The day after Frank Young’s body was recovered from the river on Red Earth Cree Nation, his family, loved ones and Elders took boats out to the site where he was found.
They said prayers and brought handfuls of ribbons to tie in his memory — orange, for Every Child Matters; blue, for Paw Patrol, his favourite show; and white, for his short and innocent life.
“Frank led a sinless life,” said his grandmother, Theresa Whitecap. “He didn’t know what sin was. It was a pure innocence.”
She said Frank, who was due to start Kindergarten in the fall, was “always eager to go to school” and was a creative little boy who loved hugs, dancing and playing with his siblings.
On Sunday, after an 81-day search, his body was found in the river barely two kilometres from his home.
RCMP are still investigating, but have found no indication of suspicious circumstances.
Carrot River RCMP detachment commander Richard Tonge said, the area where Frank’s body was found had been searched multiple times and responders had access to sonar and an underwater drone, but conditions at the river made for hard going.
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“The water is high, so there’s not a very defined bank to the river right now,” he said. “Trees have fallen into the river — and this has occurred over years — so there’s quite a bit of deadfall under the water. There’s trees leaning into the water at this point.
“And, despite our best efforts and using cutting-edge technology, nature is powerful. Even (now), sometimes our technology cannot overcome nature.”
