Community search effort continues for missing Inuvik man with help of private investigators

Searchers in Inuvik went out on trails by snowmobile, while others went door-to-door, Tuesday morning to search for signs of Lance Briere.

The community search effort came about after a public meeting Monday night at Ingamo Hall, where around 30 people offered their support to search for Briere. Volunteers offered to read maps, hand out fliers and search the community.

Briere, 32, was last seen in Inuvik on Feb. 8. At the time, he was working at the Gwich'in Wellness Camp located south of Inuvik on the east branch of the Mackenzie River.

The search comes a day after independent investigators Don MacMillan and Ken Dion, both with Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Canada, arrived in Inuvik to help. The organization helps families search for answers when loved ones go missing.

MacMillan, the organization's vice-president and head of justice and advocacy, said Monday he would be co-ordinating meetings with people who may have relevant information about Briere's whereabouts.

"Hopefully we'll gain some ... evidence out of there where we can locate Lance," he said.

MacMillan, a former RCMP detective, said often when people go missing, one of the biggest issues the family runs into is a lack of communication with police and agencies who are part of the search.

"They just want somebody to hear them, listen to them and try to do something with them," he said. "We just do this because we want to do it, and number two is that people have a tendency to talk more freely if you're not a peace officer."

Dennis Allen is one of the organizers of the Bring Lance Home Facebook group that is collecting information on local addresses that have been searched and cleared of signs of Briere.

He said participants at Monday night's meeting decided to keep the search going beyond this week.

"We initially were just going to do it for a few days while we have these investigators in town, but we just decided last night that no, this is someone's child we are talking about, we just can't abandon him" said Allen.

Les Cardinal, Briere's father, was one of the people on the trails Tuesday.

"Right now, we're just checking perimeters and checking for old trails and seeing under buildings just to make sure that he's not around here," said Cardinal.

Briere's sister, Melanie DeBastien, came in from Edmonton to help the efforts.

She said she is grateful to the community for their ongoing search efforts for her brother.

"It's been nice — we really didn't know the support from the community we had until we came up last week and had that community gathering," she said. "And then last night, the meeting with the [investigators] and the community, it was nice to see everyone who wants to come out and help support us."

The family encourages anyone with drones to check the surrounding area for signs of Briere.