A NEW LENS

Aaron T. Francis found a treasure trove of his grandfather's vintage photos in the garage. They shed light on what it means to be Black in Canada.

- Genelle Levy

GROWING UP, IT WAS RARE for Aaron T. Francis to see his grandfather Roy without a camera in hand. "He was one of the most influential people in my life," says Aaron. "He would go out of his way to teach me about construction, mechanics, electrical engineering and Black history." Roy, a welder and selftaught photographer, was born into a rough part of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1933. He immigrated to England before coming to Canada in 1965, where he worked for an aerospace company and became part of a close-knit Jamaican community in Kitchener Waterloo, Ontario.