'He was always happy': Kugluktuk, Nunavut, mourning missing child Jonas Klengenberg

The family of an 11-year-old boy who went missing in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, earlier this month is beginning to grieve.

Jonas Klengenberg went missing from his home in Kugluktuk in the early morning of Aug. 1. The RCMP called off the official search for him on Aug. 9, after unsuccessful land and water searches of the Kugluktuk area.

Helen Klengenberg, the child's great-aunt, told CBC the familybelieves he may have drowned.

"The family has accepted the fact that he may no longer be with us in life, but we still do wish to find him," she told CBC.

"It's still very freshhis mother is going through a grieving process right now, she's taking it very hard."

Klengenberg also said that community members continue to search for Jonas's body.

Volunteers are searching by foot and vehicle along the shoreline, and some elders have searched nearby sandbars by boat, she said.

"It's had a big impact, because everyone in Kugluktuk knew Jonas, you know. There's only 1,500 people," she said.

Klengenberg described Jonas as a "a very friendly, happy child, always wandering."

"He loved animals, loved the swimming, playing in the water," she said. "And he was always happy. We like to think of him like that."