Rosetown Museum to showcase folklorist

By Joan Janzen

The Rosetown Museum is excited to feature Shayna Jones, an artist and folklorist. On June 19th at 2:00 p.m. Jones interprets stories from black Canadians of African descent who make their home in rural Saskatchewan. She teamed up with Heritage Saskatchewan for this project, which is part of a larger project where Jones collects stories from black, rural-dwelling Canadians across the country. The Canada Council for the Arts partially funds the project.

Jones and her family reside in the small town of Kaslo, British Columbia. Nestled in the Kootenay mountains, the town has approximately 800 souls. Although she loves being immersed in the wilderness, she noted there are very few black individuals in that region.

In order to find her grounding as a woman of African descent, she read, listened to music, and listened to stories told by black individuals who lived in rural areas within Canada. As part of this project, she spoke to descendants of those who lived in rural Saskatchewan long ago and spoke to new arrivals to the prairie province. It’s a means for herself and many others to stay connected with their roots.

Jones discovered the history of black rural dwellers in Saskatchewan dates back to the 1890s, when there was a robust African-American community in Maidstone and the surrounding area. Therefore it is more than appropriate for the Rosetown Museum to be able to feature a performance by Jones, who interprets stories of pride and struggle, dismay and triumph from the mouths of African-descent black Canadians who call the Saskatchewan plains their home.