Show host receives his own award

Page 24

One of the least surprising "surprises" of the National Aboriginal

Achievement Awards was the presentation of show co-host Tom Jackson with

the award for arts and culture/community service. The star of North of

60 accepted with humility.

"When I was about nine years old...," Jackson said, "my sister -her

name is Marlene- was

performing at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, and I said to myself:

'Boy! Someday I'd like to be in that spotlight; someday I'd like to be

on that stage."

Although he's seen some rough spots since, Jackson is on the stage now,

front and centre.

In addition to co-hosting the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards,

his character Peter Kenidi is a fixture on North of 60 and he's known to

a different generation of viewers as Jessie Two Feathers from the

children's series Shining Time Station.

He starred in a Gemini Award nominated role in The Diviners, the CBC TV

movie Medicine River, for which he received a best supporting actor

award at the San Francisco Native Film Festival, and the stage plays The

Ecstasy of Rita Joe by George Ryga and Dry Lips Oughta Move to

Kapuskasing by Tomson Highway.

His latest album of music, No Regrets, his eighth was recently released

by Sony Music Canada to critical and public acclaim.

But he's not been at the top all his life, and his rags-to-riches story

has led Jackson to expend a great deal of effort to raise awareness and

dollars for Canada's under-privileged, hungry and homeless. He was,

himself, homeless for a time.

He has performed the "Huron Carole" nationwide in his efforts to raise

money for food banks. It is estimated that $3.5 million has been

donated to food banks as a direct result of his efforts. Peter Gzowski

has called him "as good a man as I know."

In recognition of his efforts in this area, he was awarded the Canada

125 medal. His National Aboriginal Achievement Award this year was

awarded in two classifications. There was one other winner out of 31

nominees for arts and culture, and he was the lone winner of 24 nominees

for community development.