Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Two Years On - Monday's Emancipation Day This Monday marks the second federally recognised Emancipation Day in Canada, it is also the second time that Toronto will mark the event with a march along Bloor Street in downtown Toronto. Beginning at 1pm at Bathurst and Bloor Street the parade with travel west to Christie Pitts for live music and celebration in honour of Canada’s recognition of Emancipation Day. Emancipation on Bloor ends at 3pm. The event marks the actual day in 1834 that the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 came into effect across the British Empire. August 1st is now a day that honours the long legacy and contribution of Black Canadians and the commitment to unlearning anti-Black racism and pushing for a more just society. media covering 2021 Bloor March Emancipation on Bloor is once again organized by The Blackhurst Cultural Centre. Spokeswoman Itah Sadu says the parade will “a series of “statements” through artistic expression including the liberation from chains, m

Is it good news for the Toronto Caribbean Carnival or is great news for Drake? The Toronto based singer traditionally holds a multi-day music festival at Ontario Place in and around the Caribana weekend. Some years the timing of the start of his concerts have conflicted with the closing down of the Grand Parade along Lakeshore Blvd making parking a nightmare. Not in 2022! Drake has just announced the dates for his three Ovo concerts, none of which will take place on parade day (July 30th). On Thursday July 28th the OVO festival kicks off with a showcase of "All Canadian North Stars" at  History,  the new concert hall Drake owns on Queen Street East in Toronto’s Beach District. The show starts at 7pm. venue and you must be at least 19 to attend. As of last night Drake had still not released the names of the acts performing. The other two OVO events will be held at Ontario Place (Budweiser Stage) with Chris Brown and Lil Baby headlining on Friday July 29th. On Monday, August 1s

  July 31st., 2022 - 11.00 PM The Annual Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride Is Back On Track at Toronto's   Union Station  The Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride is back on track and in-person this year. The annual train ride aboard a private TTC train takes 1,000 people on a ride to mark Emancipation Day. The 2022 Conductor will be the  Honourable Elder Dr. Jean Augustine as she blows the whistle to start the 2022  Toronto Underground Freedom Train Ride at 11.00 PM on July 31 st  at Union Station. Everyone is welcome to get on board this annual Toronto Freedom Train ride as the people of this city recognise the challenges and opportunities provided by Canada’s proclaimed Emancipation Day. The ride will be an incredible journey and experience about the Underground Railroad, the route enslaved Africans used to escape American slave plantations, seeking freedom in Canada and ultimately Emancipation Day on August 1 st . The theme of this year’s Freedom Train

 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

Yorkdale hosting the brand new Carnival Portal   Stephen Weir :  Post Covid days in Toronto are strange times indeed. Who’d ever guess that the place to get a good fix of 2022 Carnival magic is inside the posh super mall, Yorkdale.  And, totally out-of-character for all that makes Yorkdale a to-die for shopping experience, Carnival Portal is a new carnival happening that is admission free! Located at the Allan Expressway and Highway 401, the indoor mall is better known for selling $100,000 watches and Tesla cars indoors than having a pop-up portal of the Caribbean Canadian Carnival Arts.  Carnival Portal, a joint project of the City of Toronto and Oxford Properties (owners of Yorkdale) which opens today (June 23 rd ) and runs to September 4th celebrates all that is carnival.  The exhibition, located in the middle of the mall, is divided into two rooms: one displaying costumes, headpieces and photography, the other is an augmented and virtual reality experiences zone.  In the first room

  A new series of kid's books meant to get girls interested in engineering at school Engineers live to solve problems.  For Mississauga author and engineer, the problem that she is trying to solve is how to inspire young girls to grow up and become engineers so that they too can remake the world. Jeannette Chau , is a Mississauga based electrical engineer who handles government relations work for the Professional Engineers of Ontario by day and writes children’s books by night!  She has two books under her Superwoman belt, both are aimed at inspiring Canadian children to earn their Iron Rings (Iron Rings are worn by Canadian-trained engineers, as a symbol of the obligations and ethics of the profession). Right now, it is estimated that only 13% of the engineering work force are female. That is a percentage that Chau wants to change ASAP.  “Why aren’t kids thinking about engineering as a career?” she said to the  Caribbean Camera  “I think women at an early age, want to go into help

  Sandy Daley's new play asks: Whose Vagina Is It, Really. Now playing in Toronto festival By Stephen Weir Author, Playwright, Movie Star and Actress Sandy Daley is the first to agree that the name of her new play  Whose Vagina Is It, Really?  really does  garners a lot of attention, most of it good. The play opens tomorrow (Friday) afternoon at the Al Green Theatre in Toronto’s Annex district as one of the showcase plays in this year’s Fringe Festival . “I will say that the title does catch the attention of male (theatres goers), the women get it immediately,” Daley told the Caribbean Camera yesterday. “Black, Brown, Asia and Caucasian the message is the same. Women don’t put themselves first. I constant remind that you must home in what matters – themselves. Don’t keep doing everything for everyone else (like husbands and other make figures).” “Whose Vagina Is It, Really?" is set in a church and focuses on women and the pressures placed upon them by society. Karlene (played