Toronto Police Service

• Every summer Toronto plays host to revellers and spectators, visitors and locals, for one of the biggest events of the season: the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (TCC).
• Under the theme of “Diversity and Culture Live Here,” the Festival Management Committee that oversees carnival events is encouraging everyone to join in the fun.

Carnivals and protest

• In the post George Floyd era, it is even more important that these issues are acknowledged and tackled head on.
• Perhaps, too, that phrasing on the website could mean an openness to embracing social critique and protest, which are hallmarks of Caribbean carnivals in other locations, such as in Trinidad and Tobago.
• Carnival celebrations born out of resistance to, and which mark emancipation from, chattel slavery have long been part of the cultural experience of Caribbean peoples.

Raising awareness

• This is only the second year, too, that the TCC’s main events overlap with Emancipation Day.
• Emancipation Day, observed on August 1, was made official in Canada in March 2021 in the wake of the BLM protests.
• TCC dates also coincide with Simcoe Day, which is observed in remembrance of the 1793 anti-slavery act.
• Organizers could program events that promote greater awareness about the history of Caribbean carnivals.

Helping Black businesses

• But while various businesses in the city — hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, cultural attractions and landmarks — benefit financially, that has not been the case for many Black businesses, especially small ones.
• It’s Blackness on display — and only when such display is profitable — with little to none of this profit going to Black communities.
• For example, the Festival Management Committee’s Building Black Entrepreneurs Program which has received funding from the federal government’s Black Entrepreneurship Program.

• Further, there was also no information available about the date or location of the trial or details on the charges.
• In March 2022, media organizations across the province issued an open letter expressing their "indignation" and "deep concern" with the secret trial.
• "The open court principle was egregiously violated here, undermines public confidence in the integrity of the court system, creating suspicion and rendering public oversight of what happened behind closed doors impossible."
• In response to the news, Quebec's justice minister, Simon Jolin-Barrette , said he had held discussions with the Superior Court and the Quebec court and that secret trials would not happen again.

• During the summer of 2022, the CBSA told media outlets there were a total of five companies that had received contracts related to the app.
• That number skyrocketed to a total of 27 contracts involving 23 unique companies, in documents the agency later submitted to Parliament.
• For a decade, the department kept secret a scientific study that raised serious questions about the safety of salmon-farming operations in British Columbia.
• Earlier this month, the Toronto Police Service was recognized as the winner in the law enforcement category.

• TORONTO, May 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- More than $750,000 in rewards were announced Monday as the Bolo Program marked five years of campaigns to catch Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
• A reward of up to $250,000 was announced for any information leading to Cuxum’s arrest.
• Several other suspects on the updated Top 25 list, which brings together information about most wanted suspects from across the country, are connected to rewards ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.
• "The Bolo Program does three very important things," Bolo Program Director Max Langlois said.