Award-winning author imparts wisdom on graduating students from the University of Windsor

By Colin Graf

WINDSOR— The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic causing the cancellation of a workshop for First Nations social workers in Windsor, Ont., led to fresh inspiration for 2020 university, college, and high school graduates from the award-winning author of the award-winning memoir, From the Ashes, Jesse Thistle.

Thistle was originally invited to speak about his life experiences, rising from a childhood of poverty and trauma to become a university professor and community activist, for workers helping the homeless at a workshop scheduled for late March. The event was sponsored by organizers at the Can-Am Friendship Centre and the student Indigenous law society at the University of Windsor, said Kim Noah, Aboriginal Housing Advocate at the Centre.

The speech morphed into a congratulatory address for graduating students in a perfectly logical way, according to the Friendship Centre’s Literacy Coordinator Bethany Rosebush.

“It seemed natural to match up Jesse, an incredibly accomplished student, professor, historian, and author, to deliver a commencement for Indigenous students. We hoped that FNMI students would be able to relate to Jesse and in doing so, would take his words of congratulation and encouragement to heart,” she explained.

“[You are] living proof of how tough and resourceful and resilient we as Indigenous peoples are,” Thistle told the graduates during his speech. “You completed something that is truly rare and valuable and that represents the best of humanity. You are the cream of the crop from whatever nation you and your family come from.”

The author, who has written about being abandoned by his parents as a toddler and has struggled with addiction, homelessness and served several brief stints in jail for petty theft, told students they all have the ability to rise above misfortune as he did.

“We, in some way or another, all come from these different kinds of difficult backgrounds if you dig deep enough. These backgrounds have not limited our potential or stifled our growth as people, kin people, scholars, or academics. You are, quite literally, your ancestors’ wildest dreams; you are the living, breathing proof of the unbreakable will of Indigenous peoples,” he said in the speech, posted on Thistle’s Facebook page, which has had over 1,300 views. “The sacrifice it takes to complete such a monumental milestone is great. The immensity of what you have done becomes even more amazing when you think of the historical and ongoing injustices that many First Nations, Inuit, Métis peoples and nations have had to endure within the settler state in the past 200 years,” he told the graduates.

After reading From the Ashes, the Friendship Centre organizers bought 100 copies of the book to give away to staff, clients, board members, and even to First Nations in their area, said Noah. They started a book club and “a lot of us could relate to the book” or “found something someone we knew had experienced,” she recalled.

Thistle paid tribute to the difficulties, and limited diets, of a typical post-secondary student’s life, and also remembering graduates who have completed their education while raising families.

“You stayed up nights studying for your tests and exams, you used those band funds in a good way, you employed that Indspire money to pay rent and tuition, even when partying might have seemed more interesting…Some of you even raised children and muscled your way through as single parents. We in Indigenous country are very proud of you and we sing your names with great salutations and dances,” he said.

The author and assistant professor of Humanities at York University in Toronto, remembered the support graduates have received from their families along the road, saying, “I suspect those weekly or monthly care packages from our loved ones with messages of hope and bannock, wrapped in tea towels, probably had a lot to do with you finishing. In fact, I’m sure they had everything to do with you finishing.”

Thistle also acknowledged the determination and self-reliance graduates have needed to develop to achieve their goals.

“Many of us came from up north and left everything we knew to pursue the noblest of dreams, the dream to be something more than we were yesterday; the dream to be what we are destined to be. It’s lonely and difficult to dream in such a lofty way, to fit in where, in most cases, no one in our immediate family has even been to high school, college or university.  But still, here you are, you pressed on,” he told the graduates. “You did it yourselves.  You proved yourselves to be the Ogimaas our peoples need to flourish. The blisters and calluses upon your brains and hearts, along with your diploma, are the visible proof that you came, you saw, and you kicked some serious academic [butt],” he added.

Thistle also recognized the barriers and obstacles First Nations students face, including working twice as hard as their non-Indigenous counterparts do.

“I know because I was among this class of overachievers when I graduated university in 2016,” he expressed. “It is you the overachievers, the ones who buck off the pain of centuries, the ones who are strong and articulate and laser-determined, it is all of you who will lead our peoples forward in a good way.”

Thistle also offered hope for their future in a Canada that is learning to value the contributions and unique perspectives of First Nations people.

“As you embark on your path also remember that being Indigenous today, in the time period after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the time after Idle No More, it’s a time in which many of our youth like you are proud of who they are and their histories and their cultures,” he expressed. “There is a long line of institutions and academies, law offices and courts,  governments and municipalities, private and public banking sectors, universities, school boards all across the country who are just chomping at the bit to hire you. And they wait for you because of all the hard work you, your ancestors and your families have put in so you can graduate. And also because your indigeneity is exactly what they need to grow and thrive in the evolving landscape of equity and opportunity.  And because, without you, simply, they will not be able to compete in the modern era.”