Born and raised in Toronto, his family comes from Chicago and Genaabaajing Anishinaabek and he is an off-reserve member of the Serpent River First Nation.
He is a husband and father, as well as an award-winning writer and speaker. Jesse is best known for more than two decades spent as a columnist for CBC Radio’s Metro Morning. Jesse spent a decade with the Toronto International Film Festival as a curator, including leading the film and gallery programming at the Tiff Lightbox.
Jesse was the founding director of the Indigenous Screen Office and is the first Indigenous person to serve as Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. His award-winning first book “Unreconciled: Family, Truth and Indigenous Resistance” was a national bestseller.
Jesse was recently named the Storyteller in Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University. His first children’s book, Danger Eagle, is being published by Tundra Books in November. He is the author of Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance.
