Vision, Mission & Strategic Directions
Vision
Sharing our diverse history, folklore, and cultural identities strengthens our relationships with past, present, and future generations. Practices around heritage and commemoration reflect and support this vibrant diversity.
Mission
We deliver activities that inspire and enrich people's understanding of history, folklore, cultural identity, and the links between the past, present, and future.
We enact our responsibilities as a history and folklore organization by contributing to transformative education that addresses the legacy and ongoing impacts of colonialism and systemic oppression. We respond to Calls 47 and 79(ii) of the TRC by rejecting harmful narratives and adopting a reconciliation framework for Saskatchewan’s heritage and commemoration.
Strategic Directions
Community Engagement
1. We work with communities, organizations, and individuals to identify what makes a good relationship. We strive to build and maintain good relationships using a collaborative approach and anti-oppressive structures.
2. We responsibly engage with people to reflect, using a history and folklore lens, on identity, relationships to the land, and how we carry forward, shape, and transmit knowledge, skills and practices.
3. We work towards equitable representation for those whose histories and folklore have been erased in dominant narratives. We disrupt harmful narratives through critical analysis and counter-storytelling.
4. We create an environment where young people can explore how they want to share their stories of family, community, and intergenerational learning.
Communications
1. Our communications are accessible, engaging, and responsible. They foster equitable, reciprocal relationships between us and the people we communicate with.
2. We create opportunities to engage with present-day issues by examining them through a history and folklore lens.
3. We spark curiosity and promote access to Saskatchewan history and folklore content.
Heritage Resources
1. We co-create and amplify educational materials for primary to post-secondary schools, using SHFS collections where appropriate. These materials focus on family, local, and regional daily-life history and folklore. We encourage community-engaged learning that affirms diverse experiences and ways of life.
2. We engage in responsible shared stewardship of our collections with the people whose diverse history and folklore they represent.
3. We work with people to identify diverse relationships to place by telling many different stories. We support the exploration of relationships that exist in this place, including relationships to the land itself.
Governance & Admin
1. We set goals by actively seeking involvement and multiple perspectives from communities.
2. Board and staff work cooperatively to achieve our goals within clearly defined roles. Transparent governance parameters help keep us accountable.
3. We support operations with effective financial management and stable funding.