The body of an Old Crow man washed ashore early Friday morning nearby his canoe.
The drowned man has been identified as 34-year-old Geno Charlie.
Charlie’s body was first spotted by a boater travelling down the Porcupine River shortly after midnight on Friday.
The boater contacted the RCMP to let them know he had found an overturned canoe near the confluence of the Indian Rat River. Charlie’s body and his canoe gear were spotted further away, where the Driftwood River empties into the Porcupine River.
The RCMP and two community members retrieved the body and the canoe later that morning. The canoe was found six kilometres upstream of the body.
Charlie was on a 390-kilometre solo canoe trip from Eagle Plains to Old Crow when his canoe overturned 75 kilometres east of Old Crow.
Charlie was wearing a life preserver when he was found.
RCMP Sgt Don Rogers couldn’t specify whether the canoeist was wearing a life jacket – which prevents an unconscious person from floating face-down – or a personal flotation device.
The RCMP don’t know how Charlie drowned and are investigating his death.