Raymond Ernest Sewap was a 32-year-old man when he disappeared on June 18, 1983, while traveling on Amisk Lake in northern Saskatchewan near Denare Beach. Although some records have circulated with different ages, the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police lists Raymond’s date of birth as April 5, 1951, making him 32 at the time he vanished. That day, Raymond was aboard a boat with William Donald Fosseneuve and Agnes Sewap.
The group had set out from Sturgeon Weir on Amisk Lake and was traveling toward Denare Beach, a small community near the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border. What began as a boat trip across the lake changed suddenly when the water became rough, creating a dangerous situation far from the safety of shore.
According to the account preserved in Saskatchewan’s official missing-person records, William Fosseneuve fell from the boat into the rough water. Raymond immediately went into the lake in an attempt to rescue him. Agnes Sewap remained as the only known witness to what happened next. She reported seeing both men disappear beneath the surface of Amisk Lake, and neither Raymond nor William was seen again. The available public record does not describe either man successfully reaching shore or being recovered from the lake. Raymond’s disappearance therefore became inseparably connected to William’s, with the circumstances indicating that Raymond entered the water voluntarily in an effort to help a companion who was in serious danger.
Raymond was described as approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing about 154 pounds, with brown eyes. His hair color and distinguishing physical features are not specified in the official Saskatchewan record. Public case information indicates that he was wearing boots when he entered the water and that one of those boots was lost during the incident. Another missing-person source describes him as having a medium build. These limited details are important because no recovery has ever provided investigators or Raymond’s loved ones with the certainty that would ordinarily follow a fatal boating accident. Instead, he has continued to be officially recorded as a missing person decades after the events on Amisk Lake.
The case remains listed as active by the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police and is assigned to the F Division RCMP Historical Case Unit. The official Saskatchewan listing identifies the matter as missing-person case number 2008-1538589. William Fosseneuve is also listed as missing from the same incident, with the same account of the group leaving Sturgeon Weir for Denare Beach, the water turning rough, William falling overboard, and Raymond entering the lake to try to save him. The fact that Agnes survived to describe what she witnessed gives investigators a clear account of the immediate circumstances, but the absence of Raymond and William has left the final outcome unresolved in official missing-person records.
More than four decades later, Raymond Ernest Sewap’s case remains a painful example of how an apparent water emergency can leave a family without physical recovery or final certainty. The known story is brief but deeply human: Raymond was traveling across Amisk Lake with William Fosseneuve and Agnes Sewap when dangerous water conditions developed; William fell into the lake, Raymond went after him in an attempt to rescue him, and Agnes watched both men disappear beneath the water. Neither man was recovered, and Raymond continues to be officially classified as missing. In overview, the available evidence describes Raymond’s disappearance not as an unexplained departure but as the aftermath of a witnessed emergency on Amisk Lake, where a 32-year-old man vanished while trying to save another person, leaving behind an active historical missing-person case that has endured since June 18, 1983.Last Seen: Jun 18, 1983
