Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Justin and Me And Trump Make Three (or is it 11?) - THE REDUX By Stephen Weir The gentle tap tap quickly birthed a knock knock followed by a kick kick at the base of my front door. Someone wanted me wide awake, like yesterday. “Hey Dream Boy, rise and shine,” barked a loud voice from the other side of my solid oak front door. Was that a faint Quebecois accent lurking in that military staccato? “ Mange la merde”, I screamed back. I wasn’t going to give up on my disturbing dream without a fight. I know this voice; this man was going to make my morning its own waking nightmare. “ It is Justin, he knows.” My unrequested wake-up service shrieked right back at me. Yes, I was correct, this wasn’t going to end well. “What does His majesty know? And why does he suddenly want to speak to me after the last time?” I turned the volume down a notch, best to find out what the hell I had done before I ended up having to buy a new door. I am a Toronto based news hound who will do anything to get...

 Trudeau Comes to the Jr Carnival Kiddies Parade in Malvern While I Get CSIS Bums Rush I have been thrown out of a lot of events over the years, but never before have I been tossed from a Black church by Prime Minister Trudeau's staff. This all started Friday evening when a Scarborough methodist church invited Anthony Joseph , the publisher of the Caribbean Camera, to come to a hush hush Saturday afternoon service and cover it for his paper. He asked me to come with him to deliver a gift of freshly baked Caribbean bread (AJ is also a baker) to a Methodist church on Morningside Drive. Small church, Big Caribbean Canadian membership. We arrived just before a pan player brought his kit into the church. Special service complete with Caribbean music. We were invited to attend but after signing in we were approached by two security officers in civvies, asking who we were and why did I have my camera out? I assumed they were CSIS. It was all hush hush that Justin Trudeau was going to...

The Walt Grealis Award The last Hurrah for Denise Jones at the Juno Awards In May By Stephen Weir : She was the cornerstone of the Jamaican Canadian community and is about to receive her just rewards at a special ceremony in Toronto in May. The national Juno Music Award will be posthumously honouring the late Denise Jones with the 2022 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award. The Award will be broadcast live on CBC/Gem Television, streamed on cbc.ca/juno and on Ontario Place’s Budweiser Stage. It showcases the Juno Opening Night ceremonies this May14th. The Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award recognizes individuals whose work has significantly impacted the growth and development of the Canadian music industry. Named after the publisher and co-founder of the JUNO Awards, the Award kicks off the 6-day festival. Denise Jones  was  one of the most influential voices in Canada’s Black entertainment community  for the past 30-years . Jones, who passed in December 2020  o...

Saturday 100,000 People Watch and Take To Toronto Caribbean Carnival's Virtual Road  By Stephen Weir:  It was the perfect parade that the world will never see live.  Beautiful people in costumes, soaring pan, word perfect Calypso. No gaps on Lakeshore Blvd. No arguments amongst the  Mas Men.   No stormers.  No rain, thunder or lightning.  Perfect, but,  sigh,  the city really misses you  Toronto Caribbean Carnival. “When you total up the viewers on all the different platforms from Twitch to Instagram to Facebook, we had 100,000 watching the  Virtual Road Carnival  on Saturday alone,” said  Aneesa Oumarally ,  Chief Executive Officer  of the  Festival Management Committee.  “The whole world did watch. We heard from (happy fans) in Atlanta, Cleveland and other great American cities who told us they are coming to Toronto next summer to be with us live.” Ourmarally’s viewership numbers have been confirmed b...

Thursday’s Online Walk of Excellence for Jane and Finch. By Stephen Weir Mr JT on YouTube Last Thursday, North Toronto students got the online surprise of their lives while watching a live YouTube broadcast of the annual graduation Walk of Excellence.   Not only did community leaders, entertainers and family members take part in the 2-hour social media broadcast, so too did the Prime Minister of Canada and the Mayor of Toronto! In past years, Grade 12 students graduating from area high schools -- Emery, Downsview, Westview, CW Jeffreys and James Cardinal McGuigan have taken the Walk of Excellence from their schools to a grad party put on by York University.   In 2020, the year of the pandemic, the March was left to a small group of pan players while students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 took part on-line. The broadcast was a mix of live footage from musicians performing on Finch Avenue West and Jane, to taped messages and live student posts.   I...

Justin Trudeau stopped by the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival BBQ One Year Later,  One Liberal Learns To Dance To A Soca Beat It is carnival time in the city of Toronto.  Soca Music. Mas. Calypso. A million people in the hot and hot streets. More media than at the G20.  For Federal Liberals,  the world famous Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival, has always had a  huge publicity attraction.  It is sometimes their PR Waterloo. And while Martha Reeves does say that  summer is here and the time is right for dancing in the street, it doesn't mean that a politician just has to show up to be instantly seen as being one with the people. It was a year ago, that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, rented a bus and rolled into town for what was then called Scotiabank Caribana.  He had a steel pan orchestra and champion calypso singer,  Macomere Fifi in tow.  They barnstormed the festival, entertaining the crowds with long speeches, soca and...