Community identifies Misipawistik Cree Nation boater found dead, 2 others still missing

Two northern Manitoba boaters who are still missing last week, and another who was found dead over the past weekend, have been identified by their community.

A search continues for Rayden Dick, 28, and Delaney McGillvary, 29,Misipawistik Cree Nation said in a news release Thursday afternoon. Neither of those two men, nor their boat, have been found since they went missing last Thursday.

Searchers found the body ofTyler Ballantyne, 31,in the water last Saturday, the release said.

The three men all of whom were from the northern First Nation, on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg had set off together by boat on June 27 to lift nets on the lake, the release said. After they didn't return home together as expected that night,local fishermen began a search the next day.Manitoba RCMP were also notified.

"We're so close,and to lose someone unexpectedly like that is very hard," said Ballantyne's first cousin, Ryan Ault, who is acting as the family's spokesperson.

"I can only imagine how hard it is on the families that are still waiting for closure, and hopefully we find our brothers soon."

Ballantyne was a father of six children with a seventhon the way, the First Nation's news release said.He was also a fourth-generation commercial fisherman andan active trapper and hunter.

"He was a quiet young man who had a very nice smile that lit up the room," said Ault.

Dick is also a fourth-generation commercial fisherman and the oldest of eight siblings, Misipawistik Cree Nation said.

McGillvary is a member of Opaskwayak Cree Nation, but was adopted and raised in Misipawistik Cree Nation, the release said. He'sdescribed as an avid fisher, hunterand trapper, who alsoenjoyed spending time with family and friends.

Ault said his family was close with both men.

"You get very close to everyone in the community. We're intertwined through either marriage or through just connections of being in the community," said Ault. "Delaney was a big part of our family, and so was Rayden."

Search expands

RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel said in an email Thursday the search for the missing men is continuing viaboats, as well as ahelicopterconducting aerial searches. There have been around three to 10 boats searching at any time, according tothe local RCMP detachment commander.

Kurt Mason, who isthe education director of Garden Hill First Nation and is also a diver with the Island Lake-basedOogoogeek dive teamfromnortheastern Manitoba, said members of the team have already been participating in the search.Other members, including Mason,were en route Thursday.

"Our team has been always helping other communities," he said. "Our main goal is to bring closure to families that are missing their loved ones, regardless if it's on land or in the water."

Mason said Lake Winnipeg is different from the Island Lake region, given the lake's size andits murky water, which presentsa challenge for visibility.

This is the first time Mason has been part of a search outside the Island Lakearea, but he said other members of the team were part of a recent search in Quebec for a missing child.

RCMP also said the Lloydminster Rescue Squad a Saskatchewan-based non-profit organizationwas also expectedto join the search Thursday evening. The group has a boat and sonar equipment specifically intendedfor deep water searches, Seel said.

Ault also said he was told by RCMP a First Nation in Alberta also reached out to offer assistance.

Misipawistik Cree Nation Chief Heidi Cookpreviously told CBC News a teepee had been set up at the search base, along with a sacred fire that would remain lit until the other men were brought home.

Ault also said there are many volunteers helping in the long days of searching, startingas early as 6 a.m. and not coming back until 9 p.m. There arealso people volunteering to make lunches for searchers, along with donations of food and money to buy supplies coming in, he said.

"When the community needs to come together, they do come together."