Canada came alive recently, as it hosted the 2025 Pan-Afrikan Drum Festival across Brampton and Etobicoke. Now in its third edition, the festival has grown beyond the vision that birthed it: to preserve and showcase African heritage through the universal language of drums.

In 2025, the event reached its most ambitious expression yet, weaving together tradition, empowerment, multicultural fusion and global recognition.

The festival opened at the Hilton Garden Inn in Brampton with its Youth Empowerment Programme, a prologue to the grandeur that would follow. Organised by the Drum Online Organization (Pan-Afrikan) in partnership with the Global Forum for Human Rights and Sustainable Development, it gathered young leaders and mentors into a space of actionable learning.

Wife of the convener, Mrs. Folasade Akanni, led the session, ensuring youth voices were not mere applause fillers but the centrepiece of the conversation while Prof. Francis Fasanu of Sheridan College challenged the youth to weaponise their heritage, not as ornament, but as global capital.

Dr. Abiodun Bakare of UWORK USA doubled as moderator and motivator, energising discourse on global positioning. Madam Kehinde Okoroafor, founder of MakeMe Elegant (Nigeria), departed from theory and delivered immediately applicable skills, from entrepreneurship to daily survival in competitive spaces. By the end of the session, the young attendees did not merely feel seen, they felt prepared.

The grand finale, which held at Emerald Banquet Hall, Etobicoke, was nothing short of regal. From the moment guests arrived from across Canada, Nigeria, the United States, and the Caribbean, the ambience was unmistakable; this was not just an event. It was a coronation of heritage.

The evening was officially declared open by Consul-General of the Ghana High Commission in Canada, Mr. Peter Kobina. The entrance of Her Majesty, Olori Ambassador (Dr.) Temitope Enitan-Ogunwusi, provoked thunderous applauses. She was accompanied by prominent Yoruba monarchs including Oba Babatunde Tokunbo Awosunle, Elejesi of Ejesi, and Oba Olusegun Aderemi, Atayero of Aramoko Ekiti. Their presence signified something profound — the sacred spiritual authority of the African throne had been extended onto Canadian soil.

The Pan-Afrikan Drum Festival performing troupe unleashed rhythms from West, East, and Southern Africa, drums that did not just entertain, but invoked ancestral memory.

In a brilliant cross-cultural gesture, the Punjab Di Virasat Cultural Troupe of Canada took the stage, blending South Asian drumming, music, and dance. It was a masterstroke. A living example that preserving one’s identity does not contradict inclusivity, it strengthens it.

Toronto’s popular Funky Cultural Troupe then infused the evening with Canadian-African diaspora flavour, while a dynamic fashion showcase and exhilarating dance competitions made the night immersive, not performative.

Convener and chief host of the festival, Prince Segun Akanni, anchored the night with clarity and vision: “We are determined to keep building bridges, empowering youth, and celebrating the greatness of Africa, one beat at a time.”

He also unveiled plans to establish an African Cultural Village (ACV) in Toronto during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, pending FIFA approval, where African drumming and dance would take centre stage at the tournament’s opening and closing ceremonies.

Two days later, he led a high-level delegation to the office of Mayor Patrick Brown of Brampton. It was not a courtesy visit, it was a cultural negotiation. There, Akanni formally proposed that the Ooni of Ife confer a traditional chieftaincy title on Mayor Brown for his unwavering support for the Black community in Canada.

The entourage, comprising royal fathers, cultural custodians, and business leaders, was honoured with certificates of recognition, further cementing a bridge between African royalty and Canadian governance.

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada commended the festival for being a window into Africa’s soul while Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, acknowledged the economic and cultural impact of the African diaspora.

From Nigeria, Ambassador Abba Kawu Zanna described it as “cultural diplomacy at its finest,” while the Ooni of Ife, Ojaja II, in his royal address, declared the platform a triumph in preserving Yoruba prestige abroad.

At the event, NICO’s Executive Secretary, Otunba Biodun Ajiboye, reaffirmed federal government support, declaring that culture is not entertainment, it is a national asset.