A Mi’gmaw man from Listuguj whose brother has been missing since January says he doesn’t believe enough was done to find him.
Eugene Ronalds, 45, has been missing since Jan. 21, 2023 from Listuguj in eastern Quebec. He was last seen walking down a forest road leading out of the community.
Mike Ronalds says he’s not satisfied with the Listuguj Police Department’s (LPD) search efforts.
“I really can’t say that I think they did a good job, I think they did a real half-ass job at trying to find him,” he said.
He suspects that’s because his brother used drugs and had been charged previously by police.
On Feb. 1, Eugene was reported missing by his then-girlfriend. She said it had been more than a week she she’d last seen him. Mike says Eugene typically didn’t stray too far from home for long.
“There’s nothing he could ever do that would change the way I feel about him, I love his guts, but I didn’t exactly agree with everything that he was doing in his life,” said Ronalds.
In an email to APTN News, Peter Arsenault of the Listuguj police said officers searched the community for Eugene the day before he was reported missing. Afterwards, he said, the LPD said Quebec’s provincial police force, Sûreté Québec (SQ)’s search and rescue team and major crimes unit were deployed.
The LPD also shared a missing persons post on its website and on Facebook, and said Eugene’s missing persons case is still active. But Ronalds believes more could have been done.
“There were no aerial searches, there were no cadaver dogs … There was just no effort put forward, absolutely none. I really felt betrayed by my police department, I suppose,” he said.
The LPD did not provide a timeline for these searches, nor did they say if there had been any new developments in the case.
In a phone call with APTN, a representative from the SQ said he could not provide further information on the case as it’s under LPD’s jurisdiction.
“What I can tell you is that as early as February 2nd, Sûreté du Québec was called in regards of Mr. Eugene Ronalds disappearance from Listuguj. Unfortunately, since this case is still under investigation by the Listuguj police I’ll have to refer you to their service,” said Benoit Richard, a communications coordinator with the SQ.
In a phone call with APTN, the RCMP said it wasn’t involved in the search for Eugene Ronalds. Mike found this odd given that Listuguj is just across the river from New Brunswick.
“Because we’re a border community, the RCMP and the SQ and the LPD, they all share information, so why wasn’t there a lot more involvement in that regard. Because we have access to RCMP, as well as SQ, as well as our own authorities,” said Ronalds.
He said his brother had a physical handicap from a motorcycle accident that would also make it difficult for him to manage on his own.
“He really couldn’t lift his arms up very far … [Eugene] was harmless, for the most part, like physically, he couldn’t really do much damage to anybody if he wanted to,” said Ronalds.
Ronalds said the only information he was given by the police was notifying his brother had gone missing, with no updates since.
“It’s really not much at all, and it really doesn’t satisfy the curiosity whatsoever, and I can’t live my life not knowing,” he said.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Eugene Allan Ronalds is asked to contact the Listuguj Police Department at 418-788-2003 or 418-788-2334.
