(YourOttawaRegion.com) – After more than two weeks of searching, RCMP Const. Michael Potvin’s body has been found.
Potvin, originally from Osgoode, was found late Friday night about 50 kilometres downstream from where he went missing on the Stewart River in Mayo, Yukon.
“It’s just numbing for the community,” said Doug Thompson, Osgoode Ward councillor.
“You see his picture in the paper and he was such a handsome young man with a bright future ahead of him.”
Potvin was travelling in a 22-foot aluminum boat in with another officer when it filled with water and capsized on July 13.
The other officer stayed with the boat and was rescued by witnesses.
The RCMP say Potvin – who wasn’t wearing a floatation device – was last seen swimming a few meters from the river bank when he suddenly submerged and didn’t resurface.
Since then the Potvin family had been in the Yukon helping with the search. They returned to Osgoode recently, but were notified Friday evening when two members of the Yukon RCMP found Potvin’s body.
“As a parent, the worst possible thing that could happen is that your child predeceases you,” said Thompson. “[But] I think it brings closure to a certain extent.”
Potvin’s father, Mark and brother, Sean are volunteer firefighters in Osgoode and while the family was away, Ottawa’s rural fire services had been helping with the house’s upkeep and offering support to the family.
Paul Hutt, sector chief for Ottawa Fire Services’ rural division, has been a family friend for 20 years and said the team has been supporting the family over the last couple weeks.
“It won’t fix itself overnight,” said Hutt. “But I was able to speak with Mark and Sean and it offered a bit of relief for them. It gave them some closure and now they can start to move ahead.”
Hutt added that the community has been overwhelmingly supportive to the Potvin family.
Thompson, who has also spoken with the family since they’ve been home, agrees that the tight-knit community has helped the family during this time.
“The Potvins have been a very big part of Osgoode,” said Thompson. “And I think that the community is really saddened that one of their neighbours, friends and comrades were lost in a circumstance like this.”
Potvin, 26, had been an RCMP officer for one year. His wife is expecting their first child.
A memorial service is planned at Saint Patrick’s Basilica in Ottawa at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 4.
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