Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Not the last carnival of the summer B y Stephen Weir   It didn’t stop their parade last weekend, but that province wide Saturday’s rainstorm soaked the city of Belleville almost as much as what happened in Toronto. The third annual Belleville Caribbean Parade had a start time of 1 p.m last Saturday and according to weather reports on the day, that’s just about when it started raining on the small city. By 2 p.m., there was fog and a full-blown thunderstorm.   It takes more than rain to stop a carnival parade, but it did impact the size of the audience that normally line the side of the road to cheer on the revellers and a number of King and Queen costumes conscripted from last month’s Toronto Caribbean Carnival competition. “Despite a little rain, the celebration was nothing short of amazing,” reported the organizers of the annual Belleville Caribbean Festival. “The vibrant culture, delicious food, and lively music brought our community together in the best way possible...

Life would be perfect for Canada’s famed hip hop man if ….. By Stephen Weir If it weren’t for PanMaster losing at Pan Alive by just 1 point, this would have been a perfect summer for Saukrates. His favorite B-Boy won an Olympic medal in Paris, his July release, My Pager Burnin' Up (Easide of Thangs), is blowing up on YouTube with his 1.1 million followers, he moved to new digs (don’t worry, he’s still in Scarborough), and he’s looking forward to his new release Bad Addiction, set for September. “I can’t talk about it.” There’s just one summer downer for Saukrates: PanMaster lost at the Pan Alive competition on August 2nd at the Caribbean Carnival outdoor stage at Exhibition Place. Saukrates has been a PanMaster fan for years and believes it’s time the Scarborough steel orchestra gets its proper dues. “There are some kids (in PanMaster) who have been playing for eight years without a win,” said the singer. He even designed the band’s performance T-shirts for the Pan Alive competit...

October 2, 2024 , Innocence Canada  and other innocence, and social justice groups worldwide will join together in our shared goal of spreading awareness about wrongful convictions. International Wrongful Conviction Day (IWCD) was launched by Innocence Canada on October 2, 2014.  In recognition of this special milestone year, Innocence Canada, and the International Wrongful Conviction Day Committee( IWCDC) are hosting a IWCD 10 th  Anniversary Gala Event.   This night provides us all the opportunity to recognize, acknowledge and honour the wrongly convicted, their families, advocates, and supporters Event:  10 th  Anniversary of IWCD Where: Ontario Bar Association (OBA), Grand Salon              20 Toronto Street, Toronto, Ontario. Time:    Reception: 5:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. followed by the evening’s programme! Exonerees from across Canada will be attending and part...

  Doug Ford Promises Carnival Will Have More Money From The Province in 2025          Mayor Chow in her Mas parade costume Premier Doug Ford By Stephen Weir No Toronto Star. No Globe and Mail. No Toronto Sun. It is a big secret, as the Caribbean Camera is the only print newspaper in town that knows all about the Carnival’s good news. We showed up at 8:30 a.m. last Saturday for the official opening of this year’s Toronto Caribbean Carnival. CP24 was there covering it too so we both got dibs on the scoop of the summer. Standing on the stage in front of the nearly empty bleachers were the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, councillor Michael Thompson, and mayor Olivia Chow. There were two NDP MPPs, the Calypso Monarch (King Cosmos), and, of course, Jennifer Hirlehey, the head of the Festival Management Committee (which runs the annual parade). Doug Ford wore an overstretched, grunge-style green T-shirt and seemed in a very good mood. Smiling, he took to the mic...

MPP Jill Andrew Rides The Train with a 1,000 others The 2024 Carnival Weekend Began With a Special Underground Train Ride Stephen Weir Drummers pounded out the countdown just before midnight. It was seconds before the start of August 1st. Drones lit the sky above the Downsview subway station with hearts and words of love. Singing. Cheering. It was all part of the 11th annual Underground Freedom Train ride in Toronto. No Justin Trudeau wasn’t there, that was last year. And judging by the size of the turnout last Wednesday night, there wouldn’t have been a shoehorn big enough to squeeze him into the dedicated subway train that carried close to a thousand people from Union Station to Downsview Station to honour the Underground Railroad of the1850s and to mark the arrival of Canada’s Emancipation Day. The official launch was handled by the honourary whistle-blowing conductor, Amah Harris ( above left ). The distinguished educator, producer, mentor, playwright, and researcher led this ye...

  And there was a second Emancipation Day Event in Toronto By STEPHEN WEIR It may go down as Toronto’s smallest parade to dance and wave flags along University Ave. It looked as though the bicycle police assigned to clear a path around the streets of downtown Toronto  for the Emancipation Parade outnumbered the people taking part. Don’t know what we are talking about? No doubt hardly anyone knew or took part in last Friday’s third annual Caribana Arts Group Emancipation Day Parade. It was a surprise  afternoon notice sent to many on Thursday. August 1st, the official Emancipation Day in Toronto, announcing that the CAG was marking the day on August 2nd. The message read, "Tomorrow we’re chipping to the beat of the drum at Caribana’s 3rd Annual Emancipation March!!!" Parade-goers were told to meet at Bay and Albert Streets, across from Nathan Phillips Square, for a parade start time of 8:30 a.m. About a dozen supporters came out, along with drummers that filled...

Did not see my name on Facebook so I must not be dead (hopefully) Stephen Weir I grew up in a small Ontario town surrounded by forests and a lake. The town had one Main Street with the only street light (I think they have four now) in front of the post office. Right next to the PO's clock tower was the town's weekly newspaper. the Renfrew Mercury. Since it only published on Thursdays, a lot of news didn't make it into Thursday's edition, most notably death notices. Because someone might die on a Friday and be buried on Tuesday, no obituary would be printed, and people in town might miss the funeral (and that was always a big deal). So what the paper did was to stick up obituary notices in the front window so that on your way to the post office, you could check who had died and when the funeral and burial would take place. The lads (what male seniors were called) would gather in front of the window at 10 am to watch Norm, the editor, stick a written notice out towards t...