Brian Bonitto, Overseas Publications Editor
Monica Pollard, chairperson for the Caribbean Cultural Committee, makes a point to Toronto City Councillor Joe Mihevc during a Gleaner Editors' Forum in Toronto, Canada on April 27. - EDDIE GRANT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
TORONTO, Canada:
A NEW day is dawning for summer carnival in Toronto. This year the Toronto Caribbean Festival will replace the 38-year-old Caribana.
But not everyone is warming to this make-over and Monica Pollard, chairperson for the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC), is one such person.
She contends that her group, which has organised the two-week summer event for almost four decades, has been sidelined.
The city, through Toronto City Councillor Joe Mihevc and the Province of Ontario have thrown their support - all CDN$800,000 of it - behind the Toronto Mas Band Association (TMBA) which had applied to stage this year's carnival. And Mrs. Pollard is furious.
HIGH-HANDED APPROACH
"It (the festival) should have not been taken away from us," she said at a Gleaner Editors' Forum held at Yum Yum Restaurant on Dufferin Street, Toronto, on April 27. "The CCC are the best people to run it."
Mrs. Pollard, who assumed the post in December last year, feels disappointed that Councillor Mihevc resorted to what she called a high-handed approach and would have preferred that some amount of dialogue had taken place before such a move was undertaken.
"The city went and dealt with the TMBA ... and we were shut out. They could have given us the support," she added.
LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY
However, Councillor Mihevc has a different take on the turn of events. He was quick to point out that the city had no interest in taking over the festival even though he admitted that it brought more tourist dollars to Canada than any other festival.
His stance, he says, was brought about by the lack of accountability on the part of the former organisers.
"The city funds 1,500 organisations, directly and indirectly," he said. "And, not one of them which fails to produce a clean audit gets funding the next year. It's public money."
Mr. Mihevc stressed that the CCC was given more than enough time to get their act together but were tardy in doing so.
The CCC head, in her defence, said that she inherited some challenges and that the clean-up process was under way. "But this would not have stopped the successful staging of the show," she said.
