SCOTCHFORT, P.E.I. - Gloria Bernard just knew her boy would grow up to become a soldier.
She could not, however, have foreseen Erik Bernard enjoying only a very short-lived military career that would be brought to a tragic end by a fatal motor-vehicle accident in New Brunswick on Nov. 27, 2016.
However, his name and spirit will live on in a dedication plaque unveiled last week at the newly named Abegweit Mi’kmaw National Trail.
Located in Scotchfort, the plaque reads: “to the family of Sapper Erik Bronson Bernard and to 5 CDSB Gagetown New Brunswick of the 4 Engineer Support Regiment and all Indigenous veterans who served and protected our country.’’
The dedication hit Gloria with explosive force.
Hand on her heart, her heavily emotional expression seemed to capture a conflicting blend of pride and pain.
“I wasn’t expecting this at all,’’ she told The Guardian after the joyously jolting dedication.
“It’s indescribable how I felt. It was just a lot of pride and love.’’
Erik, says his mom, seemed destined for the army.
He grew up on the Scotchfort reserve as a member of the Abegweit Mi’kmaw Nation (formerly Abegweit First Nation) with his older brother, Gregory.
Erik would dress up like a soldier for Halloween but would also dress the part simply to play the role outside on any given day.
Gloria recalls Erik, who was the younger of her two children, taking her “really nice’’ telescope, removing the scope and attaching it to his toy gun. Erik painted the scope black and traipsed outside to show off his superior weapon to friends.
“He just played army all the time,’’ she says.
Not the least bit surprisingly to Gloria, Erik was later swept up by an Aboriginal recruitment effort through the military.
He joined, said his mother, because he “wanted to do good for the world…one of his goals was he just wanted to go out and help people.’’
Erik, who was born in 1993, enrolled into the Canadian Armed Forces in Charlottetown in 2013.
He was posted to 5 Canadian Support Base Gagetown where he was employed at 4 Engineer Support Regiment as a combat engineer.
He spent his time at 4ESR in 21 Field Troop as a section member and LAV III driver until his death at age 23.
Master Cpl. Samuel St. Pierre reflects in glowing terms on his late, great friend and comrade.
“He was a very dedicated, perseverant member,’’ says St. Pierre.
“Any time we would go on exercise or anything, whether it was raining, windy, snowing – anytime at all – Erik would always have a smile on his face and he always cracked a joke and was able to bring morale (up).’’
St. Pierre has been busy on the Scotchfort reserve working with many others from the 4 Engineer Support Regiment renovating the basement of a church and building the one-kilometre trail.
The trail took centre stage Thursday at the end of a service in Scotchfort that marked National Aboriginal Veterans Day.
Taking part in the trail construction, as well as the dedication ceremony, proved meaningful and emotional for St. Pierre.
“It was a pleasure for me to be here today,’’ he said.
“I think in my heart Erik Bernard was not only a brother-in-arms, but he was, most importantly, a friend. And I had the pleasure, for the short time that he was here, to work with him.’’
The trail is only 500 metres or so from Gloria’s home in Scotchfort. It is a well-lit passage that will allow a safe place to walk for the children and others in a community that has no sidewalks with vehicles racing past youngsters strolling along roads.
The Abegweit Mi’kmaw Nation Trail is, for Gloria, yet another link to Erik.
Her already strong bond with Erik intensified further after her boy, Gregory, died in 2004 at age 20.
“It was almost like (Erik) was sent to me to be my rock,’’ she said.
“It brought a lot of sorrow…it was just Erik and I at the end of it there. So, he and I, we muddled through and we just kept trying to be as happy as we could be.’’
Erik not only persevered, he flourished.
He fulfilled his dream to become a soldier. He executed the role the way he always lived his life, by spreading cheer.
“He always made people happy,’’ said Gloria.
“Even as a young person, he always found a way to make someone’s day a lot brighter, even my own. He just liked making people happy and he just liked making everything easy for people.’’
Losing two sons – all of her children – has opened a cosmic void.
Mercifully, a strong spiritual connection gives Gloria strength.
She talks to her beloved, departed boys a good deal. Those talks will now extend to walks along the Abegweit Mi’kmaw Nation Trail, built by Eric’s brothers-in-arms, soldiers that enclosed around Gloria Thursday in a compassionate show of support.
“I may not have any (biological) sons,’’ she said,” but I have a lot of other sons now – military sons.’’
