Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (July 08/05) - The sister of a Fort Simpson man who went missing and was found dead has filed a formal complaint against the RCMP for the way it has handled the case.

Rosemary Gill said she and her family feel there was an initial lack of response from the authorities when her brother David Horesay, 60, and her cousin Fred Hardisty, 61, disappeared in the North Nahanni. Had a more extensive effort been made sooner, Gill believes her brother may have been rescued.

The family is also concerned that the police ruled out foul play too hastily without conducting a thorough investigation.

"These men are experienced bush men. They don't just wander in the bush and die," Gill said of Horesay and Hardisty. "There's all kinds of unanswered questions."

Looking for Hardisty

Horesay's remains were located in the bush on June 27, approximately 3.7 kilometres from Rod Gunderson's cabin, where they had been staying. Searchers were still trying to find Hardisty as of Tuesday. The men were last seen alive on June 12.

After having viewed her brother's body at the morgue, Gill said she noticed marks on his forehead and blood matted in his hair. There were also burn marks on his face and hands, she added.

Horesay's body was sent to Edmonton for an autopsy. The results weren't available as of Tuesday, RCMP Cpl. Al Shepherd said. He noted that the police investigation into the situation is ongoing.

"We don't know all the facts. Let's work with the evidence we have," said Shepherd. "That's all we can do."

RCMP Inspector Jim Cunningham, from Yellowknife, will come to Fort Simpson next week to look into Gill's formal complaint, he added.

The RCMP first received notice that the men may have been missing in the early morning hours of Friday, June 17. A few Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) employees flew to the North Nahanni cabin to check on a fire reported in the same area, 120 kilometres northwest of Fort Simpson. They also conducted a cursory search.

RCMP Const. Brad Parker said he spent the day trying to confirm that the men were indeed missing. The following two days, Parker and ENR employees searched by helicopter. They were assisted by a few Fort Simpson residents who patrolled the river banks by boat.

Search logistics

By the end of Sunday, given the logistics of the search, RCMP Sgt. Randy McBride said he was "pretty satisfied" that a full-scale ground search wasn't necessary.

"We could cover the terrain just as well from the helicopter as you could from a boat, in fact probably more effectively," he said.

"Quite frankly I don't know what we could have done differently... the terrain was as rugged as you're ever going to come across. So having a line-up of 10 or 15 people, you know, 10 feet apart and going from point A to point B just wasn't practical. It wasn't practical at all."

Regardless, dozens of community members from Fort Simpson and Wrigley formed their search crews on June 20 and scoured the area.

Presumed drowned

The missing men's personal items and tracks were found within five kilometres of the cabin. There was no evidence they had crossed the rivers, according to McBride. The RCMP - two of whom spent June 20-22 in the North Nahanni - pulled out of the search by the end of June 22, presuming the men had drowned.

"I guess it's one of those hard decisions that we have to make that are never quite popular," said McBride.

Parker added that there were only four RCMP members in the community at the time and there were still 1,300 other people in the community who required policing.

Gill wondered why the Canadian Rangers never got involved in the search.

McBride, who travelled from Yellowknife to Fort Simpson to oversee the search and rescue operation, noted that existing protocol is for the Canadian Rangers to volunteer their services.

"We very rarely go to DND (Department of National Defence) and ask for them to be tasked with assisting us," he said, noting that it's a consideration of "mostly money" and the likelihood the missing party will be found alive.

"These things aren't cheap," he said.

The RCMP re-joined the search after Horesay's remains were found. They brought in a search dog from Grande Prairie earlier this week.

Lack of contact

Gill is also critical of the RCMP for the lack of contact with the missing men's families, especially in the early stages.

That issue also arose at a June 23 briefing with family members. At that time, Const. Bruce Rice said contact between the RCMP and searchers was limited. Any reports that did come in were relayed to a few family members with the expectation that they would spread the word, Rice explained.

Asked why she thinks the RCMP would have made any less effort in finding her brother and cousin than anyone else, Gill replied that it may have been because they were aboriginal and alcoholics.

"People just didn't put the value on their lives," she said. "That's what our families are saying. We hate to say it, but that's what it seems like."