The RCMP says it will not be conducting a dive in a northern Saskatchewan lake in search of the remains of Jim Brady and Absolom Halkett.
Métis activist Brady and his friend Halkett went missing in the Foster Lake area, about 120 kilometres northwest of La Ronge, in June 1967.
Earlier this month, a search team provided the RCMP with underwater images and video of the area containing anomalies they thought could be the remains of the two men.
However, RCMP spokesperson Corporal Rob King says there is simply not enough evidence there to justify a dive.
“The images that show seem to be more silt than any type of human remains or build up,” he says. “And given the time frame that has gone through, the odds of the silt showing something underneath are next to none.”
King says a number of factors have to be taken into account before a dive can move forward.
“For a dive as deep as these dives are, you want to make sure you really are looking at something and you’re going to get something from it if you’re going to put divers at risk.”
The search team is led by La Ronge resident Eric Bell.
The video and images were obtained by the Grandmother’s Bay remotely operated underwater vehicle.
In March, the search team sent sonar evidence gained by the ROV to researchers in Saskatoon and Washington, D.C. who told them it could possibly be proof of human remains.
The images and video of the area were gained in July.
(PHOTO: Jim Brady. Photo courtesy of saskculture.ca)