Jesse Thistle is a Métis-Cree-Scot Candidate in the History program at York University and is a University of Waterloo alumnus (MA ‘16). He also teaches at York University as an assistant professor where he is working on theories of intergenerational and historic trauma of the Métis people. After surviving more than a decade cycling through stages of homelessness, abuse, addiction and incarceration, Thistle, now a distinguished scholar and celebrated writer, is at the center of an important conversation about Indigenous homelessness in Canada. His remarkable 2019 memoir From the Ashes has been topping best-seller lists for months.
“It’s not just about ‘houselessness’,” Thistle says. “Historically, Indigenous peoples haven’t just lost their lands. They lose connection to family and community, and they get dislocated culturally, emotionally, spiritually from all the healthy relationships they would have had.”
Discover more about Jesse Thistle through his website. You can also read more about Jesse and his book From the Ashes in Elizabeth Rogers’s article “Indigenous and homeless is more than being houseless” from the University of Waterloo Magazine. Purchase a copy of From the Ashes from the W Store.