August 1st Emancipation Day has a march on August 2nd in downtown Toronto

 

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  the back of a pickup truck. Five pannists and a DJ from New York City set up beside Bay Street on the side lawn of the old city hall.

A squad of Toronto police officers on bikes came to escort the marchers on a route that took them north on University Ave and south on Yonge St., ending at Nathan Phillips Square. All the marchers were given flags from different Caribbean nations to wave, and shortly after 9:30, it all began.

Uneventful but cheerful, many motorists honked their support as the handful of flag wavers and the pan pickup truck made their way through the downtown core. As the parade passed by the Ontario Courts building, it looked as if the media had learned about the march. Five separate camera crews were set up adjacent to University Avenue. Unfortunately, they didn’t turn their cameras toward the flag wavers; they were there awaiting a court decision announcement concerning the ongoing Peter Nygard trial (which didn’t come).

The parade ended around 11:30 back near Nathan Phillips Square. The organizers thanked the marchers and invited them to come out next year when the CAG will once again mark Emancipation Day.

The Caribana Arts Group bills itself as the founding organization of the Caribana parade, which started back in 1967 (the parade is now run by the Festival Management Committee). The group is made up of volunteers and professionals who continue to champion the celebration of Caribbean arts, culture, and freedom in the city. 

As the founding organization of Caribana and the custodians of its history and legacy, the CAG proudly states on its website that "CARIBANA IS A CELEBRATION OF EMANCIPATION. Celebrating Freedom Is We Ting."