Just before 8 a.m. on Nov. 27, wearing bright-red waterproof jackets, 12 Metchosin Search and Rescue members gathered outside of a souped-up mobile command truck on the east side of PKOLS (Mount Douglas), where Linda Hillard, the outfit’s leader, delivered instructions about how they would begin the day’s search for Christian Dube, who was reported missing on Nov. 23.
“We're hitting the main trails really hard again this morning,” said Hillard, after the search team hiked into the forest. “There have been some tentative sightings, so we really want to hit that hard and fast.”
Picnic areas, offshoot trails and the nearby shoreline are also being searched.
The Metchosin group has been tasked with helping the Peninsula Emergency Measures Organization, which is responsible for leading rescue missions in Sidney, North Saanich and Central Saanich, search for the 64-year-old man.
Dube, who suffers from dementia, was reported missing after he left Veterans Memorial Lodge, a secure care home on Chatterton Way in Saanich. Crews soon began looking for him on PKOLS, following up on reports of him being seen there on Nov. 23 and 26.
In the four days since the first report, search teams have scoured the area and the Saanich Police Department has asked nearby homeowners to check security camera footage in an effort to locate Dube, who stands 5'6", with blue eyes, shaggy brown hair and a grey goatee beard. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, brown shoes, a baseball cap, a black Reebok backpack and a black winter jacket with a hood, white lining and a Cleveland Browns NFL logo on the front left.
Dube's gear has made Hillard optimistic that if he has been outside for the past days, he is OK.
“He had a decent jacket on. He had a hat. He had a good backpack. He knows what he's doing,” she said. “It's not as if he walked away in pyjamas and slippers. He's prepared.”
While rain hit PKOLS Tuesday, Wednesday’s crisp, clear weather may benefit the crews scouring the mountain.
“It makes it a lot easier. We don't have to worry about the wind factor in the forest because that can be dangerous," said Hillard. “Also, no rain or wind makes it easier to hear if someone's calling for help. If you have your hood up and it's noisy, it's obviously going to be very difficult. But these are perfect searching conditions.”
Of the trails search teams are scouring today, Hillard said the focus is on the east side of the mountain.
“We're not doing the other side because the sightings have been in this general area,” she said, adding that none of the search teams involved over the past days have seen Dube or uncovered any evidence that he may have been sheltering in the area.
Posters plastered throughout the park remind walkers, runners and bikers that Dube is missing, and Hillard herself has been asking passersby to keep their eyes peeled.
Parts of PKOLS were closed between Nov. 25 and 28, as Saanich crews undergo exploratory work at the mountain's summit – part of a larger project to install a new communications tower. When asked whether the closure, which has likely limited the number of people using the mountain’s trails, has negatively impacted search efforts, Hillard said she thinks it has helped.
“Everybody who’s working on that site has his photograph and knows the situation,” she said. “We have helicopters coming and going, we have work crews coming and going. That's extremely helpful for us.”
Hillard, who said she has been involved in hundreds of searches for people with dementia, said Dube’s mental health complicates the search.
“We know somebody with dementia may not respond to their name being called,” she said, adding that, despite this, crews will search all areas, even if they don’t receive a reply.
But there are some patterns Hillard has noticed in her work looking for people with memory loss.
“Each person is different with dementia,” she said. “We basically look for them to get tired. Quite often they'll stop or go for a shelter area – coffee shops, malls, someone's door. They see a light when they're out at night, they're going to go where they feel safe.”
This has led to a call for the public's help.
“If they're going shopping, for a drive, whatever, if they're out and about and you see somebody that looks familiar, don't hesitate to call it in,” Hillard said. “We're looking for any kind of clue.”
She added that she can’t say whether Dube has been sheltering on PKOLS.
“He could be camping, definitely,” she said. “But he could also be going to a specific location and just hasn't gotten there yet.”
Though it has been four days since Dube went missing, Hillard is confident everyone involved in the search will keep working until they're successful.
“We just wait for more sightings, more clues, then we just ramp up to whatever that location is,” she said. “It's not over until he's found.”
