An Ontario family is still searching months after their son went missing during a ski trip in Quebec’s Laurentian Mountains.
“It’s tough,” sobs Chris Toman in a hotel room in Mont Tremblant, a ski resort about two hours north of Montreal.
Toman, with the help of family members and friends, has been searching for his son, Liam Toman, 22, who went missing overnight on February 2 while on a weekend ski trip to Mont Tremblant.
“In that time we’ve covered hundreds of kilometres within the Tremblant area, up to 20 kilometres from the resort,” said Kathleen Toman, Liam’s mother, adding that eight groups of people have searched forests and swamps.
“We’ve had some training on how to track and how to do this type of work,” she pointed out, “so we understand what to look for, how to be safe.”
Her son’s wallet was found in mid-March close to where he was last seen.
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The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) has also conducted searches on foot, water and from helicopters. April 30, their search was partly concentrated in a swamp near the P1 parking lot next to the ski village.
“We’ve come up with nothing,” Kathleen said.
Liam’s close friend, Shireen Khamissa, has also been pushing the search online via a website and a Facebook group she created.
“[I’ve] shared it in a lot of groups where we’ve been sharing information so that people can come on there and see the information and comment on it and keep sharing,” she said.
Anyone with information can contact them or the SQ.
The family is convinced that someone knows something and they suspect foul play. One thing baffles Chris.
“Why the village or resort owners don’t have more surveillance cameras and working cameras,” he told Global News.
He believes that if there was more surveillance footage, Liam’s last whereabouts would be easier to trace.
“We don’t want other parents of families to go through this just because of that limitation,” he reasoned, “so, I think it’s lessons learned.”
Global News asked the resort about their surveillance cameras but a spokesperson for the resort said they were not able to comment because of the ongoing police investigation.
An SQ official confirmed that their probe continues and that they have not ruled out a criminal cause.
Khamissa doesn’t want her friend to be seen as just another statistic.
“He’s more than just a picture that you see,” the 22-year-old said. “He’s a whole person. He’s our favourite person.”
