In Episode 50, Gen and Jette discuss From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle.
It’s our 50th Episode, so it’s only fitting that we’re talking about a book for the book club that started it all!
Jesse Thistle’s memoir of homelessness, addiction, and eventual hope, sparked incredible discussion. This is an important memoir that every Canadian should read. From the Ashes was difficult to read at times, but a vital story of struggle and hope.
Show Notes
From the Ashes was a Canada Reads finalist. The winner of Canada Reads 2020 was We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib, which also sounds like an excellent read.
The term we couldn’t recall for Thistle’s family in Saskatchewan is Michif “road allowance” people, referring to their living on unused Crown land.
The instances of Indigenous people freezing to do death after being dropped outside city limits by police in the dead of winter actually happened in Saskatoon, not Winnipeg. It’s come be known as “starlight tours” – a term that sounds very benign for such a horrific practice. Neil Stonechild was one of these victims. He was 17 years old.
A National Inquiry is looking into the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. Read more about the National Inquiry here. Learn more about these women here.
Go follow Dani Roulette on Instagram @thunderbirdwomanreads for more incredible Indigenous lit content.
The incident Jette mentioned that Dani spoke of recently was the death of Brian Sinclair.
Read Tracey Lindberg’s (author of Birdie) review of From the Ashes.
Read our September/October book club book, Another Country by James Baldwin.
