Mangilaluk by Bernard Andreason

In the graphic memoir, Mangilaluk, Bernard Andreason describes his life-long struggle to find a place to belong and to understand his own identity.

At birth, Bernard was taken away from his mother at birth and spent the first two years in several homes. He was given to the Andreasons who provided Bernard with the basics of life. Initially he felt loved at times but tragedy struck with the death of his foster mother. The Andreason family life soon became less than ideal with alcohol abuse. 

When he was eight years old, Bernard was sent away to a residential school in Inuvik. At Stringer Hall Residential School, Bernard found life harsh, often experiencing fear and shame. One Christmas, Bernard was forced to stay at the residential school over the holidays. Bernard and his friends would often get smokes. One time, his friend Dennis took smokes from a supervisor. She knew they had been stolen and was angry. The next day the three boys left the school and spent the day in the bush. They didn't want to return to the school to face their punishment so they decided to walk home. When they came to a raging creek, Bernard felt they had to go back but Dennis decided to continue on.

When the weather turned rainy, Bernard and Jack decided to turn around and find Dennis. Unable to find him they once again headed to Inuvik. But Jack became too ill to go on so Bernard made him as comfortable as possible and decided to journey to Tuk. He continued walking along the powerline and was eventually rescued. 

Once safe, Bernard felt that he was loved and cared for, but devastated that his friends were gone. As he could not return to the residential school, he continued his schooling in town. At school he continued to learn but at home he experienced "...a roller coaster of verbal and physical abuse, neglect, and an introduction to alcohol."

As a teenager, Bernard struggled, sometimes attending school, often drinking. In high school, Bernard found some teachers believed in him and tried to help. Eventually he came to believe that to find who he was, he needed to leave home. After drifting for several years, Bernard enrolled in the Indigenous Journalism program at Western University in London, Ontario. He soon found friends in the Six Nations Reserve community who made him feel accepted. He wrote, was published learned a lot about himself. 

It was in the early 1990's that Bernard was diagnosed as HIV positive. He felt isolated, an outcast and began to withdraw. He left London and moved to Vancouver, at first living rough. It was Dr. Catherine Jones who helped Bernard get back on track, prescribing a drug cocktail to manage his symptoms. A social worker helped him obtain a disability income. As his health recovered, Bernard became a student at the Native Education Centre in Vancouver, obtaining his Adult Upgrading. He felt capable of achieving anything.

He moved to Prince George to study at UNBC but found that while the campus was beautiful, the people were not. He felt out of place, perceived as just another unemployed Indigenous man. But when his biological father passed away in the middle of the semester, Bernard decided to head back to his family in Tuk. This would set in motion the old, destructive patterns that destroyed most of what he had built upon in Vancouver and Prince George. After more than a decade of living rough in Prince George he returned to Vancouver where he began to recover physically, mentally and spiritually. It was the efforts of a young teacher from Inuvik who would set in motion Bernard's healing from the events of his childhood so long ago.  

Discussion

Mangilaluk is a graphic memoir about one Indigenous man's perseverance, resiliency and tenacity. 

Bernard Andreason was born in an Inuvailuit hamlet, Tuktuyaaqtuuqt, Northwest Territories in 1961. As a child he was sent to Stringer Hall Residential School in Inuvik, NT. On June 23, 1972, Bernard, along with two friends, thirteen-year-old Dennis Dick and eleven-year-old Lawrence Jack Elanik decided to runaway from the school. Dennis had stolen a pack of  cigarettes from one of the dorm supervisors. They knew the punishment would be severe and so they decided to walk home to Tuktuyaaqtuuqt, despite the fact that in two days time, they would be flown home for the summer.

In 1972, there was no road from Inuvik to Tuktuyaaqtuuqt, an Inuvialuit community of the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The three boys decided to make the one hundred thirty kilometer journey on foot, wearing only the clothes on their backs. They began their journey by following the telephone poles through the tundra and bush. Andreason stated that they believed they could make the journey in several days. It was June so the sun shone all day and at the start of their walk, the weather was sunny and warm. They were able to eat berries and found plenty of fresh water to drink.

However, after a few days the weather changed, becoming cloudy and rainy. When they were unable to cross a raging river, Jack Elanik was beginning to feel unwell. At this point, Andreason wanted to return to Inuvik because Jack was sick, but Dennis decided to continue onward. They never saw him again. Eventually Jack became too sick to continue on. Making his friend as comfortable as possible, Andreason set out once again for Tuktuyaaqtuuqt. For two weeks he continued walking, alone. Because of the twenty-four hour daylight, Andreason often lost track of time and would hallucinate. 

Andreason was eventually found eight kilometers south of Tuktuyaaqtuuqt, in early July, walking the NCPC powerline. He was spotted by an Eldorado helicopter pilot flying between Inuviut and Tuktuyaaqtuuqt. Upon his rescue Andreason was taken to the nursing station in the community suffering from exposure. When Andreason was rescued, he believed he had only been walking for two days instead of weeks.  Jack Elanik was eventually found dead but Dennis Dick's body was never recovered.

This tragic event would have significant repercussions in Bernard Andreason's life. The loss of his friends led to survivor guilt which was compounded by growing up in a dysfunctional family, and later on by alcoholism, and an HIV diagnosis. It seems that without a supportive family and the loss of his cultural identity, Bernard struggled throughout much of his life. 

Despite this, Mangilaluk is a story of tenacity, perseverance and determination. Bernard's HIV diagnosis came at a time when he was making significant progress in his life. One wonders, had he the support of a loving family, how things might have been different. As an Indigenous person, already somewhat marginalized, the HIV diagnosis would have exacerbated his feelings of isolation and lack of belonging. However, he managed to seek out better treatment protocols in Vancouver and restart his life by upgrading his education at NEC.  

Although Bernard succumbed again to his demons and ended up on the streets, this time in Prince George, he managed to return to Vancouver to get himself well again. And showing great courage, Andreason agreed to participate in a reconciliation ceremony that would address what happened to Andreason and his two friends so long ago. It would be a healing ceremony that would follow a speaking engagement to students in Inuvit. Andreason undertook this despite his self-doubts. 
He would have to face his family and face the devastating memories of what happened back when he was an eleven-year-old boy. 

"The ceremony was beautiful. Every moment was infused with a love and respect I had only just begun to understand was possible for me. And I received it. I opened my heart and I let them in to help heal it. I felt the power or their prayers over me and the admiration of all these people who felt I had lived a life worth honouring. I felt my story come alive, and I felt a weight lift from my shoulders...." This ceremony was healing for Bernard, whose Indigenous name is Mangilaluk. 

Bernard Andreason's story is told through the beautiful artwork of Mark Gallo, whose colourful panels are effective in portraying the emotions, and settings. Mangilaluk is another significant contribution to the Indigenous experience in Canada.

Book Details:

Mangilaluk by Bernard Andreason

Iqualuit, Nunavut: Inhabit Education Books Inc.
96 pp.