Little Stories on the Prairie: diverse voices celebrated in Regina
Voices from around the world celebrated Canada's diversity at Regina's downtown farmers' market on Saturday.
Writers and artists were gathered to perform storytelling, poetry and music. It was all for the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild event called, Little Stories on the Prairie, organized in celebration of Canadian Multicultural Day.
"It's really important to hear the voices of those that come from different places, because I think it's one of the best ways to learn about somebody else and where they're from," said event organizer Oin Nicholson.
"As our Canadian culture gets more and more multicultural, I think it's important that every culture kind of gets representation, a voice."
The event featured performances by writers Jennifer Graham and Martine Noël-Maw, rapper Brad Bellegarde, also known as InfoRed, and poet Mirtha Rivera.
Rivera read some of her poetry about her life as a political exile of Chile.
She moved to Saskatchewan as a refugee two years after a military coup overthrew the elected national government in her home country in 1973.
Rivera said she wanted to share her poetry so people could understand what it is like to be transplanted into a new, strange country.
She wanted to share through her art what it's like to be free after experiencing oppression and to have a voice again.
"When I tell people my story, they think again, that it's so easy to lose all those things that we take for granted here in Canada," said Rivera.
The day finished off with a collaborative performance between the Ugandan Canadian Association, Boom Town African drummers and hoop dancer Terrence Littletent.
Nicholson said they hoped by integrating their performances with the Regina Farmers' Market, more onlookers would get the chance to enjoy the show.
