N.B. cultural festival cancelled two days before it was supposed to start
A New Brunswick cultural festival has been cancelled two days before it was scheduled to start.
On Thursday the Saint John Newcomers Centre announced the International Culturefest in the Valley – which was scheduled to be held in Quispamsis, N.B., on Saturday – was cancelled.
“The guiding principle of all cultural festivals across the country is that participants should not promote or disseminate any overt political or religious information at the festivals to reflect the spirit of inclusivity and diversity,” a Facebook post from the group reads. “Our Code of Conduct and programming for this festival clearly reflects this principle. For all our previous cultural festivals, we have relied on the good faith of participants to respect this principle, and to date, every festival has been successful, and inclusive.
“We are committed to creating spaces where everyone feels welcome and represented. In the interest of maintaining the tradition of inclusive, non-political, and non-religious cultural festivals, we have decided to cancel this event.”
Sochi Azuh, communications specialist with the Saint John Newcomers Centre, said the choice to cancel the festival “wasn’t a decision we took lightly” but felt it necessary due to what he called “rising tensions” in the community.
He would not elaborate on what that means.
“We’re seeing a wave of cultural festival cancellations and we’re seeing that wave come closer to our region,” Azuh said. “Festivals are cancelling over safety concerns. It’s really in the interest of ensuring the experience of the festival is not tarnished.”
The Newcomers Centre held its Saint John Culturefest last month and Azuh said it was successful. The group expanded that festival into the Kennebecasis Valley last year and it planned to continue for a second year before the cancellation.
Azuh said they plan to bring the festival to Quispamsis next year and build stronger relations between communities.
For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Prime Minister Trudeau meets Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau landed in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Friday evening to meet with U.S.-president elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, sources confirm to CTV News.
'Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!': Details emerge in Boeing 737 incident at Montreal airport
New details suggest that there were communication issues between the pilots of a charter flight and the control tower at Montreal's Mirabel airport when a Boeing 737 made an emergency landing on Wednesday.
Hit man offered $100,000 to kill Montreal crime reporter covering his trial
Political leaders and press freedom groups on Friday were left shell-shocked after Montreal news outlet La Presse revealed that a hit man had offered $100,000 to have one of its crime reporters assassinated.
Questrade lays off undisclosed number of employees
Questrade Financial Group Inc. says it has laid off an undisclosed number of employees to better fit its business strategy.
Cucumbers sold in Ontario, other provinces recalled over possible salmonella contamination
A U.S. company is recalling cucumbers sold in Ontario and other Canadian provinces due to possible salmonella contamination.
Billboard apologizes to Taylor Swift for video snafu
Billboard put together a video of some of Swift's achievements and used a clip from Kanye West's music video for the song 'Famous.'
Musk joins Trump and family for Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago
Elon Musk had a seat at the family table for Thanksgiving dinner at Mar-a-Lago, joining President-elect Donald Trump, Melania Trump and their 18-year-old son.
John Herdman resigns as head coach of Toronto FC
John Herdman, embroiled in the drone-spying scandal that has dogged Canada Soccer, has resigned as coach of Toronto FC.
Weekend weather: Parts of Canada could see up to 50 centimetres of snow, wind chills of -40
Winter is less than a month away, but parts of Canada are already projected to see winter-like weather.