Not enough help for Ralph Beaulieu search, chief says

A search for a man missing from a cabin along Highway 3 is continuing, though some involved say there isn’t enough support.

Ralph Beaulieu wasn’t at a cabin between Yellowknife and Behchokǫ̀ where he had been expected. Initial search efforts in the area haven’t located him.

Police said on Saturday that a search had begun, involving RCMP alongside the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association and Yellowknife Ground Search and Rescue.

However, friends of the Beaulieu family who have helped with the search say in practice, few people are involved and progress has been frustrating.

Beaulieu is understood to have been raised in Fort Resolution. On Facebook, Chief Louis Balsillie of the Fort Resolution-based Deninu Kųę́ First Nation appealed for more government help and the intervention of the Canadian Rangers.

“There’s really no one out there but his family members and a few members from Behchokǫ̀,” Balsillie wrote.

Another person who turned up to help told Cabin Radio: “I anticipated a search party and all kinds of people there. It was three family members.”

In an update provided after this article was first published on Monday, RCMP said the search for Beaulieu continued. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call 867-392-1111.

Police said Beaulieu was “dropped off at the cabin on April 23 with a plan to head out onto the land on April 29 and ultimately be picked up on May 8.”

According to RCMP, a message from a Garmin InReach satellite device was sent on April 29 indicating Beaulieu had begun his trip.

“On May 8, the friend went to pick up Beaulieu and determined that he was not at the cabin and called police after midnight on May 9,” police stated. At that point, search efforts began.

On Sunday, friends of Beaulieu said three search-and-rescue team members from Yellowknife had been continuing work to find him. They said family members had hired a helicopter for two hours to help.

The location of the cabin and search site is about 40 km west of Yellowknife in an area that blends rocky terrain with marshland.

While there is so far no formal means for volunteers to sign up, one person searching on Sunday said: “We have hung signs and arrows to help direct anyone that may be able to help.”