WINNIPEG — Abe Arnold, who died Jan. 28 at age 88 after a lengthy illness, was a historian who documented Jewish life in Canada, as well as a national leader on the left in Canadian Jewry and a pioneer in fighting for enhanced civil rights in Canada.
“He was a remarkable man,” said journalist Martin Zeilig, a longtime friend. “He had a vigorous intellect and boundless energy. He could be cantankerous at times, but I think that’s what kept him going.”
Roz Usiskin, another close friend of Arnold’s, worked with him in many areas during his active years in Winnipeg. “We were both involved in the founding of the Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada [which Arnold led from 1968 to 1975], United Jewish Peoples Order programs, in Outlook magazine and in founding the Joseph Zuken Memorial Association,” she said. (Zuken was a long-serving Jewish Communist city councillor in Winnipeg.)
“Abe was always full of ideas. His historical research into Jewish life in Canada was amazing. He put out a prolific amount of writing. And through his work in civil rights, he was very influential in the country as a whole.”
Arnold was born in Montreal in 1922. His formal education included business college, journalism and public relations. Before coming to Winnipeg in 1965 to serve as western regional director of Canadian Jewish Congress, he served as an editor in Toronto (1946-49) and in Vancouver for the Jewish Western Bulletin (1949-1960). He also worked as public relations director for the Jewish Federation/Combined Jewish Appeal in Montreal (1960-65).
As a historian, his major works were Jewish Life in Canada, published in 1976, and Judaism: Myth, Legend, History and Custom from the Religious to the Secular, a study of Jewish history and tradition from a secular humanist perspective, which was published in 1995.
He contributed chapters to several other books and wrote numerous articles for Jewish publications, including The Canadian Jewish News, the Jewish Post and News in Winnipeg, Canadian Jewish Outlook in Vancouver and Humanistic Judaism, which is published in Detroit. He was also a contributor the Beaver, Canada’s history magazine.
In 1978, Arnold helped found the Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties (MARL) – along with Usiskin – and he served as its first executive director (until 1988). For his work with MARL, he was honoured in 1994 with the Manitoba Human Rights Achievement Award as a “life-long advocate of human rights and civil liberties.”
Winnipeg’s Jewish community bestowed on him one of its Shem Tov awards in 1997. He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Winnipeg in 2001 and was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2004.
Zeilig last saw Arnold a couple of weeks before he died. “He was frail but still alert,” he said. “Despite having his activities restricted due to illness, he still retained his interest in the community.”
Arnold is survived by his wife of 66 years, Bertha, his son, Mark, and his family in Toronto, and daughter, Shelley, and her family in Winnipeg. He was predeceased by his daughter, Frances.