Film

(DESCRIPTION)
[00:00:04.17] Text, This film depicts disturbing events and trauma experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada that may trigger strong negative thoughts or feelings. A listing of support services can be found at the end of the film and on the Unforgotten website.

[00:00:25.03] Created by Build, Films, and Networked Health, with funding and support from Canadian Medical Association

(SPEECH)
(people talking in the distance)

(DESCRIPTION)
Slow to appear, a glistening lake with homes along the shoreline.

(SPEECH)
Song" ["Magdalene" by George Leach]

(DESCRIPTION)
Black birds fly over simple residential structures, Text, Childhood.

A young Indigenous boy carries two large logs.

(SPEECH)
- [Narrator] I was born and raised in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.

I am of the Chipewyan tribe.

And, at a very young age, of seven and a half years old, I caught tuberculosis.

(child coughs) And in the classroom, I was coughing up blood on my desk.

The nuns decided to 
send me to Edmonton.

We caught a little aircraft, a small bush plane.

And, the morning after, I was accompanied 
to the railroad station.

And they used to call the train the Muskeg Express because a lot of that track was built on muskeg.

I arrived in Edmonton 
and a grey nun, I'm assuming she was from the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital, she met me there and took me to the hospital.

(DESCRIPTION)
Animation, A nun near train track and a boy with a bag.

(SPEECH)
(male vocals) And about two days later, 
I got surgery and they removed the upper lobe of my right lung.

And after this surgery, I was walking around visiting, like the young lad that I was, curious about life and everything else.

They took it upon 
themselves, the staff, I don't know who or what, that they should take my pajama bottoms off.

To prevent me from walking around and going to visiting 
and everything else.

I still used to go run around bare butt and visiting.

And one day they came and they said, “We're gonna put some casts on you.” They didn't tell me 
why or what for, they put a cast just 
below my knee to just above my ankle, 
on both legs.

And they put a bar across about six inches apart that prevented me from walking.

And that's when I was put in this little room, approximately 10 by 10.

There was no window, it was the end of the hallway.

I was just like a prisoner, no word of a lie.

Just the way I was treated.

And in order for me to go to the toilet, I had to go hop in such a manner, like a penguin, to go to the bathroom.

And on a few occasions, there was an orderly, and he'd get me into the bathroom, and he sodomized me.

(male vocals)

(DESCRIPTION)
In total darkness, illustration of a shirtless young boy looks upward.

(SPEECH)
I didn't have any schooling there at all.

I had no visitors whatsoever the two and a half years I was there.

Loneliness come upon me many, many different times.

And one day out of the blue, they said, "We're sending you home." One of the biggest joys in my life is leaving that hospital and going home.

[Michael Grandgambe's “Love Song (For Rosie)" by Stephen Kakfwi]

In this whole life that I experienced, you will not see any tears in my eyes, for I quit crying a long, long time ago.

(DESCRIPTION)
Small carved bird head hangs on necklace.

(SPEECH)
It comes a point, where now, in my lifetime I'm compelled to tell my story.

(DESCRIPTION)
Tattoo on his hand.

(SPEECH)
My name is Sonny James MacDonald and I want the world out there to know exactly what happened.

(guitar

(DESCRIPTION)
Sepia-toned photo of a three-level building. Text, Sonny Macdonald spent two and a half years at the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital.

(SPEECH)
music)

(DESCRIPTION)
Medical staff in masks with young Indigenous boys.

(SPEECH)
["Magdalene"

(DESCRIPTION)
The Charles Camsell Indian Hospital was one of 29 racially segregated Indian hospitals in Canada. It closed in 1996.

(SPEECH)
by George Leach]

(DESCRIPTION)
Canadian law made it a crime for Indigenous People to refuse admission to hospital.

On April 20, 2021, Sonny Macdonald passed away at home with his family by his side.

A shiny white wood-carved crane with its bill in the air.

Text, Sonny Macdonald was a renowned carver who enjoyed spending time with his three children, seven grandchildren, great grandson and Helen, his wife of 55 years.

[00:05:57.96] He wears a choker with a carved bird head. Text, Executive Producer, Ewan Affleck, Director, Christopher Paetkau, Created and Written by Ewan Affleck, Christopher Paetkau, Chloe Ross-Rogerson, Stephen Gladue, Adam Gualtieri, Producers, Christopher Paetkau, Chloe Ross-Rogerson, Creative Directors, Stephen Gladue, Jennifer Podemski, Music Director, Leela Gilday, Director of Photography, Christopher Paetkau, Animator, Stephen Gladue, Editor, Adam Gualtieri

[00:06:28.26] Production Manager, Chloe Ross- Rogerson, Senior Project Advisor, Alika Lafontaine, Featuring, Sonny MacDonald, Knowledge Holders and Subject Matter Experts, Alika Lafontaine, Aluki Kotierk, Marie Wilson, Film Title, The Unforgotten, Courtesy of: Iskwe, Special thanks, Canadian Medical Association Team, Helen MacDonald and family, Karen Blondin Hall, Janelle Bruneau, Dana Francey, Loren McGinnis, Transcripts, Rev dot com, Translations, Edgar dot c a., Elizabeth Biscaye

[00:07:01.72] If this film has triggered strong negative thoughts or feelings, you can find support at: The Hope for Wellness Line (1-855-242-3310), The Residential School Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419), The Crisis Services of Canada (1-833-456-4566). A BUILD, FILMS, and NETWORKED HEALTH Production. Copyright 2021 Canadian Medical Association. Logo, Build.

Content Advisory

The film on this website depicts racism experienced by Indigenous peoples and may trigger strong negative thoughts or feelings.