The family of a missing Toronto woman held a vigil Wednesday for Christina Calayca, who has been lost in the woods of northwestern Ontario for nine days.
Friends and well wishers gathered at the Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Scarborough, Ont., to offer prayers and support to the Calayca family.
While the mood was somber, those gathered remained optimistic that Calayca will be found.
"I just want to tell her that we love her and come back to us," Calayca's aunt told CTV News outside the church on Wednesday.
"Have faith because we want her to be with us. I know she has a very strong faith and so do we as a family. That's what we're holding onto is our faith, and that's why we are here today."
Police and civilian searchers scoured the rugged north shore of Lake Superior over the weekend looking for the young daycare worker, who went missing during a jog last Monday in Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, about 180 kilometres east of Thunder Bay, Ont.
Divers searched nearby lakes on Sunday and crews used side-scan sonar to survey the water on Monday.
Christina's parents and a number of concerned family members remain near the site of the search, desperate for news on her whereabouts.
With a report from CTV's Galit Solomon
