What to know
- Pride J’ouvert returns June 21 with a Jab-themed celebration rooted in Caribbean history and emancipation.
- Founder Tammara James-Francis created the event to provide a safe, culturally grounded space for Black and Caribbean Queer communities.
- The celebration combines music, paint and Carnival traditions while reclaiming Queer joy, community and freedom.
- The event aims to be a safe space for 2SLGBTQ+ communities and allies.
For many Black Queer Caribbean people, finding spaces where both their culture and their identity are fully embraced can be a challenge. That’s why Toronto’s Pride J’ouvert was created: to reclaim a beloved Caribbean tradition and transform it into a celebration where Queer communities can experience Carnival, joy and liberation without having to leave any part of themselves behind.
Living at the intersection of Black, Queer and Caribbean identities can be challenging. While there is limited quantitative data measuring homophobia specifically within Black and racialized communities, research consistently shows that many Black 2SLGBTQ+ people navigate intersecting experiences of racism and queerphobia. A study from The Enchanté Network, for example, found that 86 per cent of Black Queer people in Canada have experienced racism in 2SLGBTQ+ spaces. Meanwhile, same-sex intimacy remains criminalized in several Caribbean countries, creating additional barriers for many Queer Caribbean people both at home and across the diaspora.
Statistics like these underscore the importance of spaces created by our community, for our community. Spaces like Toronto’s Pride J’ouvert.
Set for June 21 from 1-8 p.m., the third annual Pride J’ouvert brings the annual Trinidad and Tobago tradition of J’ouvert, a vibrant street party featuring music, paint, and powder to a safe space for Queer communities. The name itself is derived from jour ouvert, an Antillean Creole French term that translates to “daybreak” or “opening of the day,” with the event marking the start of Carnival celebrations in many Caribbean countries.
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“J’ouverts in the Caribbean are a symbol of freedom,” Tammara James-Francis, the founder of the annual event, told Queer & Now.
She explained that her own experiences as a Black Caribbean Lesbian allowed her to understand that while there are many J’ouverts around the world, and she’s attended many in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean, they’re not always safe for us as Queer people.
“It’s definitely hard because you almost feel like you don’t belong. It could be just one person looks at you a certain way, or one person makes a comment when they walk by you, and you hear it,” she explained.
So she designed Pride J’ouvert, a space by Caribbean Queers, for us. Featuring paint, powder, music, and, quite frankly, our very worst behaviour, the party aims to be inclusive while staying culturally grounded in the traditions of carnival.
“There are different levels of comfort present when you’re around your own peers, and it’s a space we needed for the Queer community in Toronto,” the founder shared.
Pride J’ouvert: Jab edition
The annual celebration of J’ouvert is the starting point for carnivals in many Caribbean countries. The celebrations were born from a time when enslaved people were not welcome to join in the celebrations that marked the end of crop season, also known as Pretty Mas.
“Pretty Mas, that wasn’t for us… it was for them. The pretty feathers, the nice clothes, the masquerade balls, things like that weren’t for us,” She explained. “When crop season is over, basically we would do this to celebrate our freedom. Because the season’s over, we’re not working hard in the fields anymore.”
This year’s event is Jab-themed, with black paint used to emulate the black oil donned by participants in the Grenadian celebration of Jab Jab. This Grenadian masquerade tradition is also rooted in resistance and celebration. Dating back to the abolition of slavery in the Caribbean, freed people in Grenada covered themselves in dark oil and took to the streets to celebrate their liberation. The name comes from “Jab,” the French Creole word for “devil,” as this is how many colonizers referred to people who were enslaved. James-Francis explained that by dousing themselves in black oil, masqueraders mock that.
“Basically, you’re calling us Black Devils; and that’s what Jab Jab stands for. We’re gonna just make ourselves blacker,” James-Francis explained.
This year’s attendees are encouraged to dress in colours instead of the traditional all white, with the black paint taking the place of the traditional colourful powders and paints associated with J’ouvert – and as always, expect to get dirty.
Safety and security for women and Queer communities
Inclusive and Queer-focused, Pride J’ouvert has not been without its issues in previous years, including homophobia from those outside of the party.
“At the first J’ouvert… we had hecklers on the outside screaming derogatory terms,” James-Francis said. “It doesn’t feel good.”
“We’re outside, we’re happy, we’re trying to have fun, we’re not bothering anybody. But it doesn’t matter; we still bother people just in our presence.”
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To combat this problem, the organizers are withholding the venue location until just days before the party. While attendees have been made aware that it will all go down in the west end, the exact location is not posted or shared anywhere as of yet.
“We’ve had violent threats, and those are things that we don’t like to share with the public, because in the Queer community they should just know we’re never really safe wherever we are,” she explained.
“There’s always going to be people that look at us a certain way, and we always have to be on our toes and aware of things like that.”
This is true for the Queer community, but also for women in general. James-Francis explained that before coming out as Queer, she at one point identified as Bisexual before settling into her identity as a Lesbian. But while going out and partying in all of those eras, she saw how many male party-goers made women in the spaces feel uncomfortable. This is something she has actively combated in her own events, to the extent that heterosexual allies often join the fete.
“I have a lot of straight female friends that come to my party just because they want to avoid that. They’re allies,” the founder said.
“They’re like, ‘Hey, I love me a little Queer party, I’m gonna come and support you, and I know that I’m gonna be safe there.’ That’s my main thing, safety and inclusion.”
She shared that this year’s event has not received any threats or negative attention, and security working the party will have no tolerance for physical or verbal violence or harassment.
“It’s just not to be tolerated because of what the party symbolizes. This is not just a party; it’s a celebration, it’s about emancipation, it’s about our culture,” James-Francis added. “So I try my best to create that safe space.”
You can purchase tickets for Pride J’ouvert and find out more details on the official event website.
