IN THE BEGINNING

--

In 1966 two committees were established to plan an event to celebrate Canada's Centennial. The board of Governors was led by Alban Liverpool and the Executive committee was led by Sam Cole. ...

The committees came up with a plan of staging a Carnival festival to accomplish their idea of the celebration. That was the beginning of Caribana in 1967

For most of the people involved it was an easy task because many of the them were from islands where Carnival was part of their culture. The city Mayor Dennison was so impressed that he asked the group to stage the event again in 1968.

One article stated Cole was the one who sent a letter to the mayor asking for permission to stage the event. The same article later had Cole being asked by Mayor Dennison to stage the event again in 1968. However Cole's name didn't appear on the list of directors for the new organization called "The Caribbean Committee for Cultural Advancement". Cole was never heard from again throughout the entire life of Caribana

People from both committees came together and formed the new board chaired by Alban Liverpool. An article was published indicating that Liverpool the new chair expressed his appreciation to the Toronto Mayor, other government members and the police for their support and help in staging the 68 festival. The absence of Cole shows there were issues with the organization.

Ten islands were initially involved in Caribana. Many had representatives on the board. Later more islands were added and there were often boards consisting on close to twenty members. Caribana was chaired by people from various islands. The Caribbean people were proud of Caribana because it was part of their culture. No one island dominated the festival, until the 1980s and that's when the festival starting going downhill. Caribana has never been the same since and will never be the same until and unless it finds its roots.

Caribana needs to be reorganized so that it will remain the property of the Caribbean Community. The city would love to change the name so that it has no link to the Black Caribbean Community. Ironically, it won't go after the Chinese, Italian, Greek, Muslim, Hindu and other cultural entities and change their names.

My concerns about Caribana are: Who will the city pass the Caribbean golden goose to? Does the festival belong to the city so it can pass it to whoever it wants? Will the new organizers demand respect and don't move until all their needs are met? Can an Asian or White group take complete control of our Caribbean festival?

FMC group came through the back door and is leaving the same way, but with very little respect and concerned about a festival they thought they could handle. They were paid, but previous boards never received or claimed a cent for the festival they loved.Why should FMC be responsible for passing the festival to whomever it wants? This is unfair to the Caribbean Community the only owners of the festival.

I hope Joe will get all or most of the Caribbean associations in Toronto together to discuss a plan to move Caribana back to the community. This is an election year and the community groups should approcah the politicians and make demands base on their support for candidates and parties who would like to help.

The city can and should invite the various Caribbean organization to get involved in Caribana. just like it was in the 1960 to 1984. Each organization can be offered $400 - $500k to produce a Mas band. Many island have the talent to produce some very Mas. This would also return the festival to the Caribbean Community, instead of individual nabdleaders playing the PUTIN role by reducing the mumber of bands participating in the parade.

I believe if the Mas bands are not offered money in advance, and show some respect, then they should not produce any band for the festival because this would take them back to the days of SLAVERY and they would become HOUSE NIGGERS.