Tom Jackson brings compassion, hope, and love to the stage in Stories, Songs & Santa Causes

The revered Métis artist and activist is taking his new Christmas show all across Canada

By Gail Johnson

Tom Jackson. Photo by Rafal Wegiel

Massey Theatre presents Tom Jackson: Stories, Songs & Santa Causes on November 25 at 7:30 pm

TRIPLE-THREAT METIS MUSICIAN, actor, and activist Tom Jackson, with his extraordinarily long list of honours and accolades, is first and foremost a helper. A recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Jackson is a Companion of the Order of Canada (the Order’s highest designation), Red Cross Ambassador, and Juno and Gemini Humanitarian Award winner whose long-running Huron Carole Christmas concert tours for Canadian food banks and disaster relief has raised more than $250 million in combined cash/in-kind value to date. Jackson knows first-hand what it’s like to be in need: in 1988, he was addicted to substances, living in a crawl hole in the ground across from the railway station in Toronto.

His life changed when a stranger approached him. 

“I had a visitor angel who had no wings,” Jackson tells Stir on the line from his home in the Rockies. “The angel said to me, ‘Tom, I’m going to send you another angel that is going to be worse off than you. If you help that angel, I’m going to help you. I took the deal. 

“I went out that night looking for an angel who was worse off than me,” says Jackson, who was born on One Arrow Reserve in Saskatchewan. “I discovered there were thousands of angels that were worse off than me, and that’s what really brought me here, to something far greater than I’ll ever be—not something religious, but something spiritual….I started working with the food bank, and that turned into my Christmas show.”

In the face of the pandemic, the Huron Carole toured virtually by Zoom in 2020 and 2021. Now, Jackson is launching a new Christmas show, Stories, Songs & Santa Causes, which is coming to the Massey Theatre as part of a nationwide tour. 

The performance features original music, classic Christmas songs, sing-along tunes, storytelling, and possible Dad jokes, with the through line being themes of compassion, empathy, faith, hope, and love. Joining Jackson are Tom McKillip, BC Country Music Association Hall of Fame producer, and  producer/multi-instrumentalist John MacArthur Ellis. Jackson is inviting people all across the country to email him their “Santa Cause”—the name of a charitable organization or endeavour—so he can add it to his list.

For Jackson—who has had roles on TV shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Law & Order and movies such as Cold Pursuit and Deadfall and who appears in the forthcoming CTV/Crave series Sullivan’s Crossing—helping others is the kind of gift that keeps on giving. He also has faith that people pay kindness forward.

“Doing this kind of work is my oxygen,” Jackson says. “Whenever I feel like I’m tired, I try to find something to do for someone else….I encourage people all the time to do something for themselves by doing something for somebody else. It’s a priceless reward: you get to better understand what the verb Christmas is. 

“Call somebody and tell them you love them,” he adds. “Ask them to call somebody else and tell them they love them. We want people to come to the show and make sure that they know that joy exists where they are and that they are the most important people on the planet helping us save lives.”  

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