SAN­DRA L BLOOD

C ana­da re­cent­ly en­joyed an im­mer­sive dose of T&T’s cul­ture, spir­it, and vi­bran­cy through a se­ries of events show­cas­ing mu­sic, en­ter­tain­ment, culi­nary de­lights, and ca­ma­raderie—each steeped in un­bri­dled pa­tri­o­tism.

High­lights in­clud­ed Toron­to Panora­ma, Keepin’ Pan Alive on Au­gust 1, and Pan in D’ Park - We Lim­in’ Still, both held in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Pan Trin­ba­go.

The 58th Toron­to Caribbean Car­ni­val (TCC) Grand Pa­rade, Take Me Home on Au­gust 2, added more colour and rhythm, while the fes­tiv­i­ties peaked with the fourth Trin­ba­go Toron­to Fes­ti­val (TTF): A True Trin­ba­go Af­ter Work Lime from Sep­tem­ber 5–7, host­ed un­der the aus­pices of the Con­sulate Gen­er­al of T&T in Toron­to, led by Si­mone Young with her deputy, Tracey Ram­sub­ahg-Man­nette.

Pan Trin­ba­go, un­der Bev­er­ley Ram­sey-Moore, played an in­te­gral role in TTF, along­side rep­re­sen­ta­tion from the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC) led by deputy chair Ke­van Gibbs.

Re­flect­ing on the Panora­ma and Grand Pa­rade, Con­sulate Gen­er­al Young told Guardian Me­dia: “I was ho­n­oured to wit­ness the bril­liance of T&T’s cul­ture at the Toron­to Panora­ma… and the TCC Grand Pa­rade. Toron­to Panora­ma was par­tic­u­lar­ly sig­nif­i­cant this year, as it high­light­ed a his­toric part­ner­ship be­tween the On­tario Steel­pan As­so­ci­a­tion and Pan Trin­ba­go—two in­sti­tu­tions unit­ed in ad­vanc­ing the lega­cy of our na­tion­al in­stru­ment in­ter­na­tion­al­ly.

“The Grand Pa­rade brought Toron­to’s streets alive with colour, rhythm, and uni­ty, show­cas­ing the vi­bran­cy of Caribbean cul­ture and the en­dur­ing spir­it of T&T at its heart.”

TCC ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor Jen­nifer Hirlehey and Deputy Toron­to May­or Aus­ma Ma­lik em­pha­sised the con­tin­u­ing re­spect and sup­port for Caribbean com­mu­ni­ties, re­in­forc­ing that fes­ti­vals and car­ni­vals are here to stay.

On TTF, Young said, “It cel­e­brates the big, bold, and beau­ti­ful im­pact our beloved coun­try has had in Toron­to and Cana­da—our food, mu­sic, her­itage, and cul­ture.

“Held at Nathan Phillips Square, one of Toron­to’s most icon­ic sites, the event con­tin­ues to grow ex­po­nen­tial­ly and is whole­heart­ed­ly sup­port­ed by a broad cross-sec­tion of the T&T di­as­po­ra in Toron­to. It has be­come a pow­er­ful uni­fy­ing force for our com­mu­ni­ty.”

A stand­out sym­bol of pa­tri­o­tism was the “Mi­ni Tri­ni” Coop­er adorned with T&T’s up­grad­ed Coat of Arms on the bon­net, car­ni­val cos­tumes on its doors, and a li­cense plate dis­play­ing both Cana­da and T&T flags.

Gibbs ex­pressed his pride, “I was thrilled by the out­pour­ing of sup­port and rep­re­sen­ta­tion of T&T. Stand­ing in front of Toron­to City Hall with the CN Tow­er in view was tru­ly mind-blow­ing. A tourist even told me it was her first time ex­pe­ri­enc­ing so­ca mu­sic, pan, and car­ni­val—she now plans to vis­it Trinidad for Car­ni­val next year.”

Gibbs added that the NCC will col­lab­o­rate close­ly with the con­sulate from next year and ex­pand ef­forts glob­al­ly to show­case T&T’s car­ni­val and cul­ture. Ram­sey-Moore high­light­ed Pan Trin­ba­go’s joy in con­nect­ing with the di­as­po­ra.

“We were de­light­ed to show­case the mag­ic of the steel­pan on the glob­al stage. Heart­felt grat­i­tude to the Con­sulate of T&T in Toron­to, Si­mone Young and her deputy Tracey Ram­sub­agh-Man­nette, and Petron­il­la Marchan of Pa­lo Seco Events for their piv­otal sup­port,” she said.

Young con­clud­ed, “The Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs re­mains com­mit­ted to ad­vanc­ing our na­tion­al in­stru­ment glob­al­ly, broad­en­ing T&T’s cul­tur­al foot­print, and shar­ing our her­itage with the world.”