Jackson uses his talents to help others
Tom Jackson is an actor and singer who has leveraged his talents into more than $200 million in donations for food banks and disaster relief over the last 30 years.
The performer was born to a Cree mother and English father in 1948 on the One Arrow Cree reserve near Batoche. At 18, he was living on the streets of Winnipeg. After sharing his three-song repertoire with a program director at a local public access station, he was encouraged to try working in radio. He hosted one of the station’s shows and eventually was offered a job at the CBC.
“If I didn’t have this voice and I had not stumbled into a situation where somebody said to me, ‘Have you ever considered doing radio?’ you probably wouldn’t be talking to me now,” he said in 2014.
He broke into the acting world after appearing in a storytelling segment on Sesame Street. One of Jackson’s best known acting roles was as Peter Kenidi on the TV drama North of 60.
Since 1987, Jackson’s Huron Carole concert series has travelled Canada to raise money for local food banks (it took an eight-year hiatus beginning in 2004 but returned in 2012). Over its history, the show has featured performances by Susan Aglukark, Sarah Slean, George Canyon and many others.
Jackson has released 16 albums, including his most recent, 2015’s Ballads Not Bullets.
In 2014, he received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. He became an officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. At the 2007 Juno Awards in Saskatoon, Jackson received the organization’s second-ever humanitarian award.
Jackson lives in Calgary.