An Israeli-Canadian sacrificed his life to save his fiancée during an attack by Hamas militants, his family confirmed to CTVNews.ca.
Netta Epstein, a 21-year-old Israeli with Canadian citizenship, died when he jumped on a grenade in southern Israel on Saturday Oct. 7.
His family told CTVNews.ca that Epstein and his fiancée, Irene Shavit, had been taking cover in his apartment’s safe house.
Epstein’s mother said she received a text message from her son about what was going on.
“I hear shouts in Arabic. There’s a lot of noise around. There’s shooting,” his mother, Ayelet Shachar-Epstein, said her son wrote to her.
“The next thing he wrote was, ‘They’re here, Mom.’”
A series of attacks began at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7. Sirens warned Israelis throughout the country of incoming rockets launched from Gaza in a co-ordinated effort by Hamas, a group which the Canadian government has classified as a terrorist organization for decades.
To residents of Kfar Aza Kibbutz, a farming community of about 750 people located between Netivot and Sderot in southern Israel, the threat of rockets was nothing out of the ordinary.
“We know the drill very well,” Shachar-Epstein, whose parents were originally from Montreal but who grew up in Israel, told CTVNews.ca over the phone.
Unaware that armed Hamas militants had stormed through blockaded areas of the Gaza Strip and were about to kill what the Israeli government estimates as more than a thousand Israeli civilians, Shachar-Epstein left her home to check on her mother-in-law, who she found dead at the entrance of her home, she said.
As Shachar-Epstein took cover in a safe room with her father-in-law, and the rest of her family hid throughout the kibbutz, she corresponded with loved ones through a texting app, knowing that cut electricity meant communication was limited by battery life, she said.
Through messages with Shavit, she said, she learned that Hamas attackers “burst into their room and threw grenades into the apartment.”
Shachar-Epstein said she was told that after attackers opened fire, and a third grenade landed close to Shavit, “Netta jumped onto the grenade, like he was trained (to do) in the army.”
His body blocked the explosion, his mother said, sacrificing his life, but saving Shavit’s.
Epstein’s fiancée hid in the ravaged safe room until Israeli soldiers saved her later that day, his family told CTV News.
“He had a huge heart, my son,” Shachar-Epstein said. “He was beautiful on the outside but also the inside.”
Shachar-Epstein said she remembers watching the televised terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, while she was pregnant with him.
“I remember lying down on the sofa watching horrific terror taking place in New York and thinking to myself, ‘I truthfully hope that we won’t be facing anything like that when my child comes to the world.’”
‘THE KINDEST, SMARTEST PERSON’
From the moment her son was born, she said, “he brought so much happiness and hope to our lives. He was my firstborn child but also the first grandson in our family so double happiness.”
Shachar-Epstein said her son loved soccer from a young age.
“He was a terrific soccer player. He was a goalie. He really did very well in that.”
Growing up, Epstein was outgoing, silly and kind, according to those who knew him.
“He was the kindest, smartest person I’ve ever met,” said his childhood friend Jake Niefeld, who went to summer camp with Epstein in their teenage years.
“He was able to go one second to being the silliest person in the world and having the biggest smile on his face to, five minutes later, being able to be there for people. He was amazing,” Niefeld told CTV News following news of Epstein’s death.
Shachar-Epstein said her son volunteered for youth with special needs when he finished high school.
“He really found himself there. It wasn’t an easy task at all,” she said. “He needed to really collect himself and be very strong to do what he did there. He was there for them. He had fun with them. He played soccer with them. He would read them bedtime stories. They loved him dearly.”
After Epstein completed his mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Forces, Shachar-Epstein said, she remembers feeling relieved.
“Once he got out of the army…we took a deep breath and said, ‘Thank God, now he’s with us. He’s back at home and he’s safe.’ That’s…I don’t know how to say it… God laughed in our faces, I guess.”
Shachar-Epstein says her son met his fiancée, Shavit, 18 months ago.
“Although they’re both very young, they became a very serious couple,” she said. “They were talking about getting married, having children, building their home. In many situations, I would say, ‘Hang on, Netta. It’s just the beginning of your life, there’s so many things you’re going to experience. You don’t need to obligate yourself so quickly.’ But he kept on saying, ‘Mommy, I love her so much. This is the woman of my life.’”
She added, “We love her dearly. She’s an amazing woman. We were very happy with them being together.”
‘A FAREWELL PRESENT’
Shachar-Epstein also mentioned a trek her son and daughter, Rona, did in France recently: “They did eight days of hiking in Mont Blanc this September.”
After the two siblings completed their hike, Shachar-Epstein, her husband, Ori, and their youngest daughter, Alma, met them in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The five of us celebrated five lovely, lovely days as a family, which we think today was our present, maybe his farewell present to us,” she said.
Shachar-Epstein said she recalls so many “beautiful moments” on that trip, which she said was full of jokes, songs and “precious moments” she will carry with her forever.
Epstein was among more than 50 other residents of the kibbutz whose bodies are still being identified.
Shachar-Epstein told CTVNews.ca that her nephew, who lived near her son, has been missing since the attacks.
In the days since the Hamas attack, more than 2,800 people have been killed on both sides of the Gaza border, according to estimates from officials in the area.
For Shachar-Epstein, some relief can be found in memories.
“Telling his story is a bit like having him back,” she said. “I think it’s therapy. I really think it is.”
Vancouver immigration lawyer Ryan Rosenberg says he’s been getting so many inquiries from disaffected U.S. voters that he set up a website to address their concerns.
It’s called “Trumpugees.ca” and asks visitors on the home page: “Tired of Trump? Thinking about Canada? We can help.”
Rosenberg – a managing partner at Larlee Rosenberg, Barristers & Solicitors – says he and his colleagues are sensing a spike in immigration interest from a broad swath of U.S. residents disappointed by Donald Trump’s election win Tuesday.
Immigration lawyer Meghan Felt says she’s hearing the same thing from her office in Newfoundland. In Toronto, Royal LePage president Phil Soper says online searches of Canadian properties spiked in the months leading up to the vote.
Maryland geologist Jackson Speary says he’s felt disillusioned with politics for “a very long time,” and is considering job or educational opportunities in Canada.
The 22-year-old says he’s worried Trump’s environmental and economic policies will hinder his work, much of which involves ensuring compliance to federal environmental rules. He wonders if his career would be more stable in Canada.
“It’s a very scary time to be my age and try to continue my career. Especially when you know political turmoil is so topsy-turvy,” Speary says from Stevensville, Md., where he works.
“I feel as though there’s a lot more job security for me in Canada, and potentially a lot more job security for me anywhere else,” he says, noting he’s also considering a move to New Zealand, where he has professional contacts.
Grand proclamations to move to Canada are nothing new, says Rosenberg, who recalls similar promises after George W. Bush’s second election from “mostly blue state Americans who wanted out.” Rosenberg dubbed those would-be Canadians “Bushugees.”
But this time, he says the demographics of the disaffected seem broader in scope, encompassing wealthy Americans, ethnic minorities and Democrats disappointed by the loss of Kamala Harris.
Felt doesn’t have a targeted website like Rosenberg nor is she doing focused promotion, but she says word-of-mouth chatter led five Americans to reach out in the past few days. That’s a jump from maybe one a week.
One client who had mused on moving to Canada two months ago emailed after the vote.
“They’re moving forward, like, immediately,” Felt says from St. John’s, N.L.
More often than not, Americans are curious about Canada’s urban centres and don’t ask about political differences between provinces or countries, she says.
“Canada is Canada. I’ve heard of Americans refer to Canada as like a really large Massachusetts.”
Speary says he’s heard Canada has capped the number of foreign students permitted but that likely won’t dissuade him from pursuing grad school north of the border.
“It is going to be harder, but I think I would be willing to try.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…
N.S. votes: Tories to release platform today
The Progressive Conservatives are set to release their party platform today ahead of Nova Scotia’s Nov. 26 provincial election.
They will be the second of the three major parties to release a platform this week after the Liberals presented a plan containing $2.3 billion in election promises over four years.
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill, meanwhile, has an announcement planned in Halifax where he is expected to discuss improving health care for women.
NDP Leader Claudia Chender is in Cape Breton where she is scheduled to spend much of the day campaigning.
Tory Leader Tim Houston pledged to remove parking fees at all provincial hospitals, while Churchill promised to reduce immigration levels to align them with provincial Labour Department targets he says have been exceeded by the government.
Here’s what else we’re watching…
StatCan to release October jobs report today
Statistics Canada is set to release its October labour force survey this morning, shedding light on employment trends and wage growth last month.
RBC is forecasting the economy added a modest 15,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to have ticked back up to 6.6 per cent.
The jobless rate declined slightly to 6.5 per cent in September.
The Canadian job market has loosened significantly as high interest rates have restrained economic growth.
The Bank of Canada, which lowered its policy interest rate by 1.25 percentage points since June, now says it wants to see the economy rebound.
RBC says it expects the unemployment rate to reach seven per cent next year, before trending lower again.
What Trump’s election could mean for rates
Experts say Donald Trump’s election victory could shift interest rate policy in the U.S. as his promised policies risk higher inflation, which could ultimately have implications for Canadian rates and the loonie.
Markets rallied Wednesday and into Thursday in the wake of his victory as investors prepared for what his proposals might bring.
Among those promises are large tariffs on imported goods, especially from China, as well as lower tax rates and lighter regulation.
Economist Sheila Block says the large tariffs proposed by Trump would likely put upward pressure on inflation in the U.S.
Higher inflation would mean the U.S. Federal Reserve could be slower to cut interest rates, and markets are already shifting their bets on how low the central bank is likely to go on rates.
B.C. election judicial recounts expected to finish
Judicial recounts in British Columbia’s provincial election should wrap up today, confirming whether Premier David Eby’s New Democrats hang onto their one-seat majority almost three weeks after the vote.
Most attention will be on the closest race of Surrey-Guildford, where the NDP were ahead by a mere 27 votes, a margin narrow enough to trigger a hand recount of more than 19,000 ballots that’s being overseen by a B.C. Supreme Court judge.
Elections BC spokesman Andrew Watson says the recounts are expected to conclude today, but certification won’t happen until next week following an appeal period.
The Election Act says the deadline to appeal the results must be filed with the court within two days after they are declared, but Watson says that due to Remembrance Day on Monday, that period would end at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
When an appeal is filed, it must be heard no later than 10 days after the registrar receives the notice of appeal.
Another full recount is also taking place in Kelowna Centre, narrowly won by the B.C. Conservatives, while a partial recount will take place in Prince George-Mackenzie to tally votes from an uncounted ballot box that contained about 861 votes.
The Prince George-Mackenzie recount won’t change the outcome because the B.C. Conservative candidate there won by more than 5,000 votes.
If neither Surrey-Guildford nor Kelowna Centre change hands, the NDP will have 47 seats and the Conservatives 44, while the Greens have two seats in the 93-riding legislature.
Another beluga whale dies at Marineland
Three weeks after the death of another beluga whale at Marineland, the Ontario government is speaking publicly about its ongoing investigation of the park, saying water troubles are under control after a recent investment.
The province’s chief animal welfare inspector told The Canadian Press that to her understanding, marine mammal deaths at the tourist destination in Niagara Falls, Ont., have not been related to water quality.
Five belugas have died at the park in the last year and 17 have died since late 2019, government records show. Three other belugas sold to a Connecticut aquarium in 2021 have since died.
Kiska, the country’s last remaining killer whale in captivity, died in April 2023. One dolphin, one harbour seal, one grey seal, two sea lions and two Magellanic penguins have also died at the park in the past five years.
Marineland did not answer questions about the animal deaths, and instead twice responded to recent queries with accusations that journalism published by The Canadian Press was driven by its reporter’s “personal animal rights beliefs and activism.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
