Trinidad-born  Justice of the Peace Prior Noel Bonas who was a widely known promoter of ” Carnival fetes,” died at his home in Brampton last Thursday after a brief ilness, He was 71.

His wife, Sandra, said  he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last April.

Bonas who came to Canada in 1972, worked as an inspector with the Toronto Transit Commission before joining the Toronto Police Service in 1973. He served as a police officer until 1986.

Coleridge Rawlins  who was a longtime friend of  Bonas, recalled that as young boys in Trinidad, they both attended the same Anglican church and that their Sunday school teacher was Patrick Manning who later  became prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

Rawlins said that after leaving the police service, Bonas went into the real estate business and became ” a top agent in Brampton.

” But when the bottom fell out of the  market, Prior started to study along the legal lines. ” 

In 2001, he was sworn in  as Justice of the Peace and retired in 2014.

DJ Bad Lad (Ian Gould)  recalled that Bonas was one of the organizers  of  ” the biggest annual ‘ carnival fete’ in the  Greater Toronto Area,

“Thousands of people, many from outside of Canada, used to party at these fetes which were held in Caledon. They were known as the ‘doctors’ party’ or the ‘tennis court jam.’ Prior was a very popular promoter.”

His wife told The Caribbean Camera  that he loved to travel and that they both became  snowbirds after he retired.

“We would spend several months in the winter every year in Panama,” she said.

He leaves his wife and three sons, Mario, Matthew and  Tyrone  and three grandchildren.

A private private memorial service was  held  at Belgroves Funeral Chapel in San Fernando, Trinidad yesterday.

A  “celebration of the life” of the late  Prior Noiel Bonas  will  be held in Brampton on a date to be fixed.

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