WINNIPEG — Congregation Shaarey Zedek played host to the city’s first Death Café earlier this month.

While new to Winnipeg, the Death Café concept is widespread throughout Europe and the United States, says Rena Boroditsky, executive director of Chesed Shel Emes, Winnipeg’s non-profit Jewish funeral chapel. The program’s format allows people to come together to talk about death and dying in an informal social setting.

“We had a very positive response to the evening,” she said. “We thought maybe 15 people might show up. We had 60 people participate.”

 “In our society, people don’t often have the opportunity to talk about death and dying,” said Brenda Borzykowsky, who chaired the organizing committee for the evening.

Borzykowsky first learned about the concept last spring when she saw a story about it in a Toronto newspaper – both of her sons live in Toronto with their families. She subsequently watched a feature on the subject on 60 Minutes. Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto holds regular Death Cafes in its boardroom for groups of about 12 to 15 people, she noted.

“I thought it would be a wonderful thing to bring the Death Café concept to Winnipeg,” she said.

In November, Borzykowsky contacted Boroditsky about having the program here, and was asked to go ahead. She enlisted a small group of people, several with health-care backgrounds, to serve on an organizing committee.

The format for the initial Death Café here had participants sitting around tables, eight to a table including a facilitator/organizer, talking about their views of death and dying and the world to come.

“I started the conversation for my group by asking what brought them to the café,” Borzykowsky said.

Among the subjects that came up, she noted, were the difficulty of talking about death and preparing for death with family members, spiritual beliefs and becoming incapacitated.

“By talking about my own death, I am becoming more comfortable with it,” she said.

Winnipeg’s Death Café may have been the first in Canada to be hosted by a Jewish community, Borzykowsky said, although the program was not intended only for Jews.

 “The feedback was fantastic,” she added. “People appreciated being able to speak freely in a non-threatening environment.

“A lot of people were asking when we can do this again. Our committee is thinking we will have a second Death Café some time in the spring.”