In 1967, West Indian volunteers gave Canada a birthday gift: a Caribbean festival on the streets of Toronto. We are the Caribana Arts Group, the founding organization of Caribana, and we keep its name, its memory and its meaning for the generations after.
Caribana was a gift
Toronto's Caribbean community raised $46,000 of a $50,000 budget to put on the first Caribana as a gift for Canada's 100th birthday. It was meant to happen once. The city asked for it again. Nearly sixty years later, carnival has become part of who Toronto is.
Three things we do
Keep the story.
We document Caribana's history, from the emancipation roots of carnival to the founders who brought it to Canada.
Gather the memories.
Your family's photos and stories are part of the record. We collect them, credit them and share them.
Pass it on.
Through the Emancipation Day March and the Caribana Kids Club, we teach the next generation what carnival means.
Road to 60
2027 marks sixty years since the first Caribana. We're marking it by building the community's archive together, one photo and one story at a time.
Your elders are the archive
Got photos from University Avenue, Olympic Island or the mas camp? Stories your parents told about the early parades? Send them to us. We'll credit your family by name and help keep the story for the next generation.