Irving Martin Abella (July 2, 1940 – July 3, 2022) was a Canadian historian who served as a professor at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

from 1968 to 2013. He specialized in the

history of the Jews in Canada Canadian citizens who follow Judaism as their religion and/or are ethnically Jewish are a part of the greater Jewish diaspora and form the third largest Jewish community in the world, exceeded only by those in Israel and in the United State ...

and the Canadian

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

Early life

Abella was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

on July 2, 1940. His parents were Esther (Shiff) and Louis Abella. He studied at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, obtaining a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in 1963 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

the following year. He commenced his doctoral studies at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, before returning to the University of Toronto and being awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1969. He wrote his thesis on Canadian labour history.

Career

Abella first taught at

in 1968, specializing in labour and Jewish history. He continued teaching at that institution until 2013. During the early 1970s, he started the first university course in Canadian Jewish studies at

Glendon College Glendon College is a public liberal arts college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Formally the federated bilingual campus of York University, it is one of the school's nine colleges and 11 faculties with 100 full-time faculty members and a student po ...

, which he considered his greatest achievement. He served as president of the

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human ...

from 1992 to 1995. He was also chair of

Vision TV VisionTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is currently owned by ZoomerMedia, a company ...

, a religious broadcaster. Abella's books include ''Coat of Many Colours: Two Centuries of Jewish Life in Canada'' (1990) and '' None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933–1948'' (1982). He stated that the latter – which detailed the Canadian government's immigration policy during the 1930s that led it to accept only 5,000 Jewish refugees during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

– was not intended to be more than an academic text. However, it ultimately impacted the immigration policy of the government at the time. After

Ron Atkey Ronald George Atkey, (February 15, 1942 – May 9, 2017) was a Canadian lawyer, law professor and politician. Background Atkey graduated in 1962 from the University of Western Ontario, and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society while in uni ...

, the minister of immigration, read a draft copy of the manuscript, the Canadian government welcomed 50,000

Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its ...

by the end of 1980 (up from the original goal of 8,000 refugees per year).

Personal life and death

Abella married

Rosalie Silberman Abella Rosalie Silberman Abella (born July 1, 1946) is a Canadian jurist. In 2004, Abella was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming the first Jewish woman and refugee to sit on the Canadian Supreme Court bench. She retired from the fede ...

in 1968. They met while studying at the University of Toronto together, and remained married until his death. She was later appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in August 2004. Together, they have two children, Jacob and Zachary. Abella died on July 3, 2022, one day after his 82nd birthday. He suffered from an unspecified long illness prior to his death.

Awards and honours

Abella was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He was conferred the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. He was appointed a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

in October 1993 and invested four months later in February of the following year. He was the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) and the

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

(2012). Abella later received the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official Award, honour in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the A ...

in 2014 "for his contribution to documenting the story of Jewish Canadians, and his commitment to the principles of social justice and tolerance."

Publications

* ''Nationalism, Communism and Canadian Labour'' (1973) * ''On Strike: Six Key Labour Struggles in Canada 1919–1949'' (1974) * ''The Canadian Worker in the Twentieth Century'' (co-editor, 1978) * '' None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933–1948'' (with

Harold Troper Harold (Hesh) Troper (born January 1, 1942) is a Canadian writer, historian and academic. He specializes in Jewish Canadian history. Together with Irving Abella, he authored '' None Is Too Many'', the story of the Canadian government's refusal to ...

, 1982) * ''A Coat of Many Colours: Two Centuries of Jewish Life in Canada'' (1990)

References

External links

York University Curriculum Vitae

Elizabeth Lumley (Editor),''Canadian Who's Who 2006'' University of Toronto Press, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abella, Irving 1940 births 2022 deaths Historians from Ontario 20th-century Canadian male writers Historians of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Jewish Canadian writers Canadian Jewish Congress Jewish historians Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Writers from Toronto University of Toronto alumni York University faculty Labor historians 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association Canadian television executives