‘We’re trying not to break down,’ Sask. family desperate to find their loved one last seen in Toronto

Toronto –

The family of 39-year-old Lesley Sparvier has been trying to find and locate her after she left home on foot in Kahkewistahaw First Nation, Sask. on Nov. 28.

The family believes she hitchhiked more than 2,600 kilometres to Toronto after police tracked her banking transactions and disclosed them with the family a week later. While Lesley is an adult, her sister says the family is worried for her safety because she lives with schizophrenia and her transactions suddenly stopped on Dec. 7.

“We’re trying not to break down, we’re trying to stay positive about this but it’s hard. We’re very scared,” said Tricia Sparvier, Lesley’s older sister who also lives in Kahkewistahaw.

Tricia says Lesley’s doctor lowered her medication dosage earlier this summer that would help treat her schizophrenia and the family says Lesley was not the same afterwards and was very unhappy.

“She has been struggling with (schizophrenia) since she was 16, this isn’t her first time leaving and we have been in contact with the RCMP to locate her. We need her to come home,” said Tricia.

The family admits they did not file a missing persons report with Broadview RCMP until Dec. 4 because one week earlier, Lesley left the house and came home late in the evening after visiting a friend’s house all day in Kahkewistahaw.

On the evening of Dec. 4, Broadview RCMP notified the family that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) located Lesley in Huntsville, Ont. Tricia said the OPP put Lesley up in a hotel for the night and got her a bus ticket to Toronto to meet up with her cousin, but Lesley never arrived.

“I wish the OPP would have called my mom right away and asked her what they should do with Lesley but instead they just made the choice to put her on the bus and call my cousin in Toronto and tell her to come and meet her at the bus station and Lesley never met up with her. She checked out of the hotel before 9 a.m.,” Tricia said.

The OPP have now notified the family that Lesley’s last known location was at an ATM in the Cliffcrest neighbourhood of Scarborough in Toronto’s east end.

This security camera image provided to the Sparvier family by the OPP shows Lesley Sparvier around her last known location in the Cliffcrest neighbourhood of Scarborough in Toronto’s east end.

“Police told us last Thursday she actually went to our old address in Toronto and she told the current tenant that she used to live there and was looking for someone. When police arrived, they didn’t find her,” Tricia said, adding that family in Toronto has put up missing person posters in Cliffcrest and have been driving around the city looking for her.

The family says they are afraid Lesley may be lost, without money, walking the streets of Toronto and is unwell. Tricia says the family is thankful the police are looking for their loved one but are upset she was not sent home when she was initially found.

“We should be able to trust that the police are going to help us, locate somebody and make sure they are safe and back with their family. Our mom is elderly, it’s stressful on her because it’s during a time she doesn’t need this kind of stress,” Tricia said.

CTV News reached out to the OPP but have yet to receive a response.

According to a description from the family, Lesley is Indigenous with brown eyes, five-foot-six, 200 lbs and last seen in Cliffcrest area in Scarborough. She was wearing a dark grey knitted sweater with moose designs, a red or burgundy backpack, red pajama pants and blue shoes.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the RCMP, the OPP or CRIMESTOPPERS. 

This security camera image provided to the Sparvier family by the OPP shows Lesley Sparvier around her last known location in the Cliffcrest neighbourhood of Scarborough in Toronto’s east end.