KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

So­ca pow­er­house Kes and the dy­nam­ic Free­town Col­lec­tive de­liv­ered elec­tri­fy­ing per­for­mances at Maples & Mas, host­ed by the Cana­di­an High Com­mis­sion at Green Mead­ows, San­ta Cruz, on Oc­to­ber 4.

The event, which marked Cana­da’s Na­tion­al Day, al­so fea­tured world-renowned In­dige­nous hoop dancer The­land Kic­knosway, Nu­trien’s Sil­ver Stars Steel Or­ches­tra, and DJ Ne­uphor­ic. Mem­bers of the pub­lic were in­vit­ed to pur­chase tick­ets and join the cel­e­bra­tion, which be­gan with an of­fi­cial re­cep­tion for spe­cial­ly in­vit­ed guests.

Cana­di­an High Com­mis­sion­er Rachael Callan ac­knowl­edged the chal­lenges Cana­da has faced over the past year but said the event was about uni­ty and re­new­al.

“It’s no se­cret—Cana­da has strug­gled over the last year,” Callan said. “But it’s in these pe­ri­ods of in­sta­bil­i­ty that we’re re­mind­ed of how im­por­tant it is to come to­geth­er and re-in­vest in our trust­ed re­la­tion­ships—to re-in­vest in our friends. That’s what tonight is about: re­mind­ing each oth­er how im­por­tant we are to one an­oth­er.”

Callan, who ar­rived in T&T dur­ing the 2025 Car­ni­val sea­son, said this year’s Cana­da Day cel­e­bra­tion was de­signed to fos­ter greater con­nec­tion with the lo­cal com­mu­ni­ty.

“Since be­ing here, I’ve felt the vo­ra­cious ap­petite for more Cana­da, and some­times I’ve heard the frus­tra­tion in not be­ing able to con­nect more of­ten with us,” she said. “Diplo­ma­cy be­gins with states, but is ul­ti­mate­ly about peo­ple. We’re very se­ri­ous about open­ing our doors, open­ing our arms, com­ing out of our of­fices and be­ing more ac­ces­si­ble—to con­nect more, to lis­ten more, to learn more.”

Min­is­ter of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Sean Sobers, who al­so at­tend­ed the event, re­flect­ed on his first meet­ing with the High Com­mis­sion­er in June.

“She seemed to be full of fun,” Sobers said. “I be­lieve I was right, be­cause tonight’s pro­gramme is re­flec­tive of some­one who has been im­bued with the spir­it of Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

Sobers com­mend­ed the in­clu­sion of The­land Kic­knosway in the pro­gramme, de­scrib­ing it as a mean­ing­ful ges­ture.

“Cana­da’s ef­forts at rec­on­cil­i­a­tion with its In­dige­nous First Peo­ples are note­wor­thy,” he said. “In that same spir­it, al­low me to ex­tend greet­ings to the In­dige­nous First Peo­ples com­mu­ni­ties of Trinidad and To­ba­go as they com­mem­o­rate Her­itage Week this month.”

He al­so ex­tend­ed best wish­es to Cana­da, one of the tri-na­tion­al hosts of the 2026 FI­FA World Cup.

“High Com­mis­sion­er, as you have wit­nessed the throngs of cit­i­zens at the Toron­to Caribbean Car­ni­val and the Trin­ba­go Toron­to Fes­ti­val, you’ll re­alise that Trin­bag­o­ni­ans are the loud­est and most ar­dent sup­port­ers,” Sobers said.

“You can ex­pect that they will flood the streets of Toron­to and Van­cou­ver in red, white, and black dur­ing the World Cup. We’re putting our full sup­port be­hind our Head Coach Dwight Yorke, as he mar­shals the na­tion­al team to a his­toric win— hope­ful­ly over Cana­da.”

T&T and Cana­da for­malised diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions in 1962, mark­ing more than six decades of friend­ship, trade, and cul­tur­al ex­change.