Tom Jackson was born on the One Arrow Reserve near Batoche, Saskatchewan, to a Cree mother and an English father.

Voluntarily leaving school and home at the age of 15, Tom experienced a number of years of life on the streets of Winnipeg.  His experiences there resonate in both his music and in his dedication to helping those less fortunate.

A turning point in Tom’s life occurred when while walking home one evening, he noticed a man lying on the sidewalk in obvious distress, while passersby continued on their way ignoring him.  Unable to imagine what it must be like to be in the man’s situation watching people just passing by, Tom came to his aid.  From that point onward Tom has been determined to make a difference in peoples’ lives.  He has often stated that this man saved his life, not the other way around.

Tom first came to most peoples’ attention through his roles in the successful TV movies The Diviners, and Loyalties, to Trekkies everywhere through his performance as Lakanta, followed by his continuing roles in two long-running TV series, Shining Time Station and North of 60.  However, Tom was a musician long before he was an actor, performing at folk festivals since the early seventies.

He has several albums to his credit, which have earned him a number of awards and nominations.  Profits from sales of a couple of his albums are donated to the Canadian Association of Food Banks, and video airplay royalties from four of his singles are donated to the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank.

Tom organized his first Huron Carole concert in Toronto in 1987.  It was not the huge success that he had hoped for, having to downsize his venue from Toronto's Massey Hall to Spadina Avenue's Silver Dollar Room.  He and his musician friends made no money, but the show at least received some press.  From that humble beginning, Tom’s Huron Carole concert has grown into a hugely successful annual cross-country tour, raising almost a million dollars for food banks across the country in just the past two years alone.

In 1996, Tom and his North of 60 co-stars were profoundly shaken by the suicide of one of the show’s young stars, Mervin Good Eagle.  This tragedy led Tom to an awareness of the appalling rate of suicide among young people in native communities across Canada.  In response, Tom created the Dreamcatcher concert tour, to promote greater awareness and encourage open discussion about the problem, and to empower the community and youth leaders to become involved in the intervention process.  The cross-country tour has grown in scope, and now includes presentations and workshops by counsellors and health-care professionals.

In 1997, Tom initiated and was instrumental in organizing the Red River flood relief concert in aid of  families who homes and livelihoods were threatened by the rising flood waters of Manitoba’s Red River.  The two day, two city event, organized in less than two weeks, was broadcast on national television and raised almost three million dollars.

Tom has been helping people long before most of us knew who he was.  He has managed to turn his love of performing, coupled with his high public profile, into a vehicle for enormous positive action and change.

Credits:  Photo of younger Tom courtesy of the Jackson Family archives.