Wilson Moore is the man police call when they need help.
The Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation man has spent well over 40 years in the bush and on the water searching for missing people — and with great success. Too many to count over the years but Moore says there have only been “two or three” he hasn’t found, either alive or not.
He doesn’t call them ‘missing people’ — he refers to everyone he’s ever searched for as “loved ones.”
His father, Jack Moore, was a tracker and he grew up helping him do this work as a child.
But on Nov. 23, 1980, it became his life’s work.
“We lost my identical twin brother that day and there was hardly anyone to look for him,” Moore says.
“It’s a very hard thing to be the one to find your own brother. That day, I decided to do this work so no one will ever go through what I did.”
Ever since, any community that asks for help, he helps.
Moore says his employer always gives him the time off but he searches for free. It’s an even split between finding missing loved ones alive and recovering their remains.
One of the more memorable searches was near Thompson when Moore was tracking through the bush in search of a missing woman. They never found her.
“We found a man alive who’d been missing for 31 days,” Moore recalls. “And another man hanging in a tree who had never been reported missing.”
That man was eventually identified and his remains were returned to his community for proper burial.
The RCMP have honoured Moore for his lifetime dedication to bringing loved ones home, searching anywhere in the north, in any weather.
“Mr. Wilson Moore has helped the RCMP on numerous occasions with both ground and water searches. He knows the waterways better than anyone, and is always willing to help when we ask,” the RCMP said in a statement.
In appreciation, he was presented with new search equipment, including paddles, rope, life-jackets, a first aid kit, a flashlight, a compass and a baler.
Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, also known as Nelson House, is 850 kilometres north of Winnipeg.