Now known as the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, Caribana began as a one-time celebration of the Canadian Centennial in Ontario's provincial capital city. Within the first five years, 1967 to 1971, the festival aimed to share West Indian (Black Canadian, Indo-Caribbean and Chinese-Caribbean) culture with the community at large, and to fund the creation of a permanent West Indian cultural centre. During the era, the festival took an early shape, different from recent celebrations, growing and gaining the support of the City and Toronto's Protestant Caucasian majority. The event attracted Caribbean country leaders and top musical and stage acts to supplement the parade. In late 1968, a new festival called Carnival Toronto was proposed; receiving government funding, Caribana resisted their merger attempts, which sought to combine several existing festivals into one event. The event was largely unsuccessful, ending after one year. Four largely peaceful years were marred in 1971 by a car accident causing parade route deaths, and public transit fumbles which led to fighting. 1967 Planning and proposal Across the country, the Canadian Centennial was celebrated by the federal, provincial, and municipal governments with an array of special projects, events, and other creations. Along with government projects, other groups started their own events to celebrate. Among the happenings on Toronto's Centre Island was a hedge maze, the newly created Centreville Amusement Park, and Caribana, a festival for the Caribbean population of 12,000 in Toronto. The Toronto Star said that the event "plans to blow the Centennial works in a whing-ding, one-week celebration designed to pale the '67 efforts of any other Metro "ethnic" community." Organized over nine months, its committee included a doctor, two lawyers, a town planner, and a teacher, all Caribbean emigrants working in Metro Toronto. During a late 1966 meeting at a downtown Toronto firehall, it was decided that the concept of carnival was universal amongst Caribbean cultures, and Trinidad and Tobago's celebrations were the best model. The August long weekend was chosen for its heat and low chance of rain. On February 21, 1967, Caribbean Centennial Committee executive chairman Samuel A. Cole sent a letter requesting "permission to stage an exhibition of West Indian trade and cultural achievements at Olympic Island during the period of August 5 to 12, 1967: The Metropolitan Parks Commissioner issued a report to the Parks and Recreation Committee on March 6, recommending the approval of a "Caribbean Centennial project at Olympic