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Local News: Caribana may see change in organizers Black Habits Articles In the eyes of Elsworth James, Caribana is more than just a festival name, it’s a jewel in the city. It represents a culture’s history and future.

But, James, chair of public relations with the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC) — Caribana’s official organizer since 1967 — is “ready to pull the plug” on CCC’s fight to run this year’s festival.

“My mind is all for shutting down Caribana this year,” says James. The city pulled its plug on Caribana funding — $800,000 split equally between the city and the province — when the financiallytroubled CCC failed to deliver a clean financial audit on deadline.

Support is now behind The Toronto Mas Bands Association (TMBA) to host the Toronto Caribbean Carnival this summer — as TMBA did in 2002 when Caribana was near bankruptcy.

“It’s the wrong path and I know it will have repercussions,” says James. “There’s only one festival in this city and that‘s Caribana. Any other is a mocking pretender.“

James admits there were problems with the audit, but insists the city’s decision creates a divide between two groups representing the same culture.

“This is the master divider,” said James. “Taking everything and having us fighting against each other.”

The CCC met last night to discuss how it could work with TMBA to keep Caribana — which rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars for the city each year — alive.

(Sophie Nicholls, 24 hours)
Posted on Saturday, April 15 @ 00:00:00 UTC by jcohen



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