Recognition of the work of women in Sephardic organizations in Montreal

***Français will follow*** The Collectif Judéité(s) continues its Cycle of Conferences 2021-2022: Connections, with Christine Chevalier-Caron PhD student in History at UQÀM. The conference will be in French, followed by a bilingual question period (FR/ENG). We thank the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies, the Vered Center, the Microprogram in Jewish Studies of the University of Montreal and the FAÉCUM for their support. **SUMMARY** Working for several years on the establishment, development and operation of community structures by the Jewish-Moroccan community of Montreal - now called Sephardic -, Christine Chevalier-Caron had the opportunity to observe several organizational and memorial dynamics marking their actions. Like other communities of immigrant origin, local and transnational solidarity occupy a central place within this group now organized as the Unified Sephardic Community of Quebec (CSUQ), but this dimension is far from complete. to be the only one that directs the actions of the CSUQ and its constituents. As soon as members of this community took the initiative to organize themselves around a structured entity, questions relating to identity – in particular its survival and transmission – appeared to be central issues. Throughout his research, Chevalier-Caron was able to observe that: 1) this identity is never defined and constantly redefining; 2) it is the starting point for a host of actions and institutions; 3) that its celebrations are multiple. Given its importance, it has undertaken to study the question of identity and community history from these three axes of reflection. To do so, the researcher relied on an impressive corpus composed mainly of community newspapers, CSUQ publications and oral history interviews.  Despite the presence of women in the sample and the importance they played in various organizations, she found that their actions and their presence are much less celebrated than those of men, whether in newspapers or in events. commemorative. Another observation jumped out at her: we rarely speak of them as pioneers or as pillars of the community, despite the fact that this terminology is recurrent when it comes to men. Christine Chevalier-Caron therefore decided to undertake a study aimed at understanding these two situations, especially since her corpus had clearly pointed out to her that various women played a key role with regard to the issues of memories (Marie Berdugo Cohen, Yolande Cohen, Sonia-Sarah Lipsyc) and cultural (Ora Anahory and Yolande Amzallag). She therefore proposes to come and discuss the reasons explaining these inequalities – among other things with regard to the fact that women are deprived of these statuses – and to talk about the actions of these women to whom the reproduction of the community is intrinsically linked. **BIOGRAPHY** Christine Chevalier-Caron is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Quebec in Montreal. As part of her master's thesis, she studied the schools of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Morocco. This research led her to take an interest in questions of education and the care of young people by the Montreal Jewish community of Moroccan origin. Coordinator and research assistant in the History, Women, Gender and Migrations group, Christine Chevalier-Caron actively participates in the project Migrations of Jews from Morocco to Canada/Quebec and France from 1948 to the present day. She has published several articles on the Montreal and Parisian Jewish communities of Moroccan origin. /// The Collectif Judéité(s) is continuing its 2021-2022 Lecture Series: Connections with Christine Chevalier-Caron, Ph.D Candidate at UQÀM. We would like to thank the support of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies, the Vered Center the Microprogramme in Jewish Studies of the Université de Montréal and the FAÉCUM. The conference will be in French, followed by a bilingual Q&A (FR/ENG). **ABSTRACT** Christine Chevalier-Caron has been working for several years on the establishment and structures development of the Montreal Jewish-Morrocan comunity - now called Sephardic - and has had the opportunity to observe several organizational and memorial dynamics marking their actions. Like other immigrant communities, local and transnational solidarities are central to this group, now organized as the Communauté Sépharade Unifié du Québec (CSUQ), but this is far from the only dimension that guides the actions of the CSUQ. The moment members of this community took the initiative to organize themselves into a structured entity, questions of identity - notably its survival and transmission - emerged as central issues. In the course of her research, Chevalier-Caron found that: 1) this identity is never defined and is constantly being redefined; 2) it is the starting point for a host of actions and institutions; and 3) it is celebrated in many ways. Given its importance, she studied the question of identity and community history from these three perspectives. To do so, she used a large corpus of data, mainly composed of community newspapers, CSUQ publications and oral history interviews.  Despite the presence of women in the sample and the importance they played in various organizations, she found that their actions and presence are much less celebrated than those of men, whether in newspapers or in commemorative events. Another observation she made was that they are rarely referred to as pioneers or pillars of the community, even though this terminology is recurrent when it comes to men. Christine Chevalier-Caron therefore decided to study  these two situations, especially since her corpus had made it clear to her that various women have played key roles in regard to issues of memory (Marie Berdugo Cohen, Yolande Cohen, Sonia-Sarah Lipsyc) and culture (Ora Anahory and Yolande Amzallag). She therefore proposes to discuss the reasons for these inequalities - including the fact that women are deprived of these statuses - and to talk about the actions of these women to whom the reproduction of the community is intrinsically linked. **BIOGRAPHY** Christine Chevalier-Caron is Ph.D Candidate in history at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQÀM). For her master's thesis, she studied the schools of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Morocco. This research led her to focus on the issues of education and the community care of youth by the Montreal Jewish community of Moroccan descent. Coordinator and research assistant in the History, Women, Gender and Migration group, Christine Chevalier-Caron is actively involved in the project Migrations des Juifs du Maroc au Canada/Québec et en France de 1948 à nos jours. She has published several articles on the Montreal and Parisian Jewish communities of Moroccan origin.