Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

My Story in Thursday's first print edition in 2024 ( my first story in the Caribbean Camera this year ) New Ontario Lieutenant Governor Edith Dumont got it right the first time. On New Year's Day, she announced 25 new appointments to the Order of Ontario for 2023. In her first list since taking the job in early November, she has shone a spotlight on people who have made exceptional contributions to help build a stronger province, nation, and world. Four members of Toronto’s Black and Caribbean communities are among the 25 new appointments to the Order of Ontario, the province's highest honour. Lieutenant Governor Edith Dumont recognized Geran Fearon, Dwayne Morgan, Hazelle Palmer, and Florence Ngenzebuhoro, who have earned the province's highest civilian honour for their extraordinary contributions. Gervan Fearon Members are invested with the Order’s insignia. Appointees are given the post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials or post-nominal titles (lette...

Kaie Kellough Wins  $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize By Stephen Weir - Guyanese Canadian poet Kaie Kellough has won the $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for his  book, Magnetic Equator. This prize – the largest in the English-speaking world – is awarded each year to two poets ( one Canadian and the other, international). Kellough was born in British Columbia and now lives in Montreal.  His maternal family is originally from Guyana and much of his poetry revolves around his Caribbean heritage and life experiences. “This particular book is partly set in Guyana (in Georgetown and in the rainforest),” Kellough told the Caribbean Camera shortly after winning the Prize. “It is also set in Calgary, where I spent many of my formative years.” ”The book moves back and forth between north and south, Calgary and Georgetown, as it tries to answer some very fundamental questions that many of us ask: who am I and how did I get here? ” I’m very much interested in fam...

What will happen to Caribbean Carnival '20? By Stephen Weir The Caribbean Camera has learned that the Festival Management Committee (FMC) which runs the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival will meet later this week to decide what is going to happen to this year’s annual July festival and their signature August 1 Grand Parade. With the announcement on Tuesday that the City of Toronto is cancelling all major events until June 30 (and leaving the door open to closing all further summer events) because of the virus pandemic, carnival stakeholders must decide if they are going to proceed with the parade, moving it to a later date in the year or simply postponing it until next year. For the FMC, the timing for its 2020 Toronto Caribbean Carnival, is now a big crapshoot. If the festival is to proceed with its mid-July kick-off, the mas’ bands have to begin opening their mas camps, holding band launches, building costumes and renting trucks for the parade. If the City ends up ex...

By Stephen Weir for the Caribbean Camera Louis Saldenah’s Mas-K-Club took no prisoners on Saturday night. The biggest band, with a legacy of winning that stretches back to the early days of Caribana, held a dramatic costume launch at the Chandi Banquet Hall in Scarborough in front an estimated crowd of over two thousand people. Sixteen sections with a theme of the “Wonders of Spring” entertained the audience for 90-minutes of sexy, innovative costumes for both men and women. Costumes shown on Saturday will be worn by the city’s largest band (5,500 anticipated in 2018) during the August 4th Toronto Caribbean Carnival’s Grand Parade. “Louis Saldenah’s Mas-K Club has got class,” said photographer Don Moreland. “Louis filled the place, the whole event had a great vibe at the Hall.” Moreland has covered all of the Carnival launches this season and reports that the Saldenah’s launch was one of the best he has worked .... ever. “Louis is good at what he’s into and that is Carnival,” he...