Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  No Black Owners To Groove On Toronto’s FM Airwaves By Stephen Weir: There used to be two, but now there are none.  Despite written pleas from the Prime Minister, the mayor, community groups and a listeners’ petition, the financially stressed radio station G-98.7 is no longer in Black hands. On Monday morning a court spent just an hour reviewing the purchase offer of the last Black owned station in the country (Flow, Canada’s first Black FM station was sold off years ago).  Pending a licence review by the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, Mississauga broadcaster Neeti P. Ray is now the proud owner of a station that bills itself as one “that Grooves.” Ray already owns and operates multi-cultural stations CINA-FM in Windsor and CINA 1650 AM in Mississauga. The two stations air programming in a variety of language including: Assyrian, Cantonese, Hindi, Serbian, Spanish and Ukrainian. According to Wikipedia 80% of their daily programming is in Arabic. “While I prepa...

(L to R): A lica Hall, Mayor Tory,  Nation Cheong, MPP Andrew and MP Vaughan in front of the Nia Centre For The Arts A Little Jamaica Project With a  Purpose By Stephen Weir  As autumn days go last Friday’s press conference for the  NIA Centre for the Arts  was perfect.  Warm temperatures, no wind and sunshine beamed down on a Little Jamaica building that is about to make Black history in Canada. The afternoon media event had speakers and representation from the province, the city and arts group both in person and online.  Prime Minister  Justin Trudeau  helped kick off the half hour event with an online speech in both French and English (I attended virtually as well).     The   PM spoke from Ottawa Speaking from Ottawa the PM said “This new space will continue to bring people together and allow everyone to experience the art that is rooted in Black Canadian traditions, and that is incredibly important because we all need to co...

Marci Ien is getting social with voters in Cabbagetown, Rosedale, The Gay Village and Regent Park By stephen weir Marci Ien has left the world of TV and if the voters in Toronto Central agree, is on her way to starring in the Big Show.   Caribbean Canadian journalist, TV personality and soon-to-be author is the Liberal candidate for a Federal By-election that is being held on October 26 in downtown Toronto. Ien has been a fixture on morning television in Canada for almost 30-years. The Ryerson graduate has been an anchor on CTV’s Canada AM and for the past five years as a panelist on the midmorning talk show The Social . She has taken a leave from the show to run for the seat recently vacated by embattered Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Although Toronto South is considered one of the safest Liberal seats in the country, rookie candidate Ien is up against nine other candidates from both established and fringe parties.   Of note is that newly minted Green Party leader, ...

Fool's Gold For Smart Toronto Fans of Tap By Stephen Weir  Lisa La Touche,  one of this country’s best jazz tap dancers ever has returned to Canada and is currently avoiding the virus in Calgary. Once the lockdown is over she hopes to perform her newest tap dance work  –  Fool’s Gold  - live in Toronto and maybe even one day in Trinidad, the land of her father’s birth. For now Torontonians will have to catch her online this Saturday October 3rd.  She is taking part in  the Fall For Dance North’s   “ The Flip Side ” Project  and has created an eight minute tap dance for the Toronto online and live event.    The Festival began earlier this week and runs until October 18. LA Touché along with five other Canadian dance choreographers and troupes, are performing world premier dances live on stage and on tape this weekend. This 2 pm ticketed live-stream event www.ffdnorth.com    from the Harbourfront Fleck Theatre...

Third Caribbean Tales Film Festival Entry To Look At The Caribbean Identity By Stephen Weir As the 15th annual Caribbean Tales Film Festival (CTFF) “reels” towards its Saturday night conclusion we have noticed a sub theme running through three of the keynote movies that are showcased this fall.  This trio of principal films is all about identity – be it race, colour or sexual orientation. Writing in the Caribbean Camera I have reviewed two of those movies in past issues of the paper; But You’re Not Black and Queer Coolie-tudes .   Yesterday the paper screened the disturbing third movie, Malpaso , made by Hector Valdez, a Dominican Republic moviemaker who did his schooling in Montreal at McGill University. But   You’re Not Black  is a quirky 30-minute documentary made by Toronto comedian and filmmaker Danielle Ayow. She is a Chinese-Caribbean-Canadian woman who, driven by people’s inability to separate her skin colour from her culture, tries to own the...

Ian Williams reaches the Stars with his Poems and Books By Stephen Weir One day earlier this month Trinidadian Canadian writer Ian Williams passed over from being a rising talent to that of an honest to goodness literary star.  In September the award winning poet and author was made a spokesman for Canada’s richest fiction prize, was featured in an exclusive magazine for the country’s well-heeled and oversaw the publishing of his new book of poems. Williams was born in Trinidad in 1979 and moved to Brampton with his family when he was 9.   He earned his PHD at the University of Toronto and is currently a professor of poetry at the University of British Columbia. Last year his first novel, Reproduction won the $100,000 Giller Prize and was shortlisted for two other significant Canadian book prizes. Williams’s poetry books have been shortlisted and won many Canadian Literary Prizes!  W ord Problems , his latest book is a mash-up of poetry and prose and is currently being printed ...

  10 make short(ish)list  This year’s shortlist of ten authors for the major history prize has been announced Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email to a friend A new take on the Aztecs, a study of the expulsion of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the 1930s, and a sweeping exploration of the East India Company are among the books nominated for a major history award. The shortlist for the 2020 Cundill History Prize was revealed on 22 September in a virtual event hosted by chair of the jury Peter Frankopan and jurors Anne Applebaum, Lyse Doucet, Eliga Gould and Sujit Sivasundaram. The award, which celebrates the best of the year’s history writing from around the world, has expanded its shortlist from eight to ten authors for the first time.  This year’s finalists will be announced on 20 October, with the winner set to be revealed in November. The full shortlist is as follows: Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation by Roderick Beaton (The University of Chic...