Tom OMBASH Missing Person Case

Tom

OMBASH

81

12

Indigenous

Male

In the autumn of 1956, a young Indigenous boy named Tom Ombash, who was 14 years old at the time, vanished from the area of Sioux Lookout, Ontario. On or around October 5, 1956, he and his brother, Charles, left the Pelican Falls Residential School. The boys, who were from the Cat Lake First Nation, had a plan to make their way back to their home community. Their intended journey involved a significant trek, either by canoeing directly to Cat Lake or by a combination of train travel to Savant Lake, hitchhiking to Pickle Lake, and then canoeing the final stretch home. From the moment they departed the school, their family never saw or heard from them again. The disappearance of Tom and his brother is a story steeped in the painful history of Canada's residential school system. The boys were among fifteen students who were officially recorded as missing from the Pelican Lake Indian Residential School between 1926 and 1973. It wasn't until November 10, 1956, that the school's principal officially reported them as missing. For decades, their family, including their sister Delia Kenequanash, held onto hope and continued to search for answers about what happened to them. The passage of time did little to erase the uncertainty and sorrow surrounding their disappearance. Over the years, efforts have been made to uncover the fate of the Ombash brothers and other children who disappeared from the school. In 2012, a search was conducted in the dense bush surrounding the former residential school grounds after spiritual guides and traditional trackers identified a potential area of interest. Though bone fragments were discovered, a forensic anthropologist later determined the remains to be non-human. In a separate instance in 2015, bones were found that were thought to possibly belong to Charles and Tom, but this was never forensically confirmed. The case of Tom Ombash is a poignant and unresolved chapter in the legacy of residential schools, representing a family's enduring search for closure and the broader quest for truth and reconciliation for the many children who never returned home.

Jacket Unknown, Light coloured Jeans Denim, Blue Shirt Cotton, Plaid, Checkered flannel

Oct 05, 1956

Sioux Lookout

Ontario

Sioux Lookout OPP OPP ONCMPUR ; 1-705-330-4144;

Ontario

[email protected]

1-877-934-6363

1-877-934-6363

Law Enforcement

RM05025069

Sioux Lookout OPP OPP ONCMPUR ; 1-705-330-4144;

Black

Brown

Brown

Build: Slender/Thin

No