Remembering James

Tragic Cape Breton search made its mark on volunteers from near and far

them. Later on one day he happened to look up at the editorial drawing and said, “I’m getting that tattooed.’

“Then the three of us went and got it done.”

In January 2014, sadly Chance died. Editorial cartoonist Sean Casey featured a cartoon in the Cape Breton Post of a silhouette of James running and Chance running beside him looking up at him with the caption, ‘Together again.’

In March 2019, Vienneau got that tattoo on the same arm.

“That gave me a lot of closure,” he said. “That’s what consoles me.”

Vienneau said what this tragedy has done since was bring autism and search and rescue to the forefront.

“Unfortunately James had to pass away to do it.”

An annual 5K walk/run in memory of Delorey is held each year.

“He was found 10 years ago, it lands on the same day this year,” said Nick Burke, organizer of the event.

Burke, a member of the New Victoria Volunteer Fire Department at the time, took part in the search. He said the outcome was hard on everyone.

“It was felt it was important to have a way to remember him and his parents supported it.”

Veronica Fraser, James’s mother, said she knows walks aren’t normally held this time of year and she kind of questioned it at first, too.

“I know it’s cold and we don’t know what the weather’s going to be this time of year, but I think it’s a gentle reminder of what James went through only we can layer up, we can put on a coat. That’s a big part of it, to share a bit of what he went through, not that it comes close.”

The funds raised will go to

Cape Breton Search and Rescue, celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

“James has helped raise almost $20,000 so far,” she said. “We’re hoping this year, on the tenth anniversary, it will be the biggest one yet.”

Over the years the funds have gone to different causes, including the SPCA, boys and girls club and Project Lifesaver, a Cape Breton Search and Rescue initiative that gives tracking bracelets to people who might tend to wander. Fraser said this project is close to her heart, the tracking is better than

GPS, has been tested in conditions worse than what her son had endured.

Anyone in danger of wandering needs to be protected, she said.

“This equipment can find them and bring them home. That’s James' legacy to help those people who are unknowingly at risk of wandering.”

Fraser said a little girl on the mainland got this bracelet because of James. Two weeks later, she went missing in a heavier wooded area than her son had endured, and she was found in under half an hour.

“He saved her life right there.” In memory of Chance, Fraser encouraged people to bring their dogs to the walk.

FILE Local firefighters Craig MacNeil, right and Allan Trimm, volunteered to join the search for missing James Delorey, 7, of South Bar, on Dec. 6, 2009.

SHARON MONTGOMERY-DUPE/CAPE BRETON POST Paul Vienneau, manager of Cape Breton Search and Rescue, shows a tattoo of a drawing by editorial cartoonist Sean Casey published in the Cape Breton Post in 2014, after the hero dog owned by the family of the late James Delorey, sadly died. Chance had been credited with keeping the seven-year-old warm during the two days he was lost in a snowstorm after wandering from his home. This was the second tattoo Vienneau got in regards to the death of Delorey, which Vienneau said has been hard for himself and other searchers to cope with.

James Delorey

CONTRIBUTED Chance, the dog owned by the family of the late James Delorey. Chance was credited as a hero, staying with Delorey for two days keeping him warm, after the little boy got lost in the woods during cold temperatures and a significant snowfall.