CANADA Canada - Helene Ratfat Leyden, Edmonton, AB, 1 Jan. 1970

[TheArtfulDetective]

Helene Louisa Ratfat Leyden



Helene was 31 years old when she was last in contact with her family in Edmonton, Alberta. Her family reports they spoke to her sometime between 1968 and 1971. She lived in Edmonton but was known to travel to Vancouver. There is very little information available in her case and Helene remains missing. She is a mother of 5.

Aliases - RATFAT, Helen Louise
FORTIN, Helene Louisa
Missing since - January 1, 1970
Year of birth - 1938
Age at disappearance - 31
Gender - Female
Bio group - Indigenous
Eye colour - Brown
Hair - Black
Height - 162cm / 5 ft 4 in
Weight - 59kg / 130lb
Build - Medium
Tribal Information - Helene is Mikisew Cree First Nation from Fort Chipweyan, Alberta

If you have any information regarding the disappearance or whereabouts of Helene Leyden, you are encouraged to contact the Project KARE RCMP at 1-877-412-5273.

Canada's Missing | Case details
Justice for Native People: Helene Leyden, Missing from Alberta since 1970.

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

Helene Louise Leyden (née Ratfat) is a mother of four from the Mikisew Cree Nation in northern Alberta. She hasn’t been in contact with anyone since roughly 1971. She was 36 years old at the time of her disappearance. Her daughters, who were raised by their father, recently started searching for her. RCMP in Vancouver and Edmonton started reviewing her case in October 2014.

Sequin Leyden was only two years old when her father separated from her mother Helene Leyden, who also went by her maiden name, Ratfat.

“She basically just disappeared. My understanding is she might have met some man, might've gone to Vancouver, but that's basically it and nothing was done,” Leyden said.

“We were raised by my dad, who is non-native, and then he just kept us away from the whole native side of our family.”

Leyden was 19 years old when she started searching for her mother. She’s now 50 years old.

At one point, she came across the name Jimmy Ratfat and tracked down a number for him.

Leyden recalled telling Jimmy, “I want to find out about your sister, Helene Ratfat. I'm her daughter.”

"He says, 'That's my mom.' And I said, 'What? You're my brother?'"

Leyden learned that Helene had Jimmy before meeting her father.

While that was a lot to take in, Leyden got another surprise not too long after that.

“Twenty years ago, I got a letter in the mail from this woman saying she had the same mother and the same father as I did, and found out that my mother had been pregnant and had her and she was given up for adoption," she said.

"She went over to England or wherever she was and now she's back she lives in Edmonton.”

Leyden asked her father about this, but he never did tell her if it was true or not. She will never hear his version of events because he died in 2001.

After he died is when Leyden says she really started to pursue her mother. She tried to seek help from her First Nation but was told no one had heard from her mother in years.

Leyden says that’s when someone she knew within the RCMP helped her.

“There had been two Canada-wide searches and she's never been found," she said. "So we didn't really know anything, like how to go about it.”

On Oct. 4, 2014, Leyden and her sisters attended the annual Stolen Sisters March in Edmonton with their mother’s picture in hand.

Leyden says that’s when a reporter from a local media outlet interviewed her about why she was there. She credits that report for what happened next.

“One of the RCMP members from the missing persons department ... came and contacted me and it just started going from there,” she said.

“Now we actually have somebody in Vancouver from the missing persons [unit] and also in Edmonton, trying to find what jurisdiction to work from -- where she basically went missing from.”

The Leyden family understands that finding out what happened to their mother is no easy feat.

“This is a really old cold case file, for sure. Like, she would've been missing since about 1971,” Leyden said.

Both RCMP detachments confirm they’ve been reviewing Ratfat's case, but so far there has been no classification made.

The new probe by the RCMP gives the Leyden family new hope.

“One of the investigators came from Vancouver ... and took our DNA. So maybe perhaps, you know, there'll be an old bone found or something they can match because they’re putting it all into a database,” Leyden said.

The fact her mother’s disappearance has gone undetected all these years is why Sequin Leyden strongly believes in a federal inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

She believes there are more than the 1,182 cases the RCMP disclosed in May 2014.

“Not only that, but the thing is, when you look at the history of aboriginal women and all the things that have gone on ... even in my generation -- how much I was put down, like being being called a squaw and made to feel worthless -- you know, like, all this is going on.”

https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/mmiw/profiles/helene-louise-ratfat

 

[Pennysmom1]

Helen Louise LEYDEN

www.edmontonpolice.ca