Who Is Jesse Thistle? Keynote Speaker, Storyteller, and Scholar on Resilience and Leadership

There are few voices today as honest, courageous, and transformative as Jesse Thistle, Métis-Cree keynote speaker, author, and historian. From battling addiction on the streets of Toronto to the halls of academia, his journey has captured the hearts of audiences across the country. His powerful blend of storytelling, lived experience, and research challenges us to rethink what resilience, leadership, and social change really mean.

In this exclusive Q&A, Jesse shares his approach to speaking, the themes that define his work, and why storytelling is one of the most powerful tools we have to build understanding and human connection. Planning a corporate retreat or educational event? Jesse brings a message of hope, connection, and courage that stays with audiences long after the stage lights dim.

Continue reading to learn more about the multifaceted Jesse Thistle; Métis-Cree Assistant Professor at York U, bestselling author of From The Ashes, and loving husband and father.

An Interview with Jesse Thistle

“I Still Struggle Every Day…”

Your journey—from the streets of Toronto to becoming one of Canada’s most respected authors and scholars—is incredibly powerful. What can audiences expect to walk away with after hearing your keynote?

“I think hope is the message, as well that people are resilient if supported, loved, and given the chance. The importance of connection and relationship also are key concepts folks learn about as pathways out of homelessness, mental health struggles, and chronic addiction. Some are surprised to hear this—most think sobriety, housing, and medication are the avenues to stability, but I show them the power of relationships, dignity, and love.“

Watch Jesse Thistle speak to Andrew Chang on The National about his experiences and the issues surrounding Indigenous homelessness in Canada.

Jesse, you speak on complex topics including Indigenous homelessness, mental health, and addiction. Can you share about your approach to the sensitive subjects that always connects deeply and meaningfully with all types of audiences—whether they’re corporate, educational, or community-based?

“I speak to the issues of homelessness, addiction, and mental health from a personal point of view and through narrative story—I’ve done this my whole career, and in the simplest language I can. Humans are story-driven beings, and our brains take in information best through story. Add in that I speak only from my own experiences, and without judgement or anger, then the ability to connect with what I say becomes that much easier. Many have endured the same struggles or had family or loved ones who have, and they connect with what I say in story because it’s unfiltered and raw. Perhaps I am a little too revealing in sharing my trials and tribulations, but I do it because I feel that is my only tiny piece of earned knowledge that I have that others can benefit from.

Moreover, I realize that institutions, organizations, and places of learning are populated with flawed humans like me and just want someone to just tell them how to come out the other end and be relatively alright. Listen, healthy connection after a life of mental illness, addiction, and homelessness is not easy and definitely not a fairytale ending—I still struggle every day with the effects of all of them—but I am trying to make my way, and I think that message is universal in any setting.“

Check out Jesse’s website to learn more about his story

Educating Audiences with Storytelling

You blend storytelling with research and lived experience. Why do you think that combination is so impactful for people hearing you speak for the first time?

“As I mentioned already, I chose story to tell my and my Métis family’s personal story and history. I do this while weaving in a tapestry of years of academic and scholarly research on topics such as intergenerational trauma, addictions, homelessness, crime and incarceration, social service contact, foster care and child welfare, adult education, Indigenous history, street level contact with medical service providers, and so on—there are actually about a dozen other sectors and lines of scholarly inquiry I link to when I share my journey.

As both an established non-fiction author, and one of the country’s leading scholars and historians—many forget that I am also a Trudeau and Vanier scholar—the highest doctoral awards in Canada—I’m a qualified expert in many disciplines and have contributed to both literary and academic literature at the highest level, and so am drawing from the best minds and ideas to make the greatest impact and insights. The simple language of story I use carries that knowledge, fused with my own, and, from what I’ve been told, makes craters when it hits.“

You can find Jesse Thistle’s bestselling book ‘From the Ashes’, here

For organizations looking to create more meaningful conversations around reconciliation, resilience, or social change, how can your keynote help spark that dialogue?

“I put a human face to many of the issues affecting Indigenous communities in Canada—child dispossession, historical trauma, incarceration, addiction, landlessness, colonial history, missing and murdered people, and so on. I have the right to be angry about what has happened to my family, and the years I suffered on the streets and jail myself, but I have found that if I just tell folks and educate them about our hardships and resiliency, rather than try to lay blame, the message of what is happening in this country actually hits much harder, more emotionally, and people don’t just shut down. I find if I use a velvet hammer, like this, after hearing me, generally they can metabolize the injustices I speak to and just want to act because they were moved. That is why I think what I say is geared toward change—I am not trying to make folks feel guilty or pity me or accuse them to shame them—I simply want them to listen to what I have to say and then go into the world and change some of the issues I present to them. It took me many years, and thousands of hours of treatment, incarceration, counselling and therapy to temper the anger I have inside me; but with that control has come a powerful avenue of communication that, I have seen, is a positive and motivating force toward reconciliation.“

Portrait headshot of Jesse Thistle, Indigenous keynote speaker, mental health advocate and bestselling author of From the Ashes.

About the Book

From the Ashes is Jesse Thistle’s powerful memoir of survival, resilience, and self-discovery. Abandoned by his parents and caught in a cycle of addiction, homelessness, and crime, Thistle shares his harrowing journey from the streets to becoming a respected Indigenous scholar. Through education, love, and reconnection with his Métis-Cree heritage, he charts a path to healing and hope. This deeply moving story reveals the strength it takes to confront trauma and reclaim one’s identity.

“A heartbreaking and honest debut.” — The Globe and Mail

“In this page-turner of a memoir—raw, honest, gripping, wrenching, and inspiring—Jesse Thistle gifts us with an intimate and bracing look into the realities, traumas, and triumphs of Indigenous life in today’s North America.” — GABOR MATÉ, MD, bestselling author of In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction

Read more glowing reviews at Simon & Schuster.

Leadership is Courage

What does leadership mean to you?

“Leadership is courage to me. Both moral and intellectual. People follow and are inspired by the courageous. And that kind of courage is not performative—it acts in the moment when it is dangerous and not popular, it is selfless and is principled. I have seen such courage a few times in my life, by a handful of great people I have had the honour to know. The one thing they all taught me is that our worlds expand in proportion to our courage; I try to remember this one lesson of leadership every time I am called to stand.“

You’ve spoken to audiences across Canada—from universities to corporate leadership events. What types of conversations do your talks tend to spark once you leave the stage?

“Most people in Q&A just want to ask about if I am okay and how my family is. Some ask about my wife. I get most excited when people ask about my daughter Rose—who is my world, my everything. Others want to know about policy changes in the different sectors I have worked in and experienced. While others want to know about the paths to continued success and sobriety. I am frank in each conversation and try to speak from my experiences and my heart. I don’t have all the answers, can’t fix every broken system, but what most people afterward just want is to speak with me as a human being.“

For planners looking to create a memorable and meaningful event, what makes storytelling a powerful tool for connection and learning?

“We are all fragments of story weaved into the stories of everyone around us. Storytelling is best how we learn as a species since the days of sitting around campfires as hunter-gatherers. There literally isn’t a more powerful or effective way to transmit vital and complex information to one another—hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution have baked this simple data downloading methodology into our learning process. I think Steve Jobs understood this and is why he gave his famous Apple speeches the way he did. Same could explain the global success of TED Talks—nothing is more powerful than a story told well.“

Bring Jesse’s Transformational Story to Your Next Event

Jesse Thistle’s keynotes are catalysts for real conversations about resilience, reconciliation, leadership, and the human capacity for change. Through his blend of storytelling, scholarship, and lived experience, Jesse helps audiences feel the urgent need for connection and the power they have to build it. Whether you’re hosting a corporate summit, a community initiative, or a national conference, Jesse can help spark the dialogue that leads to lasting action.

Ready to book Jesse Thistle for your next event? Contact us today!

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Learn more about National Bestselling Author, Jesse Thistle, at jessethistle.com.

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