British ColumbiaThe search is ongoing for missing Heiltsuk Nation member Edward Vickers, who was last seen on Friday, Aug. 29, in Bella Bella, B.C.Community members launch widespread search for Edward (Lapa) Vickers, last seen on Friday, Aug. 29Hanna Petersen · CBC News · Posted: Sep 03, 2025 9:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago63-year-old Edward Vickers, also known as Lapa, was last seen wearing a green jacket, black hoodie, black pants, and a brown tuque. (Bella Bella RCMP )The Heiltsuk Nation are looking for a missing elder on B.C.’s Central Coast and are asking the public for any information. Edward (Lapa) Vickers, 63, was last seen Friday, Aug. 29, walking along Old Town Road in Bella Bella, along the Central Coast.”People would regularly see him walking, so it’s not out of character for him to be walking to Old Town,” said Heiltsuk Tribal Council Chief Marilyn Slett on Wednesday.”It’s a walk he would do two or three times a day. He is an avid walker.” Vickers is five feet seven inches tall, and is believed to be wearing a green jacket, black hoodie, black pants, and a brown tuque.Slett said once Vickers’s family reported him missing, the community organized fairly quickly and immediately began searching the area. Heilstuk Chief Marilyn Slett said there was a comprehensive search underway for Vickers. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)On Saturday, they received support from search-and-rescue crews from Bella Coola and Campbell River, as well as numerous volunteers from the community.The RCMP has also conducted aerial searches using an helicopter, marine searches with an RCMP vessel, and used police dogs — but have, thus far, been unable to locate Vickers.”We have had hundreds of people out searching,” Slett said.”It has been very comprehensive and very organized, but we really felt like we needed to make more of an appeal to the public to see if anybody had seen him.” RCMP are using helicopters, marine vessels and police dogs in the search for Vickers. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)Slett said volunteers from Klemtu, Rivers Inlet and the Nuxalk nations have also been helping with the search. She added that people have also been visiting the community’s emergency operations centre to provide support to Vickers’s family and drop off food. “It’s been a lot of gratitude for the amount of support our community has seen,” the chief said.Slett says they are continuing with the search and they will be expanding the perimeter into more wooded areas of the Great Bear Rainforest, as well as around the Bella Bella marina. “We are leaving no stone unturned here.” Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Edward Vickers is asked to call Bella Bella RCMP at 250-957-2388.ABOUT THE AUTHORHanna Petersen is a reporter for CBC News, working out of the Prince George, B.C., bureau. You can email her at hanna.petersen@cbc.ca.
Heiltsuk Nation search for missing elder on B.C.’s Central Coast
