Early Life and Career
Vandal was born in 1960 to a Métis family in Winnipeg, the youngest of eight children. His family identified as French Canadian during his youth, and he only became aware of his Métis heritage in later life. He has two children of his own, Jenna and Jerome.
Vandal dropped out of high school, and was a manual labourer for part of his teenage years. He started boxing at age 15, turned professional in 1978, and was the #1 ranked Canadian middleweight in 1983. The following year, he fought Alex Hilton for the Canadian title in front of 18,000 fans at the Montreal Forum. He later credited boxing for turning his life around, and has opposed efforts to ban the sport.
Vandal subsequently became a youth worker at Winnipeg's Mamawiwichiitata Centre, and received a degree in Social Work from the University of Manitoba. He was vice-president of the Old St. Boniface Residents Association in the 1990s, and campaigned against the proposed construction of a stadium for Sam Katz's Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team in Whittier Park.
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