Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  Another Letter To Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette At the beginning of this year The Caribbean Camera published an editorial that asked you to include ALL Canadians in your decision making process when you decide who is to join the ranks of Order of Canada.  Good news, ten months later -- it appears you listened and have now included a single person of colour amongst the latest additions to this exclusive club. One out of 114. Yes it was a baby step and yes you have a long way to go. But we rejoice that our Queen’s representative has noticed us! It was in our January 8 th  edition that our erstwhile reporter Stephen Weir penned an editorial that pointed out to you, The Governor General, that your December 2019 list of citizens who had earned the  Order of Canada had a lot of people missing – specifically the names of people of colour. He also pointed out that this wasn’t the first time your appointment list did not include a single person of colour. In the summer of

  Desmond Coles win the Toronto Book Award for walking the walk and writing about it.   By Stephen Weir:  Often called the human launch pin to Toronto’s Black Lives Matter movement, writer and broadcaster Desmond Cole has just  been awarded the 2020 Toronto Book Award for his memoir “The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power”. The annual civic book award ceremony is usually held at the Toronto Reference Library, but this year was held virtually on Monday night. The prize was presented live on line by Paul Ainslie city councillor for Scarborough-Guildwood and a member of the Toronto Public Library Board.  Cole takes home $10,000 and four finalists receive $1,000 each. Also in the running for the Prize was Jamaica Canadian writer Zalika Reid-Benta (Frying Plantain), Katie Daubs (The Missing Millionaire), Vivian Chong and Georgia Webber (Dancing After TEN) and Jean Marc Ah-Sen  (In the Beggarly Style of Imitation) Cole’s book, according to his publisher, “ chronicles just on

  ONLY CARIBBEAN CANADIAN TO RECEIVE THE ORDER OF CANADA - FLOW FOUNDER DENHAM JOLLY                       Brandeis  Denham Jolly , a Toronto businessman, author and broadcaster  is one of 114 new appointments to the Order of Canada  announced by her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada. The  new appointees to the Order were announced last Friday. Created in 1967, the Order of Canada is one of our country’s highest honours. The Order spotlights people whose service shapes our society. More than 7,000 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order of Canada. Their contributions are varied, yet they have all enriched the lives of others. Mr. Jolly’s official citation recognizes “his contributions to the promotion of equity and opportunity within the Greater Toronto Area’s Black community.” 85-year old  Brandeis Denham Jolly was born in  Green  Island, Jamaica. After coming to Canada he studied at the University of Guelph, Dalhous

Stephen Weir first reporter to talk to this popular streaming service   Black TV/Film comes to Canada via Amazon Prime Video Channel By Stephen Weir:  UMC, the first streaming service ever created for Black TV and film from AMC Networks, is coming to this country. The company announced yesterday afternoon that it is extending its reach into Canada with its debut on Amazon Prime Video Channels this week. Prime Video Channels launched for Canada in June of last year and currently offers 18 channels, including AMC Networks Acorn TV, Shudder, and Sundance Now. UMC’s addition is the first that specifically caters to Black and Afro-Canadian audiences. The rapidly growing Black-focused streaming service features an array of programming that includes exclusive UMC original series; independent films; stage plays; popular network TV, nostalgic Black cinema, and much more. “We will offer diverse content that captures the essence of the Black experience, no matter which continent you live,” Brett

Industry panel asks are museums in crisis? By Stephen Weir : The winds of change are about to begin blowing through the boardrooms of public art galleries and museums in Ontario. On Thursday a panel of art experts will be meeting online at the  Ontario Museum Association’s  (OMA) annual meeting to talk the talk about the lack of diversity at the top! The  industry wide discussion is self-titled “ Are Museums in Crisis ” inspired by a number of recent articles in both the  Canadian Art Magazine  and the Toronto  Globe and Mail.   These well-respected publications have published articles that report that the vast majority of people running public art galleries and museums are white while employees and cultural consumers alike want change! A panel discussion about having more exhibition and shows by  non-white artists? No, right now the issue is diversity in terms of who is running our public cultural organizations - curators, executives and boards members.  The keynote OMA four-person

Trinidad novelist Ingrid Persaud in the running for a big UK book prize By Stephen Weir:  UK’s Costa Book Awards finalists were just announced including Trinidad’s  Ingrid Persaud . Her novel  Love After Love is in the running for the annual 5,000 £  pr ize for Top First Novel. The Costa Book Awards are a set of annual literary awards in five categories recognising English-language books penned by writers based in Britain and Ireland.  A nominated author need not be a citizen to win the Prize. Persaud a writer in her 50s left Trinidad at the age of 18 to study and work in the UK.  A late bloomer, She  won both the 2017 Commonwealth short story prize and the 2018   BBC National short story award with  The Sweep Sop.  Love After Love, her first full-length novel,  is about an unconventional household in Trinidad. It tells  the story of Trinidadian Betty Ramdin, who has suffered for years at the hands of her husband, an abusive drunk who “only gave love you could feel. He cuff you down?

Table Talk. Hip Vodka and much much more. Yvette Martin is back in Toronto changing the entertainment world.   By Stephen Weir   Sitting around Yvette Martin’s kitchen table in her home northwest of Toronto shooting the breeze with a local reggae star the talk is  dope .  Even more so than one might expect because thousands of Jamaicans are  watching and hanging on to every word Martin says in her new weekly radio and TV show. Producer. Actress. Playwright. Friend to the music world. Yvette Martin hosts this new radio and television weekly morning show on the Caribbean World Channel (CWCTV) in Jamaica that all takes place around her Canadian kitchen table. Visiting reggae stars. Actresses. New songs dropping every week. Often it is just interesting stories from one of the hardest working music producers this side of the US border.  Her busy busy life, even during the lockdown is all fodder for her new issues based Caribbean World Channel show  Table Talk with Yvette  heard and seen Thu

  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 prepare to undertak

(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 continue to educate ourselves on the culture and experiences