Author explores Black history in comic series

Ottawa writer’s latest work addresses slavery, treatment of First Nations

When Body Ngoy first came to Canada as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, he spent three days wandering around Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

It was the spring of 1992 and he was 22 years old, clutching what he believed was the number of a family friend. But the number didn’t work and he didn’t know what to do next.

Fortunately, some friendly Canadians struck up a conversation with him and upon hearing his plight, brought him to the Salvation Army in Toronto, where he discovered the resources that would help him settle into his new life. He went back to school to complete his high-school diploma then headed to the University of Ottawa to study economics.

Almost three decades later, Ngoy is a pillar of Ottawa’s Black francophone community, named in 2009 as one of Canada’s top 25 immigrants. He’s worked for members of Parliament, served as a director on several non-profit boards, ran a café for a while and co-founded a social enterprise, Boxia.ca, that aims to strengthen intercultural bonds between newcomers and communities in eastern Ontario.

Along the way, he’s also written and published a string of comic books inspired by his experiences as a new Canadian, with illustrations by artists who are also of African descent. The story of his arrival at Pearson, for example, is told in his book, Le Rêve canadien, released in French in 2015.

“I found a way to express myself,” Ngoy said of writing comic books. “I started to notice in schools that young people of different backgrounds didn’t get along so I thought, “Why not write something to connect them?” Young people like comics, and we can show the different colours and expressions in the visuals.”

Just a few months after the release of his fourth comic book, The Canadian Dream: Canadian Values, in which he presents Canada as the land of opportunity, he’s now launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds for a new project.

The new comic book, The Canadian, looks back at some of the problematic aspects of Canadian history, including slavery and the treatment of Indigenous peoples. Ngoy was inspired by the police killing of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis and the worldwide reaction to his death, including the Canadian government’s acknowledgment of the existence of systemic racism.

“We are talking about those things now,” Ngoy said. “So in the

I started to notice in schools that young people of different backgrounds didn’t get along so I thought, ‘Why not write something to connect them?’

new comic, I go back to the history to talk about slavery and racism. It’s a conversation between a dad and his daughter as they visit six cities in Canada in six days. It’s fiction but it’s talking about a tough topic in a realistic way. But also at the same time, I’m trying to showcase the beauty of Canada.”

The comic, expected to be out in October, will be published by London, U.K.-based Gusoma Publishing.

For more on the Kickstarter, which hopes to raise $13,000 by Oct. 16, go to www.kickstarter.com/ projects/bodyngoy/the-canadian-comic-book-about-black-canadians-experience?ref=card. lsaxberg@postmedia.com

PHOTOS: JULIE OLIVER Body Ngoy is an Ottawa author working on a new comic book called The Canadian. He says the book is about a father talking to his daughter about Black history, racism and slavery while also showing the beauty of Canada.

An excerpt from one of Ottawa author Body Ngoy’s comics depicts a visit to a food bank. Ngoy is currently working on a new comic, sparked by the death of George Floyd and the worldwide reaction to his death.