Pannist Wendy Jones honoured with Jean Augustine Excellence Award at Caribbean Tales Film Festival
September 10, 2025
New organizations often rely heavily on people in power to help them get off the ground.
When the fledgling North York Inter-Community youth group in the Jane & Finch community started Pan Fantasy Steel Orchestra in 1986, members recognized that connection is foundational to starting an institution.
“We needed instruments, storage and a place to practice so we could bring the band on the road for the Caribana parade which was the goal,” recounted Wendy Jones. “We needed all the help we could get, and Greg Bobb took the lead on that.”
Requiring letters to secure funding and city space to practice, the young people turned to a group of community elders that included Jean Augustine, Zanana Akande, Stephnie Payne, Rick Gosling and the late Bev Mascoll.
“They were among a handful of people that we looked up to as mentors who could help us,” Jones said.
Nearly 40 years after Augustine, who was then the principal at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School in the Jane & Finch area, guided and supported the Pan Fantasy founders in their early work, the band’s co-founder was honoured to receive an award named after Canada’s first Black woman elected to Parliament.
Jean Augustine (l) presents an award bearing her name to Wendy Jones (Photo contributed)
The Jean Augustine Excellence Award was presented at the Caribbean Tales Film Festival (CTFF) ‘Honouring our Legends’ event, celebrating Augustine’s birthday.
“Having fallen in love with the steelpan and its captivating power at a young age, Wendy is indeed a remarkable ambassador for the instrument,” said Augustine who turned 88 on September 9 and is a CTFF director. “She embodies the true spirit of the steelpan and deserves the highest recommendation for leveraging the instrument as a cultural tool to unite families within the steelpan community, inspire youth, ignite leadership skills and drive social change.”
Francesca Accinelli, Telefilm Canada senior vice-president with responsibility for program strategy and industry development and a big CTFF supporter, hailed Jones’ achievements.
“Wendy has broken barriers, built bridges and connected communities which tonight is all about,” she said.
After 10 years with Afropan, Jones and other youth members founded Pan Fantasy and helped open doors throughout the community, creating opportunities and building lasting relationships.
“We started with two-dollar ‘blocko’ parties, trying to raise funds for the new organization and to pay it forward by buying instruments that we needed,” she recalled. “New doors had to be opened as we faced anti-systemic racism. At the time, we didn’t know that Dr. Jean Augustine was going to open big doors for us.”
Wilma Cayonne, the widow of late educator and artist Johnny Cayonne who died in July 1998 at age 64, met Jones in the mid-1980s when she was a teacher at Firgrove Public School.
“We brought out our students to Westview, where she was enrolled, to play on their pans because we didn’t have any,” she said. “But I really didn’t get to know Wendy until about 15 years ago when I started writing grants for Pan Fantasy and Pan Arts Network. There is no panyard like Pan Fantasy because you feel like you are part of a big family. She treats everyone like they are her family members. She takes care of the younger ones as if she were their mother, she protects the girls to ensure nothing happens to them and she mentors young people.”
Wilma Cayonne (r) makes a presentation to Wendy Jones at Pan Fantasy’s ‘A Night of Fantasy’ event in June 2024 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Last year, Cayonne successfully nominated Pan Fantasy for a $20,000 Toronto Arts Foundation award in the ‘Arts for Youth’ category.
Itah Sadu is a true connoisseur of the arts, with a deep appreciation for storytelling, culture and community expression.
As an aficionado, she spots artistic excellence at first sight.
“The first time I saw Wendy was when she was playing with Muggs (Cecil Clarke) and I was smitten by her energy and just watching her assist him at the time,” said Sadu. “She would see something and do it. I took note of that. Every time I saw her after that, I told her if I got a child, they would play in her band.”
She kept her word.
“When Sojourner (San Vicente) joined at age eight, I realized this was a band that was fed every day,” added Sadu. “Wendy also decorated, attended everyone’s birthdays and funerals and visited people in hospitals. When I asked myself what manner of woman this is, I quickly realized much of what she does is rooted in faith. Most of what she does is not with the help of the government or the private sector. It is sheer determination, commitment and cooking a hell of a lot of food. I think one of the things that fuels her is demonstrating that greatness comes out of Jane & Finch.”
Because of social and cultural reasons, the presence of boys and men in panyards in Trinidad in the early days was frowned upon by many parents.
Despite the late Velma Jones’ wish, Jones’ two brothers played with San Juan All Stars and Solo Harmonites.
As for their sister, playing pan was considered a ‘no-no’.
“The norm of me going to play pan was not in her book,” she said. “We grew up in a Christian home and our mother had values for us.”
Wendy Jones (r) with event planners Joan Pierre (c) and Nicole Waldron (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Leaving Trinidad & Tobago at age 11 with her mom and three siblings after the family patriarch went to England and didn’t come back, Jones was introduced to the steelpan in 1976 at Westview Centennial Secondary School, the first high school in Toronto to have an accredited steelpan program.
She joined the program in the second year.
“At lunchtime, everyone disappeared and I didn’t know where they were going,” said Jones. “One day when I inquired, one of the students said they were going to a portable to play pan.”
Earl LaPierre Sr, who taught steelpan at the University of Toronto and in North York Board of Education schools before migrating to the Cayman Islands four decades ago, was instrumental in pan music being offered as a credit course in the mid-1980s.
In Grade 6, Jones wanted to play an instrument.
“The flute was my choice, but it was not available,” she said. “They gave me a cello that I took home a couple of times. My sister laughed, saying, ‘You could never play that thing’. I tried it a couple of times, but it didn’t work.”
Entering Westview in Grade 9, Jones chose choir over playing an instrument.
“When I heard the music program they were running in the portable was credited, I went over and said I wanted to play the bass,” she recounted. “My brothers played bass and I knew what the instrument was. When I told mom, she again resisted, saying she didn’t want me to play pan, and it is not for me.”
Convincing her mother that the program was fully credited did the trick.
Toronto City Councillor Jamaal Myers made a presentation to Wendy Jones at Pan Fantasy’s ‘A Night of Fantasy’ event in June 2024 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Afropan, known as the ‘People’s Band,’ helped launch the career of many notable pannists, including Jones.
In 1972, former Caribana festival committee chair Ken Jeffers founded Harriet Tubman Centre which had a resident steel band, the Tubman Survivors, which became the Avenger Steel Orchestra and then Afropan.
With Earl LaPierre Sr. as arranger, the band participated in the annual Caribana parade and community events.
“In Afropan, I met many pan players who played in several bands in Trinidad,” said Jones. “This was great as I now loved the instrument. We all started to really appreciate the instrument and fall in love with the culture of pan. I often heard myself singing the bass line in songs over and over.”
After 10 years, she and other youth members started Pan Fantasy which has won the Ontario Steelpan Association Pan Alive competition 11 straight years and 13 times since the competition started in 2003.
Wendy Jones on bass (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Steelpan music is a central feature of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival.
Things, however, went quiet after the big summer event was over.
To fill that void, Jones and Earl LaPierre Jr. founded Pan Arts Network (PAN) in 1998.
“We were thinking about inviting the seven bands to come out and play at Christmas,” she said. “They listened to us and agreed.”
While pan dominates Carnival, parang owns Christmas.
Quickly realizing they could not compete with parang during the Xmas season, PAN moved the concert – Snowflakes on Steel – to January.
Wendy Jones with Earl LaPierre Sr. (l) and his son Earl LaPierre Jr. (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
With a deep desire to help others, it was no surprise that Jones dreamed of becoming a social worker.
Life took her on a detour before she found her way back to that path.
After high school, Jones worked in the banking industry for five years.
Her mother’s death in 1996 was a turning point that truly solidified her purpose.
“After she got sick, going to work was hard,” said Jones, the fourth of seven siblings (three are deceased). “As the middle child, I stepped into the mother role, caring for my siblings and nieces and nephews. Trying to keep the family together while still trying to come to groups with my mom’s unexpected death was hard, but I kept moving until breaking down one day on the subway. When I returned to the office, my boss told me I needed help, and I should go and see a counsellor because I didn’t get to grieve properly for my mom when she passed.”
Counsellors provide a safe space and guidance that encourages self-searching and emotional growth during a tough time.
That was the remedy that Jones needed to start healing.
“When I told the counsellor I didn’t know if I wanted to go back to work, she asked, ‘What do you want to do?’ and my reply was ‘I don’t know, but I will tell you tomorrow’,” Jones said. “I went home and told my younger sister and she reminded me I wanted to be a social worker. I also spoke to Greg Bobb who repeated that my passion is people and children and that I should go and do what I am already doing.”
Because Jones was trying to support her mother, who was the sole breadwinner, she went straight to work after finishing high school.
Leaving banking, she returned to school to acquire social work, child development & psychology certifications before embarking on her true calling.
For the last 30 years, Jones has been a youth counsellor and social worker with the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
If a social worker is to be truly effective in a school, they need to be present there for a lengthy period to build trust, understand the community and provide consistent support.
Jones insisted on that before accepting the role.
Starting at Holy Family Catholic School, she was assigned to Mary Ward Catholic Secondary and St. Maria Goretti before going to St. Mother Teresa Catholic Academy seven years ago.
“Working for extended periods in schools allows you to get to know the children, work with them and see them off,” Jones, an event facilitator at Tropicana Community Services Organization centre, noted. “You get to build a relationship with them and understand them to the point where you are helping them.”
Mental health struggles, bullying & peer conflict, family issues, academic challenges, substance abuse and cultural & social concerns are some of the issues that Jones deals with daily.
There is no computer in her office because the focus is on face-to-face interaction and confidentiality, ensuring students feel comfortable and supported without distractions.
In that spot where the computer should be, there is a Bible placed prominently, reflecting the importance of faith, hope and emotional support in her approach to helping students.
Prayer is an essential part of every aspect of Jones’ life and work.
“Every morning, I walk through the school doors, I say, ‘Father, guide me today, watch over me and these children, cover them with your grace, love and protection, guide me to say the right things to these children when I need to and just keep me calm’,” she said. “Sometimes, students come into my office before a test, asking me to pray for them. Teachers also seek prayer to guide them through the day.”
Even as they support students through difficult issues at school, social workers frequently carry the weight of their own family grief.
In five months in 2014, Jones lost three family members.
Her nephew, Kerwin Jones, was fatally shot in Laventille, her younger brother Ian Jones succumbed to illness two months later and her father, Felix Jones, died in December at age 85.
In September 2022, Jones’ godson – 17-year-old Zaybion Lawrence – succumbed to his injuries after a brazen daylight shooting in Scarborough.
A few hours before this interview, she attended the funeral of 19-year-old Daniel Amalathas – an only child – who was gunned down last month in a washroom at Scarborough Town Centre.
The teenager attended the same church -- Malvern Christian Assembly -- as Jones.
“I always pray that I know none of these children when something tragic happens, but it always seems that I know someone,” the married mother of two children and 2015 Harry Jerome Award recipient said. “I show up at funerals and see the parents and people from the community I know. My heart pours out for them.”
Wendy Jones was recognized with a Harry Jerome Award in 2015 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
From playing the steelpan to leading prayers and mentoring young people, Jones’ role is one of deep community care, a calling that will carry on.
