Wikipedia
Dreamspeaker
Dreamspeaker is a novel by Canadian author Anne Cameron also known as Cam Hubert. It was first published in 1978 by Clarke, Irwin & Company.
It centers on the life of an 11-year-old boy, Peter Baxter, who is committed to an institution for delinquent boys. He was in different foster homes previously. His foster mother left him to starve and never brought him to the doctor, leaving him sick. He ran away by hopping on a train and later meets a First Nations man. The story won the Gibson Award for literature.
In 1976 a television film was made starring Ian Tracey as Peter Baxter, directed by Claude Jutra. The film won seven Canadian Film Awards.