Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

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 perfor...

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 ...

Family and Friends of Charley Roach hold up the Charley Roach Lane sign   Massive turnout for unveiling of Charley Roach Lane  By Stephen Weir, Caribbean Camera The City held an early evening traffic stopping celebration in the memory of the late community activist Charley Roach on Wednesday, July 18th. Over 400 people jammed a small laneway stopping traffic on Rushton Road and briefly on St Clair Avenue West, to take part in the unveiling of the newly renamed Charley Roach Lane! Charley Roach was born on September 18, 1933, in the community of Belmont in Trinidad and Tobago. He and his first wife Hetty, immigrated to Canada in 1955 and eventually in Ontario where he studied law at the University of Toronto. Councillor Joe and Sunset take cover off sign As a newly minted human rights lawyer, he quickly became a leader in Toronto's growing black community. He defended the rights of Caribbean nannies, challenged racial pr...

Bacchanal in d’ Centennial Park uses all the Caribbean Arts to tell Carnival story By Stephen Weir - Caribbean Camera Do you have 45-minutes to give your all to the traditions of Carnival? This Sunday afternoon 45 actors, stick fighters, stilt walkers and Calypso stars will come Dingolay in the Centennial Park and the whole city is invited watch. At 3pm Ol' Time Carnival, Bacchanal in d' Plantation Yard! takes over the northwest corner of the park located at Markham and Ellesmere Ave in Scarborough. This is a free, rain or shine event that organizers describe as “being very family friendly!” “ Ol’ Time Carnival came about after I met a young woman who told me she was going to be playing Mas in the Toronto’s Carnival Parade. I asked her if she knew why we play Mas. She said she didn’t know, which made me mad,” show co-producer and writer Jacky Forde told the Caribbean Camera in a late night mas camp interview earlier this week. “But then we (pointing at her husband Clar...

JAMBANA One World Festival is moving to two indoor Brampton venues Denise Jones Jambana, the annual August long-weekend Reggae and Roots festival, has loaded up the truck and is moving from the Markham Fairgrounds to two venues in Brampton.   For its 10 th anniversary, the August 5th & 6th   outdoor festival has not only moved cities but is also heading indoors! “ It is a big step for us to move Jambana from a big field (the Markham Fairgrounds) to fully serviced indoor halls,” Denise Jones, Executive Producer of JAMBANA One World Festival told the Caribbean Camera in an interview last week.   “ There are some huge pluses to this. We are moving to a city where we have produced a number of very successful Reggae events. Brampton has a real hunger for Jambana, and now that we are heading indoors, there is no need for people to drag along their lawn chairs and umbrellas to the see the shows.” Launched in 2008 Jambana, One World Festival is...

Best all Trini movie you will never see in a Canadian theatre By Stephen Weir for Caribbean Camera Chances are if you went to school in Trinidad you have read and studied Michael Anthony’s  Green Days By The River . If you haven’t read the classic Trinidadian novel there is a new made-in-T&T movie that faithfully tells the story of coming of age for a poor young man in the  coastal village of Mayaro  in 1952. The book, first published in 1967, is considered one of Trinidad’s most important post colonial novels and Michael Anthony one of the most important living authors (he is listed as one of the 50 most  influential people in Trinidad and Tobago ).    Now his masterpiece is a movie, and late last week, film junkies got to see the feature film for maybe the first and last time in Canada at a media screening in Toronto. Michael Mooledhar, a Trinidadian born film maker put together a 100% T&T cast and crew to make Green Days By th...