Caribana ’10 seems a bit more secure …

If you think that having pods of 10 cops on every street corner downtown is more security, then Toronto Caribana ’10 must be one of the safest places in Earth. I mean seriously, it is one thing to have security, it is entirely another thing to have group of 10 cops “eyeing down” every group of black males that are walking on the streets.

Last night, while driving through downtown Toronto to see the madness that engulfs the city on the start of the August long weekend – I was amazed at the overall police presence in downtown Toronto. I’ve never seen so many cops on each corner of the sidewalk or riding bikes or or horses or on top of buildings with sniper rifles (ok, the last part I made up).

I’ve also come to the realization that I truly hate being in Toronto for Caribana weekend – not because I hate Caribana – I mean why should I … a small island of 1.2 million people gave rise to this festival here – I don’t care what Jamaicans, Bajans or Guyanese have to say – Caribana is a Trini/Caribbean thing! I dislike Caribana because I don’t like when any festival overruns the city and causes me inconvenience (although I love being in any other city for their festivals – I’m good like that), hence I’ve disliked the following things in the city:

• Sri Lankan demonstrations in the city and overtaking the Gardiner highway and putting the city in gridlock.
• The G20 summit, that not only brought shame to Toronto but really when was the last time you ever saw a police car in Canada being set on fire … Canadians leave that sort of image to CNN broadcasting from Europe and Middle East
• Caribana for the rented Escalades, road closures, traffic and general chaos that seems to occur at this time of the year.

Back to the cops … yet another reason to avoid the Caribana madness … although I always wonder why the Pride parade never seems to see this type of overwhelming police presence.