The Soviet Ambassador to Canada, Alexander Yakolev, received a delegation of prominent Canadian Jews and non-Jews to discuss the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union yesterday. But he declined to accept food packages intended for 40 Jewish “prisoners of conscience” in Soviet jails. The delegation, consisting of rabbis, priests, representatives of the medical, legal and academic fields and the arts flew to Ottawa from Montreal yesterday in a chartered plane. The flight was dubbed a “Freedom Flight” to dramatize the plight of Jews incarcerated in the Soviet Union or refused exit visas from that country.
They were joined in the Canadian capital by four members of the Canadian Parliament: Tommy Douglas, of the New Democratic Party; Herb Grey, former Minister for Consumer Affairs; John Robarts of the Liberal Party; and Harry Blank, a member of the Quebec National Assembly, The Russian envoy invited the MPs to visit the USSR to see for themselves the condition of Soviet Jewry. He invited John Robarts, chairman of the Parliament Committee, to meet with him to discuss the problems of Soviet Jews.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
