Seems like this year there is a whole heap of controversy surrounding the Caribana Festival. If you want to read about the fight over the Caribana.com domain name, allegations of racism and lawsuits read HERE. And, to add more fire to the heat that has been stirred up is the fact that TRIBE Toronto is challenging the Toronto Mas Band Association (TMBA) decision to ban them from Caribana, more on that HERE and please note the following press release from Andre De Freitas :
PRESS RELEASECARIBANA IN JEOPARDY! This will be the cry of many if the City Authorities do not intervene to stop the injustice that has been taking place to CARIBANA and one of Toronto’s young entrepreneurs.
Andre De Freitas is the Band Leader of a Carnival Band that has been involved in the CARIBANA parade for the last 42 years. He is the son of Ken De Freitas, one of the pioneers and founders of the Caribana Festival. In an effort to bring something new and fresh to the festival, Andre pursued his idea to bring the TRIBE brand to the festival and has received the requisite approval from the owners of the Brand – TRIBE (Trinidad). His team also envisioned a CARIBANA with endless possibilities and wanted to assist in growing the festival by attracting more international participants.
TRIBE TORONTO a wholly owned Canadian Entity was established by Andre De Freitas and the executives of the TMBA (Toronto Mas Bands Association) were notified of the name change from ‘Evolution’ to ‘TRIBE TORONTO’ for his band for the upcoming 2010 Parade.
The TMBA is an organisation that is supposed to seek the interests of all of its members and to assist in development of the younger ‘Masmen’ in carrying on the Art form. Unfortunately there is an inherent conflict of interest which becomes very evident in situations like this, where an influential member of the association and some of the other bands feel threatened by competition from one of its fellow member bands. With the “threat’ of competition looming and what appears to be some seeking their personal interests, some of the them have lobbied the support of a majority of members by making false accusations about Mr. Andre De Freitas, all in an effort to stop Mr. De Freitas from using the name TRIBE TORONTO. Due to the injustice being placed against Mr. De Freitas and unfair conduct of the TMBA many associate members have withdrawn their membership.
The Charges brought against Mr. De Freitas by the TMBA:
- He has broken rules and regulations with regards to the change name process
- He is affiliated with a foreign entity
To date the TMBA has taken the following despicable actions:
- Removed Mr. Andre De Freitas from the Executive Board of the TMBA
- Suspended him from the membership of the TMBA
- Attempted to re-write parts of the constitution to serve some members personal interests
- Disqualified his band from the CARIBANA Parade Competition
- Sent correspondence to a third party that is potentially slanderous and libelous
The charges they brought against Mr. De Freitas are quite serious, in addition to being untrue, and as such, the basis for the suspension is clearly wrong. As well, there are questions regarding the transparency of the said decisions and the process (or lack thereof) involving these decisions. Mr. De Freitas has not been given a proper hearing or any opportunity to defend himself against these unfounded, malicious and false accusations.
The FMC (Festival Management Committee) has been notified of the injustices being carried out, but to date have been unsuccessful in bringing a resolution to the matter.
It is a fact that the TRIBE brand is recognised internationally and Mr. De Freitas has the vision to recognise that the brand will bring benefits to the festival and City by enhancing the attractiveness of CARIBANA which in turn would result in increased attention, sponsors, and participation by locals and tourists and increased revenues to the City.
Mr. De Freitas will continue to pursue all avenues on the matter until it is resolved. In the meantime, all supporters of CARIBANA are encouraged to contact the under mentioned persons to express your views on this important matter.
Contact Info:
Festival Management Committee416.391.5608
Councillor - Joe Milhevic416.392.0208
City Manager – Joseph Pennachetti416.392.8673
Scotiabank416.933.1700 / 1.877.700.0043
Mayor David Miller416.397.2489
www.tribeto.com
Facebook page – TRIBE TORONTO
4 comments:
Give me a friggin' break! I'm so sick of DeFreitas. First of all, Caribana won't be in jeopardy because DeFreitas can't bring Tribe to Toronto and has been banned from the TMBA for 2 years.
Scotiabank, the sponsor for Caribana, just had a media launch yesterday to announce a study that reported that the economic impact of Caribana on the City of Toronto in 2009 was estimated to be $438 MILLION dollars. http://www.caribanafestival.com/dcmain.aspx?p=0&i=843&skin=73&tID=197
That's more than any other festival that is held in the city throughout the year.
Honestly, does DeFreitas think just because he can't bring Tribe to Toronto that suddenly people aren't going to come for Caribana and that the $438M that was earned last year will dwindle to nothing this year? He needs to get over himself. Seriously. And who is Tribe? They have that kind of pull? I don't think so.
He tried to pull a fast one and it didn't work. He got busted and was punished for his actions. Move on! We're talking dollars here. And the City of Toronto and the government are not going to like this fool playing with their money. He needs to take a side and chill out until 2012 or 2013 and try again...the right way.
If the facts show Mr. Defreitas has not done anything wrong then there is something seriously wrong with this so called governing body, the TMBA. It cearly appears to be a conflict of interest. I have not heard the facts however if if Mr. Defreitas is willing to take this to court I am sure he must have a case and I am curious to know how things are being handled in the TMBA especially regarding a young West Indian trying to elevate our festival. Lisa what is wrong Mr. Defreitas fighting for what he believes is right, why should he lay down like a dog? I say fight on young man, he is the younger generation with obviously new threatening new ideas to opposing bands. Healthy competition is always great. I am an avid attendee at the Caribana festival and I enjoy seeing all costumes from the majority of the competing bands. It appears Lisa is loyal to a particular band and wishes to protect the injustices the TMBA has done to Mr. Defreitas. Mr. Defreitas keep fighting!!
I am the only one who doesn't care either way?!?!? With or without Tribe, Caribana will still be one of best carnivals in North America! If it wasn't for the lack of alcohol and amount of stormers, IMO it would be the best!
I honestly have not be following the controversy, but if the Caribana committee is treating ANY new band unfairly there should some type of action taken.
But again, I couldn't care less!
yawn
"Caribana in jeopardy"?
Get over yourself guy
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