Baker Lake halts search for missing elder

The search for Alvin Kannak, 72, has been called off until the snow melts around Baker Lake. (FILE PHOTO)

Search and rescue parties in Baker Lake have called off their search for Baker Lake elder Alvin Kannak, who was reported lost May 7 while travelling to the community from Rankin Inlet.

On the advice of community elders, the Baker Lake search and rescue committee decided May 20 halt the search until melting snow and ice no longer pose a hazard to searchers.

“We stopped to a halt until the snow all melted from the land, and the ice,” said Joe Aupaluktuq, mayor of Baker Lake. “We had about three to four feet of fresh snow in the last two weeks.”

At the end of the afternoon, May 20, a group of elders gave a recommendation to the committee “to halt it for now and wait two to four weeks before the snow melts, and then resume,” Aupaluktuq said.

“You could call it a recovery search,” he added, to continue in the next month.

The committee, which led search efforts for the 72-year-old elder on a continuous basis since he was reported lost, immediately notified RCMP and territorial authorities of their plans.

The committee had extensive help in the two-week effort.

In addition to assistance from the Baker Lake RCMP detachment, neighbouring communities of Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield and Whale Cove assisted with volunteer searchers and supplies. A Twin Otter aircraft from Ookpik Aviation of Baker Lake and a helicopter from Agnico Eagle Mining Ltd. provided assistance on a volunteer basis in the first week, and Canadian Rangers based in Chesterfield Inlet joined in the effort in the second week, when a blizzard passed through the region.

“We had two weeks of a blizzard and heavy snow,” said Aupaluktuq, which created difficulties but did not delay efforts by more than one day.

Cpl. Jonathan Saxby of the Baker Lake RCMP detachment reported that searchers and Rangers found “footwear impressions,” evidence of an emergency shelter and human excrement in a south channel of a series of lakes that feed Baker Lake.

These positive signs helped keep efforts alive. “That’s why they continued for so long,” said Saxby.

Search efforts were altered almost daily, he said, as new evidence was found. In its final stages, searchers zeroed-in on an area around Christopher Island and Manimaniit Point, he said, 130 to 145 kilometres from Baker Lake.

Kannak was reported lost May 7, a day after he and his grandson left Rankin Inlet for Baker Lake by snowmobile, with a qamutik in tow.

The two men were alternating driving duties, with one driving while the other sat in the sled. The grandson was driving about midway through the journey when the elder fell off the sled, without the grandson’s knowledge.

The community of Baker Lake reported the men missing in the evening of May 7, when they did not appear as expected. RCMP started to assist in the search on May 8.

Search efforts slowed the week of May 13 due to a blizzard and heavy snow, which fell as high as one metre some parts of the Kivalliq region. Parties returned to the land for a systematic search in the afternoon of May 15, said Saxby, after a meeting attended by searchers, Rangers and RCMP.

Spring temperatures have started to melt snow and ice, causing dangerous conditions in the search areas, said Richard Aksawnee, chair of the Baker Lake search and rescue committee. These cover a channel “where the salt water begins,” he said, “and the ice is getting thin.”

Aksawnee and mayor Aupaluktuq said they were thankful for all the help provided by authorities and volunteers from neighbouring communities.

“I’d like to thank all volunteers that came to support us, all the communities for their generous donations, and all their prayers which helped us get through a tough two weeks,” said Aksawnee.