Community searches northern Manitoba First Nation for missing man

People on Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation are continuing their search for a 22-year-old man who's been missing from the northern Manitoba community for nearly a week.

Rico Cody Linklater was last seen on the First Nation, which is also known as Nelson House, early Oct. 21. He was reported missing the following night, RCMP said in a news release earlier this week.

Mounties said they believe Linklater is still in the community, though he may have travelled to the nearby city of Thompson.

The man's family said about a dozen of them were out canvassing the area for him as early as last weekend. 

And by Monday, a search party of more than 40 people had sprung up, with people from the community spending hours every day handing out posters and hoping to turn up something — anything — that might give them a clue about what happened.

"The whole community came together," Linklater's aunt, Daisy Linklater, said on Wednesday.

"[We just want him] to come home and be with his family, his mom and dad."

Daisy, who lives in Thompson with her husband, Jonathan Brightnose, said she last saw her nephew a few days before he was last seen.

"We gave him a hug and told him that we were going to come pick him up if he wanted to come visit," she said.

"He was already missing by the time we got back."

Daisy said she's close with her family and often comes to the community to help her brother and sister-in-law out with their kids when they need it.

"I never mind, though, because [of] all the love I have for my nephews and nieces," she said.

Daisy said it's been hard not knowing the whereabouts of her eldest nephew, who has never been away from his family for this long before.

"I keep breaking down," she said. "It's scary."

And as each day passes without a sign of what happened to Rico, it's getting harder for the rest of his family too, Brightnose said.

"It's really hard to see them going through this pain," he said.

The search party is scheduled to start back up again Wednesday afternoon on Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, which is located about 665 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.