Jesse Thistle

Jesse Thistle was born in 1976 in Prince Albert, in the Canadian state of Saskatchewan, near the original lands of his Métis Cree ancestors. After his parents split when he was young, he and his brothers lived with their father Sonny for a period, but Sonny’s substance addictions and small-time criminal engagements meant that the boys were often left unattended and without food. Retrieved by child services at age three, Thistle and his older brothers were sent to live with Sonny’s parents in the Toronto suburbs. This provided him a relatively stable environment for his childhood and adolescence, but the pain of his uprooting and his unease surrounding his indigenous identity steered him into a life of juvenile delinquency and, eventually, serious addictions and petty crime. Thistle spent much of his adult life homeless and alienated from his loved ones, until a year-long stint in high-security rehab helped him to work through his addictions and make amends with family members. He married his wife, Lucie, and began studying Indigenous history at York University in Toronto. He quickly became a rising star in this field, and his memoir From the Ashes catapulted him to nationwide renown. Now a respected voice in Indigenous studies, Thistle continues his academic pursuits, which have involved research into his own ancestors and the forced displacements they have endured over the years.