Jesse Thistle Becomes Youngest Member of Raising the Roof’s Board of Directors

Jesse Thistle, a 2016 Trudeau scholar, has become the youngest member of the Board of Directors of Raising the Roof. Launched in 1996 by members of the Canadian Non-Profit Housing Foundation, Raising the Roof provides national leadership on long-term solutions to homelessness. “It's a pretty big deal for a student, at least to me who works in the housing sector,” said Thistle. Jesse Thistle is also the current Resident Scholar of Indigenous Homelessness at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, where he recently drafted the National Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada. Jesse’s lived experience of homelessness and addiction has shaped the way he approaches homeless studies, Indigenous history, social work, and addiction studies.