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VOL 3. NO. 30 Monday, August 6 - Sunday, August 12, 2001
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CARIBBEAN CONNECTION
Toronto Mayor's Racist Remarks Fuels Debate Over Caribana Participation
By Karen FLYNN

Mayor Mel Lastman, courtesy photo

In the weeks leading up to the annual Caribana festivities in Toronto, there was some confusion as to whether the city's mayor would be invited to participate in events. This was sparked about a month ago when Mayor Mel Lastman told a reporter that he wasn't looking forward to a trip to Mombasa, Kenya to lobby African delegates to support Toronto's 2008 Olympic bid. "I can just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me," Lastman said. Since then Lastman has been under attack by various organizations around the city, and they are not about to stop, until Lastman gets the message that racist remarks by someone in his position is unacceptable. An anti-racist rally supported by over 40 organizations held at Nathan Phillips Square, last week was meant to drive the message home.

Knowing that traditionally the mayor participates in major parades, Grace Galabuzzi, one of the organizers of the newly formed African-Canadian Coalition wrote a letter to Frances Jeffers, Chair of the Caribana Cultural Committee (CCC) asking that they not invite Lastman to participate in Caribana. When Galabuzzi spoke to a member of the board regarding their decision, he was told that the CCC had responded to the AFC's request in the affirmative. "I was told by a board member officially, that the mayor could not attend the Caribana event." The mayor's office was obviously not notified about the CCC's decision, because, Scott Manage, Senior Writer, at the mayors' office, insisted that Lastman was invited to Caribana and I should check my sources. When Lastman did not attend the opening event, and I called back the mayors office, Manage said that the mayor was invited, but had other commitments. He pointed out that the next day, the mayor would be participating in a Caribana ki! ds event. "He will be riding in a fire spitting corvette that the organizers provided with the kids, that is certainly an indication that they asked him to participate," says Manage. The mayors' office should get a listing of the Caribana events because the kids' event that Manage was referring to was not, according to a Caribana official, "a Caribana sponsored event."

But the CCC's recent press release has some folks confused as to what exactly is Caribana's position on Lastman's comment and participation. The press release states, "in response to media reports that Mayor Mel Lastman was welcome at Caribana 2001, the CCC states categorically that everyone is invited to join the celebrations." It adds that, while there were members of the board that shared similar sentiments about Lastman's statement, which is in line with the rest of the African-Canadian community, "Caribana is committed to welcoming people to join our festivities, not excluding them." Margaret Parsons, Executive Director of the African Canadian Legal Clinic (ACLC) states, that her understanding of the CCC position is that the mayor can attend the parade as a regular citizen. "Sure [the mayor] can come and dance like the rest of the folks, he should not be denied that right. But after he made those racist remarks, he cannot attend in his capacity as mayor. Usually the mayo! r sits in front of the parade, w hat would that look like," Parson's asked.

Galabuzzi thinks that the CCC was forced to retract their statements because of the funding arrangement with the city. The city provides approximately $353,000,000 dollars to Caribana. Furthermore, Galabuzzi believes that CCC's initial position represents the overwhelming sentiment of the community, but the mayor used "the funding arrangement the city had with Caribana to extort a retraction."

To comment on this or any other article email editor@metroconnection.info.


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