Jerry Michael Jacknife

Jerry was born on April 9, 1956, and he was a very great example of the strong silent type. When he did decide to open up and share, his words had weight and held meaning. During his time here in Edmonton he built his own community of friends and family through his time spent in community and at the Co-op, also known as Boyle Street Community Services Center, located here in downtown Edmonton. Where he fit in, had somewhere to be, and belong.

Jerry resided in Edmonton since the 1980’s, where his profession as a glass installer took him. Jerry installed glass on 97th street at Canada Place when it was being built in late 1985 up until the summer of 1988. This building remains a prominent piece of Edmonton’s infrastructure. A significant injury later happened in Jerry's life that claimed his hand and forearm. After that Jerry used a prosthetic in place of his hand. That never did stop him from being an excellent pool player and keeping his spot on the pool league he belonged to.

In the early 2000's, Jerry and a group of friends who frequented the Boyle Street Community Center, were responsible for the creation of a group of natural helpers calling themselves AAWEAR. Jerry, Karen, Pete, Fred, Les to name a few were the first ones to lead the charge in terms of addressing emerging issues and trends on the street that community members were dealing with. Through that work an advocacy group was created and exists still today providing outreach supports and education in community not just in Edmonton but throughout the province. Jerry's time spent at Operation Friendship also had him building community in that space. Jerry was also building a community in his pool league and had established a circle of friends there too. Wherever he went, there he was creating community. It seems without ever directly knowing it; he was designated to be a community builder.

In 2014 Jerry's work on the Community Advisory Group in partnership with Royal Alexandra Hospital’s ARCH (Addiction Recovery Community Health) team helped to establish the first Supervised Consumption site in a hospital in North America. Jerry was also a published author through his contributions to the Streetways Book created with the AAWEAR group in April of 2017. Upon the arrival of Jerry's condition that left him battling Diabetes, he continued to prove he was a fighter. Jerry was doing Dialysis multiple times a week and did not ever directly or indirectly complain in regard to the situation he was dealing with in terms of his health. His health issues eventually landed him in Hospital to deal with some issues that unfortunately ended up costing his life with a gradual decline in his overall health in the later part of 2025.

We thank Jerry for his work to make the community a better place for all community members. And for putting the UNITY in Community. Jerry is loved and will be greatly missed by many whose lives were touched and enriched by his contributions to the community. May the creator guide Jerry home in a kind, gentle and loving way. We wish him a safe journey home to be with his ancestors.