Jamaicans in Canada celebrate Olympic success

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Event organiser Letna Allen-Rowe (left) celebrates with other Jamaicans. (Photos: JIS)

Is Paul Smith the most patriotic Jamaican living in Canada? This is what many Jamaicans are wondering, every time he drives past them in Toronto, Canada.

He has decorated his vehicle - a Mitsubishi SUV - in honour of Jamaica's athletes to last month's Olympic Games in Beijing, China, with four large flags on the roof, one on the bonnet and another one on the side. In addition, he has placed copies of newspaper articles highlighting Jamaica's success on the back, front, and side windows.

He said he was very proud of the athletes, noting that they had done well for Jamaica and that this is his way of showing his pride.

Dressed in his Jamaican jacket, hat, and shoes, he remarked, "You don't want to see my house".

Smith was just one of many persons who celebrated Jamaica's success at the games of the 29th Olympiad on Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto recently. For the second time, Jamaicans held impromptu celebrations on the strip, which is known as 'Little Jamaica', because of the number of businesses operated by Jamaicans there.

Paul Smith poses beside his SUV bedecked with Jamaican flags.

Organised by business owner, Letna Allen-Rowe, approximately 600 Jamaicans passed through the area during the eight-hour celebrations - waving flags, blowing whistles, and beating dutch pot covers.

Shouts of "Usain! Jamaica! Veronica! Asafa! Melaine! Shelly-Ann!" punctuated the air. Jamaican music blared from two large speakers, and every 30 minutes the Jamaican National Anthem was played, which everyone sang lustily. The evening ended with the group marching for about a mile, singing Jamaican songs.

Allen-Rowe thanked all the persons who came out, including Consul Nigel Smith; President of the Jamaican Diaspora Canada Foundation, Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, and President of the Alliance of Jamaican Alumni Associations, Alene Miller-Chen.

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Three shot dead in Albion Lane, Canterbury

MARK CUMMINGS, Senior staff reporter cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Commanding officer for St James Steve McGregor speaks to residents of Albion Lane shortly after the flare-up of violence in the area yesterday. (Photo: Mark Cummings)

MONTEGO BAY, St James - An elderly man was among three people shot dead yesterday morning as the bloodletting continued in the volatile St James communities of Albion Lane and Canterbury.

The old man, identified only as 'Lloydie', said to be about 75, of Albion Lane, was shot in retaliation for the murder of 56-year-old shopkeeper Byron Jackson in Canterbury less than an hour before. The gunmen also turned their weapons on Obrian Morris, a 28-year-old resident of Albion Lane.

The police reported that about 10:30 am they received calls that shots were being fired in the Albion Lane and Canterbury communities, but encountered gunfire when they entered the communities.

"We had to get some support from the JDF (Jamaica Defence Force) and other members of the police force, and after some analysis we found out that there was some cross-shooting taking place between men from Canterbury and men from Albion Lane.," said Steve McGregor, the commanding officer for the St James Division. "We understand that it is a long ongoing feud that is taking place between these factions."

According to the police, the shooting began shortly after 10:00 am when gunmen went into Jackson's grocery store in Canterbury and ordered macaroni.

"When he was about to serve them, the gunmen sprayed him with bullets and fled the area," said an investigator.
Several residents from Albion Lane, who spoke to the Observer on condition of anonymity, claimed that after Jackson was killed, gunmen from Canterbury invaded their community.

"Dem come down here asking who kill Mr Jackson and dem tear off a gate and shot the old man (Lloydie) who was sitting under the house eating," a resident said.

She said the gunmen then ordered Morris, who was also having a meal, out of the house and shot him to death.
"Den them run off," the resident added.
For more than two decades, residents of Albion Lane and Canterbury have been at odds.

It is believed that the bad blood between the two neighbouring communities, which lack several basic social amenities, has resulted in more than 20 deaths in the last two years.

Just over a week ago, Lionel Coote, a 19-year-old game shop operator of Albion Lane, was shot dead in the community about 2:00 pm.

Yesterday, residents of Canterbury blamed the other side for the violence. "The war can't stop until the people from Albion Lane stop terrorising us," said a grieving woman from Canterbury.

She said Jackson was a good man and should not have died in that manner.

Jackson's daughter, Karen, who arrived on the scene shortly after her father was slain, agreed.
"It won't done, it won't done...," she sobbed.

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