Bio

As a queer Chinese immigrant growing up in Calgary, Jackson Wai Chung Tse 謝瑋聰 (he/she/they) never saw positive representations of himself represented in media, and felt that no one understood who he was. Because of religious oppression, racism, and sexual trauma, he believed he was deeply flawed and sank into depression.

In 2018, as a response to a lifetime of adversity and oppression, Jackson created the international award-winning mini-documentary, Paul Wong: Breaking the Silence, to highlight the discrimination felt by generations of queer Chinese migrants in Canada, and explore the importance of taking space and using our voices as non-dominant communities.

Jackson’s intersectionality is reflected in his creative work, which explores intentional community building in polarizing times, reverence for the land, challenging the mainstream dominant paradigm, queer identities coexisting with cultural values, and Chinese diaspora in the West. His work has been featured in the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, Queer Arts Festival, REC Filmfestival-Berlin, DailyHive, SAD Magazine, Outlook TV, Omni TV, and SingTao Newspaper.

Jackson creates and facilitates anti-discrimination, embodiment, and trauma-informed workshops at institutions across the globe to create safer spaces for collective healing. His facilitation experience comes from their roles at organizations across Canada and the globe, including Next Up Leadership Network, Power of Hope, the North Shore Multicultural Society, Camp fYrefly, Shad Valley International, Tim Horton’s Children’s Ranch, the Quantum Learning Network, the Centre for International Pedagogical Studies in France, the Ministry of Science and Education in Georgia, The Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth, and numerous festivals, conventions, and post-secondary institutions.

Empathizing with how rare it is for the LGBTQ+ community to feel safe in a bodywork space, Jackson founded Benevolent Bodywork in 2018, a queer and trans friendly massage, counselling, and Reiki business.

In 2018, Jackson was honoured to be selected as Western Canada’s MEC Outdoor Nation Ambassador, taking over the co-operative’s social media and sharing his story to MEC’s 30,600+ followers on Instagram, 15,600+ followers on Facebook, and 5.4 million+ members worldwide. In 2019, while receiving seed money and gear from MEC, Jackson founded QTBIPOC Artists in Nature to build community and capacity with some of the most marginalized in the queer community (queer, trans, two-spirit folks who are also Black, Indigenous, or People of Colour).

Jackson continues to be an active and joyful cultivator of queer community. He dedicates his life to building relationships, giving voice to the silenced, and reclaiming joy, magic, and self-worth back from colonized ideas. Committed to the Canadian media arts ecology, Jackson is excited to create films that provide a decolonized perspective on Canadian identities and increases the visibility of marginalized communities.

Jackson is a graduate of Queen’s University, the National University of Singapore, and The University of the State of New York. Connect with Jackson on Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook @sonofjacky or by emailing jacksonwctse@gmail.com.

Reel/Clips

Paul Wong: Breaking the Silence (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbXp3SpG3R4

Letter to My Younger Self (2 minutes) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIIaDMXGRo

Found Film: Move (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la5uUpsLlVg