security and Investigations Inc.
• Medical Assisted Dying
  Many jurisdictions in the United States are now adopting various laws permitting medically assisted dying. In Canada, federal laws now allow physicians to provide their patients (under strict guidelines) to perform lethal injections for their patients to ease end of life suffering.
• Green Burial
  A new and growing demand has emerged over the past few years for “green burial”. Many people today who care deeply about the environment and human’s impact on it are opting for green burials as their last act of environmental responsibility.
• Tours
  The conference will include tours of Jewish cemeteries in the Vancouver area. It will also include participation in a community sponsored unveiling ceremony for a number of baby headstones in Mountain View Cemetery.

Listen Here

Keynote Speaker: Michael Geller “Where Jews Go To Remember”
Shirley Barnett, Board Member “Turning your graveyard into a Cemetery”
Bill Pechet, Principal, Pechet Studios “Monetizing Cemetery Improvement Projects”
Ryan Bruett, Supervisory Special Agent, FBI “Keeping our Cemeteries Secure & Safe”
Dave Jones, Principal, JSI Security and Investigations Inc. “Keeping our Cemeteries Secure & Safe”
Shelley Rivkin, Vice President, Jewish Federation “Keeping our Cemeteries Secure & Safe”