Stop Scotiabank and the City Of Toronto from Stealing Our Festival

The Caribana™ Carnival in Toronto was created in 1967 by the Caribana™ Cultural Committee (C.C.C), now known as the Caribana™ Arts Group (C.A.G.). It is the largest cultural festival in North America and was created to commemorate Canada’s centennial independence celebration, by a group of West Indian immigrants living in Ontario, Canada.

Throughout the years, the founders made tremendous sacrifices to keep the festival alive despite the many adversities they faced, including bankruptcy. Others even lost their homes as a result of repossession by financial institutions when they could not repay the loan borrowed to run the festival. Needless to say, the Caribana™ creators got little or no financial help from the City of Toronto or any government entity when they started, which continued for many years. Despite their many pitfalls and lack of funding, the founders still held on to their visions and dreams and continued to risk all they had to ensure the Caribbean culture was showcased during the summer months when the festival called Caribana™ was held.

Ironically, the festival has now been usurped by one of Canada’s largest financial institution called Scotiabank, and the City of Toronto, through one of the city’s management company call the Festival Management Committee (F.M.C). The takeover was arranged when the City of Toronto, in 2006, offered to assist the C.C.C. with expertise advise in areas they were lacking. This arrangement was accepted when the C.C.C experienced certain challenges, some of which resulted from inadequate funding, so they thought this gesture was genuine and in good faith. Eventually the C.C.C agreed to allow the FMC to manage the festival for a year and helped augment their operations. Afterwards, the festival was to be returned to the C.C.C. management control, but this did not happen.
The C.A.G has requested the return of the festival many times or asked the FMC to enter into a licensing agreement, but their requests have been ignored by a group some people in the community have labeled “the de facto group.” Subsequently, the C.A.G took the initiative to pursue legal action to reclaim the festival and in May 2011, the Ontario Superior Court ruled the name Caribana ™ is a trademark that could no longer be used by Scotiabank and the FMC. With that ruling, the “de facto group” was forced to change the name and renamed it Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival.

An article in the Toronto Star in May 2011, stated, “An Ipsos Reid study released April (2010) showed Caribana generated $483 million for the provincial economy in 2009, drawing about 1.2 million festival-goers, including 300,000 from outside the country.” Maybe, the biggest question that needs to be answered is, who requested this study? Was it because of these astounding figures, Scotiabank and the City of Toronto do not want to return the festival to its rightful owners? After managing the festival successfully for almost 40 years, why do the City of Toronto, Scotiabank and the FMC now believe C.A.G is incompetent to manage it?

There is no doubt the festival belongs to the C.A.G, who demonstrated resilience throughout the years in promoting the Caribbean culture, even during the most tumultuous times. Scotiabank, by virtue of their actions, seems to be exercising organizational colonialism, which must be condemned. This is an unprecedented action taken by a large city in an advance democratic country. Where is Scotiabank and the City of Toronto ethics and social responsibly?

If anyone was to take away any property of Scotiabank or the City of Toronto, they might be charged for illegal possession of the property and possibly called a thief. Why does Scotiabank believe after all the sacrifices made over the years by members of the Caribana™ Arts Group and the Caribbean Community, the City of Toronto now has the right to take their festival away and let them claim it as their own? Hmm…Bully? Furthermore, under any other circumstances would this not be considered stealing?