Caribana is held in Toronto, Ontario every year and attracts over one million visitors to the region, many of whom fly all the way from Jamaica.

Caribana, held in Toronto on the first weekend of August, has its origins in the Carnival traditions of the Caribbean.

Calgary is also home to Carifest, the second largest Caribbean festival in the nation ( after Caribana in Toronto ).

* July 30: The Caribbean community in Toronto stages the first Caribana, with only eight bands and 1, 000 spectators.

In July 2010, the students in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture participated and partnered for the very first time with North America's Largest Cultural Festival-Scotiabank Caribana ( now formally called Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto ( SBCCT )- Festival Management Committee and Tribal Knights with Dexter Senshuai created a Queen costume worn by Salome Odney a hospitality student under the theme " Tropical Amazon " which was presented at the Annual King and Queen Competition and then at the Annual Parade.

The Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly and still commonly called Caribana, is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Following a trademark law dispute between the original operators of the festival, who still owned the Caribana name, and the current organizers, the festival was renamed Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival in May 2011.

In Ontario, the day is known as Simcoe Day in honour of the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and the promulgator of the Act Against Slavery ; the Scotiabank Caribbean Cultural Festival, formerly known as Caribana, is held this holiday weekend in Toronto, coinciding with Emancipation Day.

Toronto, the capital city of Ontario, also hosts the " Caribana " Celebration which occurs the first Monday in August in Toronto.

A Labour Day parade in Toronto, Canada in 1900

The origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to December 1872 when a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week.

The latest pride parade was held on July 1, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario

By the 1950s, the Toronto parade was the largest in North America, stretching for a mile and a half and involving thousands of participants.

In New York City, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, famous for its giant helium-filled balloons, began in 1924, inspired by the Eaton's parade in Toronto, with Macy's employees in costume, and — a distinctively Roman touch — animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.

The Toronto Santa Claus Parade is a Santa Claus parade held annually in mid-November in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

In 2011, the parade did not pass down Yonge Street ( via Dundas Street West ), ending the tradition of passing by the Toronto Eaton Centre, once home to the parade's former sponsor.

GO Transit ( via Union Station ) and Toronto Transit Commission's subway stations provide access to the parade route.

* History of the Toronto parade

In the 2005 parade, newly appointed Toronto police chief Bill Blair became the first chief of police in the city's history to personally take part in the parade.

In an editorial, the National Post called for both the City of Toronto and Corporate sponsors to halt all funding to Pride Week, arguing that: " Anti-Israel bigots are free to have their own parade – but not on the public dime.

On April 15, 2011, QuAIA announced that it would withdraw from the 2011 Pride parade ; however, councillor Giorgio Mammoliti responded that he would still introduce a motion to withdraw city funding from Pride Toronto if the committee did not explicitly ban the group from participating.

In June 2012, the Toronto city council voted to condemn the phrase " Israeli apartheid ," as part of a resolution recognizing the gay Pride Toronto parade as a “ significant cultural event that strongly promotes the ideals of tolerance and diversity .” The resolution said it slams the term Israel Apartheid for undermining the values of Pride and diminishing “ the suffering experienced by individuals during the apartheid regime in South Africa .”

Conservative MP Brad Trost was quoted as saying, " The pro-life and pro-family community should know and understand that the tourism funding money that went to the gay pride parade in Toronto was not government policy.

In the late summer of 2010 it was reported that Pride Toronto was facing severe financial difficulties because of the withdrawal of future funding from corporations and the City of Toronto due to the decision to allow QuAIA to participate in the parade.

CAW members marching in the 2011 Labour Day parade in Toronto

The fact that he was gay was widely known within the gay community — he had participated in Toronto's Gay Pride parade, was active in the gay communities in Toronto and Hamilton, and had voted in favour of gay rights legislation — but was largely unknown otherwise.

* Toronto Santa Claus Parade-Annual parade held in mid-November to celebrate the start of the holiday season ; aired since 2010.

The QOR of C parade out of Moss Park Armoury in downtown Toronto and Dalton Armoury in Scarborough.

While classical styles reigned in the parade rooms, upscale houses, from Badminton House ( where the " Chinese Bedroom " was furnished by William and John Linnell, ca 1754 ) and Nostell Priory to Casa Loma in Toronto, sometimes feature an entire guest room decorated in the chinoiserie style, complete with Chinese-styled bed, phoenix-themed wallpaper, and china.

The first major film festival was held in Venice in 1932 ; the other major and oldest film festivals of the world are: Cannes Film Festival ( 1946 ), Festival del film Locarno ( 1946 ), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( 1946 ), Edinburgh International Film Festival ( 1947 ), Melbourne International Film Festival ( 1951 ), Berlin International Film Festival ( 1951 ) and Toronto International Film Festival ( 1976 ).

The Toronto International Film Festival is North America's most popular festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival, begun in 1976, is regarded North America's most major and most prestigious film festival, and the most widely attended worldwide.

The oratorio, called Not the Messiah ( He's a Very Naughty Boy ), was commissioned to be part of the festival called Luminato in Toronto, Ontario, in June 2007, and was written / scored by Idle and John Du Prez, who also worked with Idle on Spamalot.

American Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was asked to speak at a labour festival in Toronto, Canada on July 22, 1882.

In 1969, the Plastic Ono Band's first album, Live Peace in Toronto 1969, was recorded during the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival.

In June 2007, " Not the Messiah ( He's a Very Naughty Boy )", a comic oratorio by Idle and John Du Prez premiered at the inaugural Luminato arts festival in Toronto.

Use of searchlights at the Luminato arts festival in Toronto

In terms of economic impact, the Stampede is the highest grossing festival in Canada, ahead of Ottawa's Winterlude, the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, and the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

However, days later, Melissa Auf der Maur, interviewed in Toronto where she was appearing at the North by Northeast music festival, said she had " no clue " about the band's reported reunion and denied the NME claim she had, or was asked to, contribute vocals to the album or had been asked to tour with the purportedly reunited band saying, " I actually don't know the reunion ... I arrived at music festival in Toronto and I heard that Hole were getting back together from people sending me links ," she said.

The band played at the Heatwave festival during August 1980 near Toronto.

Some songs written for the show later appeared on their albums ; these songs include " The Gulf War Song " and " My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors ", which was written for a Toronto authors ' festival.

* September 13 – John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band perform at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival 12-hour music festival, backed by Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White.

* August 23 – The Heatwave festival near Toronto features The B-52's, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, Elvis Costello and many others.

Originally taking place in Los Angeles, the festival has expanded to several locations over the years including Chicago, New York, Boston, Cleveland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto and Liverpool, England ( the latter event included performances at the re-created Cavern Club ).

They also performed at the Heatwave festival ( billed as the " New Wave Woodstock ") in Toronto, Canada in August 1980 ; and appeared in the Paul Simon film One Trick Pony.

The Toronto International Teen Movie Festival ( ITMF ) was a Canadian film festival that showcased the works of talented youth from Canada and around the world.

YoungCuts Inc. acquired the festival in late 2004 and held the 2005 edition October 24 to 30, 2005 in Toronto.

Digable Planets performed alongside hip-hop group The Pharcyde at the North by Northeast music festival in Toronto, Ontario on June 19, 2011.

The biggest dragon boat festival racing events outside of Asia are in Europe, particularly in Malmö, Sweden and in North America, in the USA and in Canada ( where, for instance, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal each host racing festivals which attract in the order of 200 25-person crews or 5, 000 participants.