Forward Thinking Speaker Series

In Jesse Thistle's the international bestseller From the Ashes, he shares how he almost died while cycling through the justice and homeless institutions in our country. Most would think shelter, freedom, or food were the most pressing issues for survival then, but Jesse will show how it was actually kindness—both from people he knew and total strangers—that ultimately saved his life numerous times. A lesson he wants to bring audience members, especially as Covid has made many of our fuses shorter.

This event will be moderated by Min Dhariwal from CBC Radio One.

About Jesse Thistle
Jesse Thistle is a Métis-Cree Ph.D. Candidate in the History program and Assistant Professor at York University, Toronto. Currently, he is working on theories of the intergenerational and historical trauma of the Métis people. Jesse’s work involves reflections on his own previous struggles with addiction and homelessness. It has been recognized as having a wide impact on the scholarly community and the greater public.

Thistle was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In 1979 he and his two brothers were removed from his family home and moved to Brampton, Ontario, to be brought up by his paternal grandparents. During his late teens and twenties, Thistle struggled with addiction and homelessness and served several brief stints in jail for petty theft. After an unsuccessful robbery attempt in 2006, Thistle turned himself into police custody and entered a drug rehabilitation program. In 2012 he entered the undergraduate history program at York University.

Thistle is a Trudeau Scholar, a prestigious award administered by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, a Vanier Scholar, and was awarded a Governor General's Silver Medal in 2016. He has won numerous other awards, including the Odessa Award in 2014 and the Dr. James Wu prize in 2015 for his paper "We are children of the river: Toronto’s Lost Métis History," and in 2019 became an Atlohsa Peace Award Honoree.

In 2019, Jesse published his autobiographical and acclaimed book “From the Ashes,” which went on to be a #1 bestseller as well as nominated for Canada Reads. Jesse is the author of the Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada, published through the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. His historical research has been published in numerous academic journals, book chapters, and featured on CBC Ideas, CBC Campus, and Unreserved. Thistle is married to Lucie Thistle, and they have a daughter, Rose.

About Min Dhariwal

Min Dhariwal is no stranger when it comes to Edmonton. While he wasn’t born here, he has spent much of his life growing up, working and living throughout the city.

Min and his family came to Canada in 1977, moving from London, England where he was born, and settled into life in Montreal. Three years later, he and his family made the move out west, to Edmonton.

With more than 25 years of reporting experience, Min has worked on stories across Alberta and around the world.  He joined the CBC Edmonton newsroom in 2001 where he was hired as a video journalist, but over the years he’s hosted news, sports on both television and radio.

As CBC Edmonton go-to sports guy, he has had the opportunity to interview some sporting greats including Wayne Gretzky, David Beckham, and Christine Sinclair  He has reported from the Stanley Cup finals, the Olympics in Italy and Beijing, as well as several Grey Cup finals.

When he's not in the newsroom he enjoys spending time with his wife Kiran and his two children, Ria and Justin, who are heavily involved in community sports like soccer and basketball. Min also donates his time to various charities helping raise funds and awareness on everything from homelessness to the Stollery Children's Hospital. He is passionate about the great outdoors.  Travelling is on the top of that list and he can often be found in the winter flying down the mountain on his trusty snowboard.