They come for all manner of reasons, some with concrete clues about the freckled nine-year-old girl's whereabouts, others with nothing more than a hunch.

But still they come. Almost one month after Cédrika Provencher disappeared, a mobile police command centre parked outside a strip mall in Trois-Rivières continues to receive a steady flow of tipsters.

A poster for missing nine-year-old girl Cédrika Provencher has helped bring police more than 3,000 tips from the public.
(Canadian Press)

"I couldn't sleep," one woman said as she left the command centre after telling police about a mysterious car she spotted near a golf course. "The car just struck me as strange."

Information like this makes up the bulk of the more than 3,000 tips police have received so far in the case.

Yet, among the tips they received last week were several credible sightings of Cédrika with a man in eastern Quebec's Gaspé region.

The news breathed new hope into a case that is costing other youngsters their freedom in this city midway between Montreal and Quebec City.

Playgrounds in Trois-Rivières are empty in spite of the fact summer vacation is not quite over. When children return to classes later this week, they will be met by psychologists and child-safety videos.

"It's an event that has taken on national proportions," said Michel Morin, the head of the local school board. "It has created an effect of insecurity."

That feeling of insecurity is perhaps felt most by parents, many of whom admit they have changed since Cédrika vanished on July 31.

"I'm worried all the time," Chantal Migneault said while shopping for school supplies with her 11-year-old daughter.

"Every time my little one goes out, I tell her to run away screaming if someone approaches you."

'We just have to be more vigilant'

Her daughter, Marie-Pierre Boisvert, said fear has also taken hold of many her age.

"I told my Mom that I was scared that if they don't catch him [Cédrika's suspected abductor], he'll get me," she said.

However Cédrika's father, Martin Provencher, hopes the playgrounds of Trois-Rivières don't stay empty for too long. He stresses the importance of parents letting their children have fun in spite of the circumstances.

"We can't avoid going out, we just have to be more vigilant," he said Sunday from the old bank his family is using to co-ordinate a massive search effort that parallels the police investigation.

"We have to use this opportunity to make children aware of what can happen."

Provencher has been tireless in his efforts to keep his daughter's case in the public's eye. He works between 15- and 20-hour days participating in and co-ordinating local searches for Cédrika.

The case has been an emotional roller-coaster for his family. Clothes found in a wooded area eventually turned out not to be Cedrika's. Police were criticized for not circulating her picture at U.S. border points. There were rumours that a couple may have been behind her abduction.

Relentless optimism

But Provencher's relentless optimism through it all appeared to be finally justified with reports that she was seen alive.

"Since the beginning, everyone has held onto the hope of finding her alive, so it's good to finally hear some good news," he said.

Police say witnesses in the Gaspé had spotted Cédrika in a restaurant with a man, but waited too long before reporting the sighting to authorities.

The residents of Trois-Rivières are unlikely to show the same hesitation.

"Let's hope it comes to something," said the woman behind the mysterious-car tip.

Her car has a poster of Cédrika's smiling face taped to the back window.