From Sydney to B.C. crown prosecutor
From Sydney Hebrew school to B.C. Crown prosecutor
SYDNEY — When you talk to Sanford Cohen on the phone, you pick up on his warmth and kindness immediately.
He greets me with enthusiasm, despite the fact that I'm a stranger he's neither met nor spoken to before. I expected this, though, because everyone who knows him tells me about his kindness.
When I tell the former Cape Bretoner that I'm a reporter with the Cape Breton Post looking to learn more about his life, he immediately launches into a story about how he used to deliver the Post when he was 13 or 14.
Though it was a minor stint compared to his days as a Crown prosecutor in B.C. provincial court, he talks about it as though it was the most important job he ever had.
“I delivered the Cape Breton Post for at least two to three years,” said Cohen, who is now 80 and lives in Richmond, B.C. “I had a fabulous route. I had Dorchester (Street) and then along where the sea is there (Esplanade and Kings Road).”
GROWING UP IN SYDNEY
His family owned two convenience stores in Sydney — one across from The Lyceum and another across the street from then-Sydney Motors, near where the Sydney Curling Club is located today.
He attended Hebrew school after day school, growing up with Leon Dubinsky, the Canadian musician, actor and composer. The pair also played basketball together.
“Being the same age and we were Jewish, that meant we went to Hebrew school, after regular school … to study a bit of Hebrew or Hebrew history or whatever,” said Dubinsky. “He's a very sensitive, warmhearted soul.”
Glenn Wolfson, who now lives in Ottawa, also grew up in Sydney with Cohen, though he is several years younger than him. He recalled seeing Sanford often in one the stores owned by his father, Louis Cohen.
“I used to go in a fair amount and several times when I went in, Sanford was behind the counter, waiting on me. He always had a smile and you felt like you're the only person in the world when he was talking, he had the warmest smile and kind eyes.”
Wolfson said he hadn't seen Cohen in more than 60 years and yet this memory of him came back in an instant after reading a feature about Cohen in the Globe and Mail.
“When I used to go into the store when I was buying candy, he was always so thoughtful, and made you feel like you were somebody, even though I was like a little kid,” said Wolfson.
MOVE OUT TO B.C.
Cohen moved out to B.C. in his mid-20s after graduating from Dalhousie University's law school in Halifax. A friend offered him a job at a firm that was then-called Bull, Housser & Tupper.
“It was a wonderful move,” said Cohen. “I had friends of mine who were coming out here and they picked me up in Montreal. We drove out and it was absolutely beautiful to see Canada.”
Cohen said it took him awhile to adjust to the environment in British Columbia, which he described as less friendly than his home island.
“The more I got to live here, I got to meet a lot of friendly people. But the environment is not as friendly. Cape Breton is a friendly place, (Cape Bretoners) like to help people.
“And if somebody said to ‘drop in,' they meant you had to call to drop in, you just couldn't drop in (like in Cape Breton). So it was small things like that.”
B.C. CROWN PROSECUTOR
He married Paula Bland in 1969, and they had two children together: a son, Kevin, and a daughter, Heidi. He now has a granddaughter and grandson, as well as a greatgrandson.
He eventually became a prosecutor at the B.C. Attorney General's Office and spent between 30 and 33 years there, with his last years spent in remand court.
“I did breaking and enterings, I did assaults, I did spousal assaults, I did anything dealing with that. I did robbery cases, I did murder cases.”
More than anything, he said being a good lawyer is about trying to help people and making a difference in their lives. I ask him what he thinks the key factors are to being a good lawyer.
“To be able to listen, to be able to have compassion. And to be tolerant. You're there, always, to help people, regardless of what side you're on you. You wanna help to make this a better world.”
ANTI-SEMITISM AND RACISM
I ask him if he has any memories of dealing with antiSemitism, growing up in the post-Second World War era.
“I grew up with a lot of that. I would have friends of mine who would be talking and the next thing they'd say, ‘Sanford so-and-so Jew'd me.'"
Sanford said he grew up with a lot of this type of attitude.
"I worked through it, a lot of it was with dialogue and communicating with people, and becoming friends with a lot of those people later on in life.
“You have to learn how to deal with that and I learned the hard way. (There's) no use fighting over it, I mean wars don't win anything.”
He received a call a few years ago from somebody he grew up with, who apologized for the way he had treated Sanford when they were kids.
“So I said, ‘what are you apologizing for?' He said, ‘I wasn't nice to you growing up.' I said ‘God, you know … I didn't even, it didn't stay with me.' But obviously it stayed with him.”
He said he thinks Canada is moving to a better place, but there's still work left to be done, especially in institutions like the RCMP.
“We have a long ways to go, you know, we're not going to solve it overnight.”
Cohen says growing up in Cape Breton, with the diversity of cultures brought here by Sydney's steel plant, taught him the importance of being able to get along with others. He says the kindness he learned here is something he tries to bring to every interaction.
“You can take the person out of Cape Breton, but you can't take Cape Breton out of the person.”