I’m the One No One Looked For

Although Leo was just 11 years old when he was abandoned by CAS at HRC, he didn’t get to attend the institution school (poor as it was). As an Indigenous child, Leo was put to work right away at slave labour and sent to a ward intended for the working men, where he was horribly abused sexually and physically. His hands were smashed by staff with “shilleleighs” (leather boot soles) and they stomped on and disfigured his feet, but still he had to shovel coal and snow and do farming and landscaping work. The video talks about Leo being roused from bed in the middle of the night to shovel snow before day shift workers arrived.

He saw himself as “the black sheep of the family”, because “I’m the one no one looked for.”

Leo Gattie’s story - created by Kelsey Anger, Reconciliation Dept. Director, Anishinabek Nation and narrated by Melody, Leo’s friend and support worker.