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FLORES ISLAND — Ten-year-old Jacquine Thomas walks alone on the grey potholed main street of Ahousaht, off the mid-west coast of Vancouver Island, clutching a toy in his right hand.

He looks a lot like his dad, with broad features and high cheekbones, but late on this wet fall day he lacks the wide smile that Travis Thomas is so well known for.

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Half an hour earlier, Jacquine’s great-grandfather, grandmother, two great aunts, auntie and half-brother had returned from Little Bartlett Island, 20 minutes away by boat, where they had spent another day searching for Travis, missing since Aug. 7, 2018.

Travis — a father of four — was once the community’s star athlete and had taken on leadership, youth mentorship and territory guardianship roles in Ahousaht.

“In my heart I know he’s still alive,” says Travis’s mom Jean, standing by a fire in the forest near the little island’s north beach. “He’s in the middle of both worlds it seems.”