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Circles of Hope is taking place on May 1st and we would like to introduce our keynote speaker, Jesse Thistle, in more depth. With his lived experience of overcoming personal adversity—homelessness, addiction, incarceration –and many years of academic research, Jesse is uniquely situated to help us explore social change on numerous levels. Jesse Thistle brings a wealth of knowledge and insight to our event and we hope you’ll join us for a powerful and thought-provoking discussion on the themes of family, personal identity, overcoming adversity, and social change. He will be doing the first ever reading from From the Ashes, his memoir, which is his inspiring life story touching on the importance of connection and belonging.

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to hear Jesse and his powerful message.

Wednesday, May 1st, 2019
Location: The Globe Cinema (617 8 Ave SW)  
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

The day will consist of:

1:00 – Doors Open
1:15– Program Begins
1:20– Opening Remarks/ Blessing/ Land Acknowledgement – Elder Wilton Goodstriker
1:40 – Keynote Address – Jesse Thistle
2:40 – Break
2:50 – Q & A – Jesse Thistle – facilitated by Heather Morley, Executive Director, Inn from the Cold
3:30 – Inn from the Cold – Heather Morley
3:50 – Claire’s Campaign – Gary Nissen
4:00 – End of Event!

Please note – only light refreshments will be provided.

Buy your tickets HERE.

Ticket Price: $50 each.  Please note that $25 per ticket will be donated directly to Claire’s Campaign. 

Tax receipts will be issued in accordance with CRA regulations.


More on Jesse Thistle:

Jesse was born in a Metis-Cree road allowance community, which are settlements built on land that was allocated for roads and railways. From a young age, Jesse became addicted to drugs and he subsequently went through the vicious cycle of homelessness—alternating periods of living in shelters, finding a home that proved merely temporary, and then ending up on the streets again. Jesse also had multiple run-ins with the law and it was after being incarcerated that Jesse began evaluating options to improve his life—including pursuing an education. He eventually went through a rigorous rehab program after leaving jail and earned his GED. He later enrolled in university and started reconnecting with his Indigenous roots, which eventually inspired his original academic research.

Now an esteemed academic with many important publications, Jesse is working on his PhD at York University. His doctoral research focuses on the history of the Metis people living on road allowances. He is also the National Representative for Indigenous Homelessness in Canada at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. In 2017, he wrote a paper called “Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada”, and redefined Indigenous homelessness within the context of the oppression that Indigenous people have historically faced and the intergenerational trauma that continues to trouble their community today.