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--> Senator pledges to make August 1st National Emancipation Day across Canada   It all happened underground late last Tuesday night while most of Toronto slept. Looking out over a sea of Caribbean Canadian faces at the start of the annual Freedom Ride; Senator Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard yelled out “You should see the beautiful view from here!” The Halifax senator, one of only a few Afro-Canadians in the Upper Chamber, was a keynote speaker at the 6th annual Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train ride. She told the huge audience that she is going to work to make August 1 st a federally proclaimed national day to honour Emancipation Day.  Senator Bernard shared the microphone with the Toronto Caribbean Carnival's Rita Cox, the honourary conductor of the 2018 Freedom Train. They stood on the steps of the Rotunda inside the TTC Union Station. The pair were surrounded by people wanting to join them on a special subway train ride to mark the August 1,1834

Off Their Rockers – 40 Years Later – Reggae Movie Expands Film Festival Programming By Stephen Weir To mark the 40th anniversary release of the seminal Jamaica reggae film Rocker, the Caribbean Tales Film Festival (CTFF) held a special showing last week at the downtown Royal Cinema. The screening of the remastered feature film is precursor for the CTFF 15-day movie fete which begins on September 5th. In 1978 when the Reggae musical movement was just getting noticed, the musicians of Trench Town were still scrambling for money, bookings and recording contracts.   Survival meant playing as many gigs as possible, promoting records from the backs of their motorcycles and living off the generosity of their wives, lovers and families. Rockers, a bargain basement movie that was made for just $4,000 US ($500,000 JA), took the Caribbean and ultimately North America and the UK by storm when released in 1978.   A reworking of the legend of Robin Hood, Rocker has good Rastas robb

Dancing Black Exhibition - Weekend Viewing By Stephen Weir 92-year old Ola Skanks hasn’t danced in public for twenty-years, but, there was no way that she was going to miss the opening of a Kensington Market gallery’s exhibition about the history of the Black community and Canadian dance.           York University’s Dr. Seika Boye curated  Dancing Black in Canada, 1900 to 1970 . “This exhibition illuminates the largely undocumented dance history of Canada’s Black population before 1970” Dr. Boye told a packed Ignite Gallery earlier last month. The exhibition is made up of photographs, media clippings and artefacts that detail how Black Canadians first got involved in dance – both professional and socially – beginning some 120-years ago. Featured are individual well-known dance artists such as Leonard Gibson, Ola Skanks, Ethel Bruneau, Joey Hollingsworth and Kathryn Brown. “The exhibit exposes the representation of Blackness on Canadian stages, as well as audience and

Last Night’s Freedom Train Fires Up Senator to Push The Feds For A National August 1 st  Emancipation Day. By Stephen Weir It all happened underground late Tuesday night while most of Toronto slept. Looking out over a sea of Caribbean Canadian faces at the start of the Freedom Ride; Senator Dr.  Wanda Thomas Bernard said “You should see the beautiful view from here!” The Halifax  senator, one of only a few Afro-Canadians currently sitting in the Upper Chamber, was a keynote speaker at last night’s 6th annual Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train ride. She told the audience of over a 1,000 that when she gets back to Ottawa she is going to continue the work that was started by Toronto Historian Rosemary Sadlier, to make August 1 st , Emancipation Day, a federally proclaimed national day.  senator bernard Senator Bernard shared the microphone with the Toronto Caribbean Carnival's Rita Cox, the honourary conductor of the 2018 Freedom Train. They stood on the steps

By Stephen Weir Photos by Don Moreland The annual Toronto Caribbean Gala was held on Friday night in a new location this year. The only formal event for the three-week festival was staged at the Riviera Events and Convention Centre in Woodbridge, northeast of the city of Toronto. This was first time in over ten-years that the Gala was not held at the Liberty Grand Ballroom at Exhibition Place.  The Riviera Events and Convention Centre bills itself “s one of the largest Banquet Halls in Ontario, with the ability to host up to 1400 guests in our second level ballroom.” However, Friday’s Gala was not a sold-out event and many seats were left empty throughout the dinner and entertainment performance. The Carnival Gala took advantage of the space to create a large performance areas both inside the banquet hall and in the foyer. Pan Fantasy, The Omega Band, Miami based, former Trinidad Junior Calypso and Young Kings Monarch Roger George, and the Neema Children’s Choir all performed

Junior Carnival Parade Gets Adult Carnival Sized Numbers   By Stephen Weir The rain held off, the junior revelers wore beautiful costumes and the Junior Carnival Parade and Family Day notched the largest audience ever. The annual kiddies parade and family fair was held Saturday in Malvern and organizers are reporting a record turnout of spectators. “ We had about1, 800 children playing Mas on Saturday,” event organizer Eric Delfish told the Caribbean Camera. “In terms of spectator numbers, it could be more, but, I am going to stick with pegging it at 20,000 people. It was the largest turnout with many impressed first-timers coming out to cheer on the kiddies.” The parade kicked-off at 11am Saturday morning with an official opening ceremony at the Malvern Community Centre.  Toronto Mayor John Tory had the help of many Federal, Provincial and civic leaders to cut the ribbon and get the kids as young as 2-years old, out on the road. Among the dignitaries helping launch th