Tuktoyaktuk (Oct 11/04) - The community hasn't stopped hoping for the safe return of four men who left this tiny seaside hamlet for a hunting trip on Sept. 22.

Missing for nearly three weeks now are Frank Steen, his son Paul Steen, Ronald Rufus and his son Kyle Felix.

The extensive search, which began Sept. 25, has now been downgraded to an RCMP missing persons case.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ont. called off the search and rescue operation on Oct. 3.

At its height, the search involved American and Canadian Hercules aircraft, the Canadian Coast Guard, Air Force and Tuktoyaktuk Search and Rescue personnel.

They searched the area from Herschel Island across the Tuk peninsula to Baillie Island, and the Beaufort Sea up to the permanent ice pack.

Cpt. Livio Paronuzzi, at the rescue centre, said the area has now been thoroughly searched by rescue personnel.

"We had the assets we needed to conduct the search. Every day the water current and weather was plotted on computers to see where the search area should be expanded and then that area was covered," Paronuzzi said.

Calvin Pokiak, MLA for Nunakput, said the residents are coping with the loss of four community members one day at a time.

"There have been a couple of singalongs with the families so people are coming to the community hall and remembering them and their families," he said.

Pokiak said there is also an outpouring of help from outside the Tuk community, including a recent $1,100 donation to the families by residents of Old Crow, Yukon.

He said Mayor Jackie Jacobson and himself drafted a letter last weekend to Bill Graham, minister of national defence, requesting additional search time.

"Time will tell if they can be found," Pokiak said, adding there were still specific areas which should be searched.

"Hopefully those people are OK and maybe someday they will walk home or people will find them.

"But right now it is difficult for the two families because there is no word."

Many Tuk residents plan to continue the search, however.

Inuvik mayor Peter Clarkson said volunteers from the area, including Canadian Rangers and numerous elders and other citizens, have travelled to Tuk to help.

"Inuvik and all the communities certainly pull together when something like that happens," Clarkson said.