Thomas and Charles Ombash - October 5, 1956 - Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada
- Terynn Boulton
- Oct 1
- 3 min read
On September 30, 2025, Canada observed National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is a day that honours the children who never returned home from residential schools, as well as survivors of these schools and their families and communities.
Like many of the students at Pelican Lake Residential School, Thomas (12) and Charles (11) Ombash were flown to the school from their remote community further north - Cat Lake First Nation. Thomas and Charles went missing from Pelican Lake Residential School on October 5, 1956.
According to the RCMP website, Tom and Charles fled the school and had planned to return to Cat Lake either by a) canoeing from the school (located at Sioux Lookout) to Cat Lake...
or b) taking the train to Savant Lake, hitchhiking to Pickle Lake, and then canoeing on to Cat Lake. The family has not had any contact with them since that time.
The principal of Pelican Lake Residential School did not report Tom and Charles missing until November 10, 1956 - more than a month after they went missing.
There is very little information available regarding their disappearance. I cannot find pictures of either of the boys. There is no information confirming if an official search was ever conducted for the young brothers.
At least 33 students are recorded to have died by running away from residential schools. Most succumbed to exposure. Is this what happened to Tom and Charles?
If you search "Ombash" in the National Student Memorial Register, an evolving list of student names that remembers, honours, and acknowledges children who died as a result of the residential school system, you will find only two students with that last name - Charles and Thomas.
The National Student Memorial Register has a separate page for each school. Twenty-six children, including Tom and Charles, are listed as having died while at Pelican Lake Residential School. Under date of death beside the names of Tom and Charles are the words "not known". The first child known to have perished at this school was Joe Grey, on September 12, 1920. The last is Ferlin Southwind on June 5, 1974.
In the spring of 2012, the family of Tom and Charles was given a possible location of the boys' remains. The family searched along the railroad tracks by Pelican Lake School and found several bones in an area that may have been an old sulphur mine. The searchers used spiritual guides and traditional tracking methods to narrow the hunt to a specific location. Elders, who were part of the search party, identified the bones found as human. The family took the bones, believed to be those of Tom and Charles, home to Cat Lake First Nation, and buried them alongside their father.
It was reported on July 12, 2012 that the Ontario coroner's office viewed the contents of a cardboard box of bone fragments collected by the search party. These were ruled as "non-human" by forensic anthropologist Kathy Gruspier. It is unclear to me if the bones believed by the family to be those of Tom and Charles were among the bone fragments examined by the forensic anthropologist, or if the family had already taken them from the search location back to Cat Lake.
As of October 1, 2025 Tom and Charles Ombash are still listed as missing on the RCMP website. When they went missing, Tom was said to have been wearing a light coloured jacket, blue denim pants, and a cotton plaid/checkered flannel shirt. Charles was said to have been wearing a light coloured jacket, blue denim pants, and a cotton plaid/checkered lumberjack-style shirt.
If you have information on this case, please contact any of the following:
Sioux Lookout OPP OPP ONCMPUR 1-877-934-6363; 1-705-330-4144; opp.isb.resolve@opp.caReference Case#: RM05025069
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or online at https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tipCrime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
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