By Tyler Marr

Search for Happy Charles continues

May 6, 2017 | 4:00 PM

The family of Happy Charles is continuing their desperate search for the 42-year-old women who has been missing for over a month.

“We are still not giving up hope,” Carson Poitras, the step-father of Charles said. “We don’t want to consider that she is not okay.”

This is the second weekend a small team has assembled to scour bushes, abandoned structures and remote areas. They have dispatched individuals across downtown to distribute posters and inquire for any additional leads.

The group has swept and retraced their steps and those of the RCMP, in an attempt to unearth any small clue that could hint at Charles’ location.

Despite the trickle of fresh leads, information is starting to run thin. Though police continue to pursue their own investigation, details have been scarce.

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However, a new source for information has been added to the search. Drawing on cultural roots, an elder who has drawn upon visions to provide new information has been consulted.

“I have a lot of faith in what these people can do. They got that gift which we don’t,” Poitras said.

This sentiment was echoed by Poitras wife and Charles’s mother Regina, who said the cultural support was also key to strengthening Charles’s young daughters.

“We have got the support of our cultural brothers and sisters,” she said. “They are praying for us and raising their pipes for us.”

The search, though growing in size, has been faced with mixed encounters. Carson spoke of one incident where volunteers were chased off public land by a farmer while they were searching. 

These events have shaken some volunteers and prompted the recruitment of security to help quell future feverish encounters.

Despite the difficulties, hope is not lost. 

“If we can get some sort of lead as to where she is…[we are] hoping she is somewhere safe,” Carson said.

Both Regina and Carson indicated the overwhelming number of helping hands has bolstered their spirits and suspended a lonesome belief.

“Up until last weekend, we were (alone). Almost like an island out there with no one knowing what we are doing or caring what we are doing,” Carson said. 

But now, “every little bit helps.”

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr