TORONTO - The Bank of Nova Scotia has announced a multi-year sponsorship of the Toronto Caribana Festival.
"Scotiabank Caribana makes our community a richer one by celebrating the diversity of the city,'' Canada's most international bank, which has a strong presence in the Caribbean, stated Friday.
Caribana has run annually since 1967, highlighted by a street parade attended by hundreds of thousands of people and a Caribbean festival on the Toronto islands.
The summer festival has become a major international event which the city government estimates brings $300 million a year into Toronto.
Caribana was run by a community organization, the Caribbean Cultural Committee, which ran into financial trouble in 2006. The city government provided money to maintain the festival, amid allegations of fraud and misappropriation of funds.
"Given Scotiabank's extensive presence in the Caribbean, and the importance of this event to the city of Toronto and many of our customers and employees, this event is a natural fit for us,'' stated Chris Hodgson, head of domestic personal banking for Scotiabank, which has a sponsorship and donation budget of over $40 million.
