Caribana, now officially the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, began in 1967 as a Caribbean community gift to Canada’s Centennial. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes it as inspired by Trinidad’s pre-Lenten Carnival, and its Grand Parade has run along Lakeshore Boulevard since 1991. The festival changed organizers, sponsors, and names between 2006 and 2015, but many Torontonians still call it Caribana.
How Caribana began in 1967
A 1984 essay by Patrick Shepperd, held in the Canadian Studies Commission archive, says the idea came from ten people of West Indian heritage who formed a Centennial Committee. It names Dr. Al Liverpool, a medical practitioner, as the driving force. The group was incorporated on July 28, 1967, as the Caribbean Committee for Cultural Advancement, and it became the Caribbean Cultural Committee-Caribana on January 15, 1969.
The Canadian Encyclopedia gives the same year and purpose but names the organizer simply as the Caribbean Cultural Committee, which ran the event until 2006. NOW Toronto, in a 50-year retrospective, says organizers formed a Caribbean Centennial Committee that was later renamed the Caribbean Cultural Committee, and lists key organizers: Joseph “Alban” Liverpool as chair, Archibald Bastien as deputy chair, and Maurice Bygrave, Rita Cox, and Peter Marcelline, among others. It adds that Bygrave said the name blends “Caribbean” and “bacchanal.” No source read for this page lists all ten founders.
According to Shepperd, the first festival opened with a Centennial Ball at Casa Loma and a parade of costumed bands down Yonge Street. NOW Toronto instead captions a photograph of the 1967 ball as taken at the Royal York Hotel, so the venue is disputed between the two sources. The parade assembled on Bloor Street outside Varsity Stadium, moved east to Yonge, and turned south. A week of events followed on what the essay calls Olympic Island. The essay gives no attendance figure for 1967, and this page does not repeat the figures that circulate online because no readable primary source states them.
Why August and why the Caribbean
The Canadian Encyclopedia says the main parade is held on the first Saturday of August, a date linked to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834. NOW Toronto ties the same date to the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, so the sources give different years for the event they commemorate. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes the festival as inspired by Trinidad’s Carnival and lists calypso and soca at its center, alongside reggae, tassa drumming, cadence, zouk, salsa, rap, and R&B, with a J’ouvert kick-off parade. Since the late 1980s, according to the same article, the Bahamas, Haiti, and other countries have taken part, along with groups from Central and South America and Africa.
The festival belongs to the wider story of Caribbean migration to Toronto, told in the article on immigration and communities in Toronto. The older Black communities that settled in the city before 1865 are covered in Black history in Toronto and the Underground Railroad.
Where the parade has run
| Period | Route or venue | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Parade south on Yonge Street from Bloor Street; week-long events on Olympic Island | Shepperd, 1984 |
| 1970 | University Avenue, first Saturday of August | Canadian Encyclopedia, NOW Toronto |
| Since 1991 | From the Canadian National Exhibition grounds along Lakeshore Boulevard (3.5 km per the Canadian Encyclopedia; 4.5 km per Vice) | Canadian Encyclopedia, Vice |
The move to the lakeshore placed the parade beside the grounds described in the article on the Canadian National Exhibition. The earlier Yonge Street route is part of the street’s own history, covered in Yonge Street: history of the street.
Money, rivals, and a changing organization
Shepperd’s essay records that the committee often struggled to pay for the festival. The 1970 “Extravaganza” left a deficit of about CAD 16,000, later reduced to about CAD 2,500. In 1974 the chairman, Elmore Daisy, asked the province for a CAD 25,000 grant and was refused, and directors personally guaranteed loans to hold the event. In 1976 the province gave CAD 20,000 to a different group, the Carnival Development Association, for a parade during Caribana week, while the committee received only a permit. The essay says deficits kept growing in 1982 and 1983, when the province gave grants of more than CAD 7,500, and that the board was cut from 21 members to 15 in October 1983. By the essay’s date it reports more than 200,000 attendees.
The Canadian Encyclopedia reports that the City of Toronto withdrew support in 2006 because of the Caribbean Cultural Committee’s financial difficulties. Vice, in an oral history built on interviews, says the City withheld grant money until the accounts were in order and created the Festival Management Committee as a temporary third party; one interviewee says it was meant to last one year and never dissolved. These are accounts of participants, not a City record. The Canadian Encyclopedia calls Toronto Caribbean Carnival the official name for events organized by the Festival Management Committee, and the festival’s website credits that committee in its copyright notice. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes the Caribana Arts Group as the successor of the Caribbean Cultural Committee and says it owns the Caribana trademark.
Name changes
- 1967: Caribana.
- 2008: Scotiabank Caribana, after a title sponsorship.
- 2011: Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto, after a court recognized the Caribana Arts Group’s right to the name Caribana.
- October 2015: Toronto Caribbean Carnival, after the festival lost its main sponsor.
The festival’s website uses “Toronto Caribbean Carnival” and “Toronto Carnival” and says the festival has run since 1967. The Canadian Encyclopedia adds that most people continue to use the name Caribana.
Size and shape of the festival
The Canadian Encyclopedia, last edited in 2016, says nearly two million people visit the city for the festival each year and more than one million attend on the Grand Parade weekend. These are the article’s own estimates, not a count by an official body. The same article says more than 40 mas bands took part in the 1990 parade and about a dozen by 2016. Each band is led by a king and a queen, and judges rate costumes, energy, and creativity. The Canadian Encyclopedia says the festival began as a three-day celebration and now runs over three weeks.
Frequently asked questions
When was the first Caribana?
The first Caribana took place in 1967, as part of Canada’s Centennial celebrations, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. The organizing group was incorporated on July 28, 1967, according to the 1984 Shepperd essay.
Is Caribana the same as the Toronto Caribbean Carnival?
Yes. The festival took the name Toronto Caribbean Carnival in October 2015. Caribana remains the name in everyday use and the name of the trademark held by the Caribana Arts Group.
Where does the Caribana parade take place?
Since 1991 the Grand Parade has started at the Canadian National Exhibition site and followed Lakeshore Boulevard for 3.5 km. Dates, road closures, and viewing details change from year to year, so the festival’s official website is the place to check them.
Who organizes the festival today?
The Canadian Encyclopedia names the Festival Management Committee as the organizer of the events held under the name Toronto Caribbean Carnival. Sources say the City of Toronto stepped in after it withdrew support from the earlier organizer in 2006.
Last verified: October 2026
Related reading
- Yonge Street: history of the street
- Canadian National Exhibition: history
- Immigration and communities in Toronto
- Casa Loma: history of the castle
- Toronto culture, sports, and language
Sources
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana), last edited July 25, 2016
- Patrick Shepperd, 1984 essay on the Caribbean Cultural Committee, Canadian Studies Commission archive
- NOW Toronto, In photos: a 50-year retrospective of Toronto Caribbean Carnival
- Vice, An oral history of Caribana, 1966 to 2015 (interview-based)
- Festival Management Committee, Toronto Caribbean Carnival website
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Caribana and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival: History. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/caribana-toronto-history
MLA: “Caribana and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival: History.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/caribana-toronto-history. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Caribana and the Toronto Caribbean Carnival: History.” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/caribana-toronto-history.
The pages have no named author, so the site is given as the author. Add the date you read the page if your style asks for it.