Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Summer Festivities Continue with Jambana One World Festival in Brampton By Stephen Weir Summer doesn’t end once the Toronto Caribbean Carnival grand parade concludes on August 3rd. This year, plans are well underway to welcome the summer of 2024 in Brampton on holiday Monday, August 5th. Jambana One World Festival will be celebrating Emancipation Day at Chinguacousy Park with music, vendors, and Caribbean flavours. This annual outdoor event is free and, as usual, will be a family-friendly occasion running from 1 PM to 9 PM. Since its inception, Jambana has grown and evolved, reflecting Ontario’s diverse cultural tapestry. It has become a premier “Fun For The Family” festival, celebrating the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Caribbean Canadian experience. The brainchild of the Jones and Jones Group, the festival has been an important part of the summer calendar since 2009. The day-long festival will feature captivating live music and dance performances from a variety of talented...

  Caribbean Canadian Poet Wins Big Faith Paré By Stephen Weir Last week, Afro-Guyanese Canadian poet Faith Paré was one of two new writers to win the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. She and Nayani Jensen, a writer and historian of science, each received $10,000. Established in memory of writer Bronwen Wallace, the award is administered by the Writer’s Trust. This prize has a proven track record of helping talented developing authors secure their first book deal. Two $10,000 prizes are given annually for outstanding works of unpublished poetry and short fiction. Faith Paré is a storyteller of Afro-Guyanese ancestry who writes poetry, performance pieces, and criticism. Her work delves into themes of pain, cultural displacement in a polarized world, and futurisms in the face of destruction, engaging with various traditions of Black cultural production. Born in Toronto and raised in Scarborough, she now lives and writes in Montreal. Toronto’s Nayani Jensen, sharing the ...

  BY STEPHEN WEIR The Toronto Caribbean Carnival Launch: A New Era, a New Home, a New Auidence photo by Gilbert Medina The ribbon has been cut, the songs have been sung, and the costumes have been strutted. Make no mistake, as of 2 p.m. last Saturday, the 2024 Toronto Caribbean Carnival is officially underway! For the first time this century, the launch was not held at Nathan Phillips Square, and it wasn’t free. Patrice Roberts sings at opening at right - G. Medina Still, this change didn’t stop an estimated crowd of 2,000 from traveling out to the Scarborough Town Centre to take in the vibrant costumes, listen to live music, and indulge in Caribbean food. Speaking outdoors on a temporary parking lot stage, Jennifer Hirlehey, the executive director of the Festival Management Committee (FMC) and the festival, stated, “The FMC has made significant improvements over the last year.” In previous years, when the festival launched at City Hall, many important speakers would appear at Nat...

Walk A Mile (or two) In My Shoes  Graduating student take a Walk of Excellence BY STEPHEN WEIR   On Thursday, the annual Walk of Excellence took place, marking a significant celebration for over 500 graduating high school students from the Jane Finch/Black Creek community. The event, organized by the Blackhurst Cultural Centre, local high schools, York-TD Community Engagement Centre , and the Toronto District School Board, aimed to honour the achievements of students from CW Jefferys, Westview, Emery, Downsview, and James Cardinal McGuigan High Schools. The festivities kicked off at CW Jefferys High School at 10am with a series of vibrant student presentations on the front lawn. Following this, the students, filled with excitement and pride, marched, danced, and walked north along Sentinel Road toward York University. Along their route, a small plane soared above, pulling a banner with words of encouragement for the graduates. This unexpected sight was a thrilling surprise for...

COMING SOON AN UNDERWATER SCULPTURE GARDEN OFF THE COAST OF CARRICOU! Thirty boats. Thirty young students, standing in stainless steel craft. You can look for them this fall off Carriacou's west coast, but don't look for them bobbing in the gentle seas of Carriacou and Petit Martinique. You need to look for them underwater! No, we aren't exposing some mass sailing disaster. We are talking about a new work of art by the world-famous underwater artist Jason deCaires Taylor (PICTURED BELOW) . His latest work, "A World Adrift," is set to create an underwater sculpture garden with the government's help. “I am setting them down near a small rocky outcrop to the west of Carriacou called Jack O Dan,” Taylor told the Caribbean Camera. “A local marine dive services operation will be contracted to deploy the works under my supervision this July.” “Crafted from high-grade stainless steel and pH-neutral green cement, each boat resembles paper origami to depict the fragil...

 I Know What I Am Going to Cook For Dinner Tonight  Hope they used Canadian maple syrup! Just saw my first can of Maple Flavoured Spam (Saveur D'Erable) in a Toronto Superstore (Loblaw). Bought it and set up my little studio on the dining room table to take this picture. Will give it a taste test tonight. Will give a report tomorrow (if I live). Product made in the USA even though they use the English Cdn spelling of the word Flavoured, and a French language product name (Saveur D'Erable) too, on the label. BTW - this is the smallest item posted on my website ever. It is a copy of my very favourable posting on Facebook early today.

 No CNN or CBC, But the new Jane and Finch Grads Got a Parade and an Airplane to Mark Their Passage  BY STEPHEN WEIR On Thursday, the annual Walk of Excellence took place, marking a significant celebration for over 500 graduating high school students from the Jane Finch/Black Creek community. The event, organized by the Blackhurst Cultural Centre, local high schools, York-TD Community Engagement Centre , and the Toronto District School Board, aimed to honour the achievements of students from CW Jefferys, Westview, Emery, Downsview, and James Cardinal McGuigan High Schools. The festivities kicked off at CW Jefferys High School at 10am with a series of vibrant student presentations on the front lawn. Following this, the students, filled with excitement and pride, marched, danced, and walked north along Sentinel Road toward York University. Along their route, a small plane soared above, pulling a banner with words of encouragement for the graduates. This unexpected sight was a t...

1st First Friday Marks 30 tonight at Globe and Mail By Stephen Weir: I know what Warren Salmon was doing on Friday June 3rd1994. IT was early in the evening, and he was rolling the dice wondering if people within the Black community would come out to the Glass Bucket. It was a long gone Yonge Street lounge and it was hosting the launch of Warren Salmon's first First Fridays event. Salmon describes his vision for the monthly event he planned to run the 1st Friday of every month as the “premier networking event for entrepreneurs and professionals of African descent in North America and other parts of the world.” Back in the early days of the evenings, the Caribbean Camera called it an event that attracts Black businesspeople “who want to network, learn about new business endeavours, meet industry leaders and most importantly, socialize. And, on that spring even the dice rolled his way, people took to his networking concept. "Around 80 people showed up. It was hosted by Mike Pur...

  One of CHUM-fm radio’s only Black voices has left his morning spot By Stephen Weir It is morning. You get into your car and turn on your radio for the latest traffic, weather, and your favorite tunes. But wait, something is wrong. That isn’t Jamar McNeil talking in your ear—the main man on Toronto’s leading morning station, CHUM-FM, isn’t there anymore. When listening to Toronto radio stations, when a voice suddenly goes missing, it often means that the host has been given the boot. Fired. No one retires. But that is not the case with the ever-popular Jamar. After six years of being the co-host of the Marilyn Denis and Jamar morning show, he has been moved to the afternoon shift where he is now the co-host with Josie Dye. Josie Dye (pictured at right) According to the Toronto Mike’d podcast, (which follows the comings and goings of Toronto radio hosts), Jamar was moved to the afternoon to replace Meredith Shaw “after Shaw's move to become a host on Breakfast Television on CITY-TV...

 IT HAPPENS ON THURSDAY MORNING JUNE 6TH Now in its 11th year, the Walk with Excellence is an annual event that celebrates the achievements of graduating students from   high schools in Toronto’s Jane and Finch community. Signifying the beginning of their journey to post-secondary education, the event – taking place this year on Thursday, June 6 – will see over 500 graduating students walk from five local high schools onto York University’s Keele Campus. The students’ supportive teachers and administrators will be cheering them on along the way, and all York University community members are invited join in welcoming the students onto the Keele Campus in true York U style. “The Walk with Excellence signals new beginnings and a new season,” said Itah Sadu, founder of the Walk with Excellence and a York University honorary degree recipient. “Walking with the graduating students in this annual urban rite of passage is pure joy.” Organized by a coalition of community partners – inc...