Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

North is Freedom – Black History Month events in Brampton all month By Stephen Weir   Tonight's Caribbean Camera newspaper The Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in Brampton and the Ontario Black History Society soft launches this weekend North is Freedom , an evocative new photo exhibition celebrating the descendants of former American slaves who fled to Canada in the years before the American Civil War. In portraits of 24 descendants of freedom seekers– the great-great-grandchildren of once-enslaved African Americans – Toronto photographer Yuri Dojc explores Canada’s end of the “Underground Railroad,” a clandestine network of "conductors" and “stations” that helped some 30,000 men, women, and children follow the “North Star” to freedom. Yuri Dojc The Black freedom seekers settled across Canada but most of them came to places in Ontario, such as Windsor, Chatham, Buxton, the Niagara Peninsula, Owen Sound, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto. ...

Lloyd Delpratt at the microphone   BOB MARLEY’S MESSAGE STILL STIR IT UP By Stephen Weir  Lloyd Delpratt, one of Bob Marley’s first recording studio keyboardists, spoke at a City Hall ceremony to proclaim February 6 th Bob Marley Day in Toronto.   The musician remembered the famed   late Jamaican singer as a major eagle, a man who soared above everyone, everywhere. “ Even though he has passed, he has never gone away,” Delpratt told a hush audience. Bob reached out (from beyond the grave) to help me find away.” “ I remember I was in Italy and Bob came to me in a dream. I didn’t know then he was sick but when he lay his head in my lap I tried to heal him,” he continued.   “ I saw him later at a concert in Europe and I could tell in his voice that he was very sick.   (At that point I understood my dream.)” Delpratt was one of 8 people with life experiences that   tie in with the message of the late Jamaican superstar spoke at the Annual Bo...

Revaluation   - Alvin Alley 1960 signature piece What Goes Around, Comes Around On Toronto's Downtown Sony Theatre Stage By Stephen Weir No rain, wind or Polar Vortex could stop the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre group from travelling to Toronto to perform before sold audiences last weekend at the downtown Sony Centre.    Thanks to crippling cold temperatures in New York City last Thursday over 8,000 flights were cancelled including those booked for the 30+ members of the Alvin Ailey troupe. “ We had major difficulties in leaving New York,” dancer Christopher R. Wilson told the Caribbean Camera on Friday night after their wildly successful first of three performances at the Sony.   “We tried to leave New York twice on Thursday but our flights kept being cancelled because of the cold. We made it out this afternoon (Friday)” said Wilson. “It was a real rush to make it from the airport to our hotel, change and step onto the stage for 8pm. It wasn...

Minister and Lieutenant Governor Mark 50th by Opening Show By Stephen Weir --> Over fifty-two million people – many of them Toronto students – have visited the Ontario Science Centre. So, it was only fitting that students were invited to attend last Friday’s 50 th birthday party. While the students were involved in some mad-scientist looking experiments, The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and The Honourable Michael Tibollo, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, marked the 50 th anniversary by touring Inventorium 2.0 , the Centre's newest exhibition. The new science exhibit brings visitors’ imagination to life through a range of hands-on activities, including coding, lasering, science art making and weaving. The Science Centre has always been a unique cultural attraction (for Toronto students)," said the Honourable Michael Tibollo, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. "This year, we celebrate the many w...