Cold case north The search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett

This engrossing account charts the efforts of three dedicated people to determine the fate of two missing Indigenous men in the north of Canada. James Brady, a respected Indigenous activist who helped establish the Métis Association, and Absalom Halkett, a Cree band councillor, disappeared in June 1967 while prospecting in northern Saskatchewan. After a cursory investigation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded the men, both experienced prospectors, had gotten lost. In 2007, Reder, a Cree-Métis literary critic related to the two missing men, decided to try to find out what really happened. She enlisted the help of researcher Nest and Bell, a member of the Lac La Ronge Indian band. The team doggedly pursued every avenue, including the theory that Brady and Halkett's two business partners killed them after they discovered a big uranium find. Eventually, the authors learned that at the time of the disappearance, a fishing guide and an American tourist found a body with tied wrists near the lake where Brady and Halkett were last seen, but didn't report it. The authors hired a scanner and divers, who believed they'd identified a body in the lake, but the RCMP Historic Case Unit wanted more proof that there was actually a body to be found. Reder and her team didn't reach any conclusive answers before running out of funds. Meticulously researched, this smoothly written tale of injustice showcases the authors' tenacity and arouses the reader's indignation. This is a scathing rebuke of the RCMP's failure to take the case of missing Indigenous people seriously. (Nov.)

In 1967, prospectors James Brady and Absolom Halkett disappeared in northern Saskatchewan while looking for the next big claim. Fifty years later, their Indigenous community is still searching for answers: Did the two men succumb to the elements? Were they attacked by bears? Or were they murdered? Nest (Coltan) teams up with Cree-Métis academic Deanna Reder (English and First Nations studies, Simon Fraser Univ., Burnaby, BC) and Eric Bell, a former Parks Canada warden who knew Brady and Halkett, to find clues and conduct interviews with the remaining Cree and Métis community members who remember the missing, with the aim of discovering what happened that fateful June on the Lower Foster Lake. Readers get a clear picture of Brady, a revered Métis community activist and political leader who focused more on the La Ronge community and prospecting in later years, and Halkett, an activist in his own right, though more reserved and interested in a bushman's life. The authors share their findings in a manner that is respectful to the First Nations and Métis people they interviewed, while keeping an open mind and exploring all possibilities. VERDICT Blending historical narrative and true crime, this is compelling reading for anyone interested in First Nations cultures or cold case research.--Ahliah Bratzler, Indianapolis