Diane Hinsberger took this photo of her husband Michael Hinsberger as he launched his canoe around Thursday at 3 p.m. (Diane Hinsberger)The family of a man who went missing while canoeing near Algonquin Park says they will keep looking for him even if police don't.

Ontario Provincial Police officially called off the search Tuesday for 57-year-old Michael Hinsberger, who has been missing since last Thursday.

"It's very hard and disappointing that he's not worth their time and their efforts," said Hinsperger's wife, Diane Hinsperger, choking back tears as she spoke about him Tuesday.

She said the family and their friends are now conducting their own search, scouring the lake's edges and the nearby forests.

Mike Hinsberger (left) shown here with stepson Gerald, was not wearing a life jacket when he left. (Courtesy of Diane Hinsberger)Hinsperger last saw and photographed her husband as he launched his canoe around 3 p.m. last Thursday from the cottage they were renting at Carson Lake. The lake is in Madawaska Valley Township near the village of Barry's Bay, Ont., about 200 kilometres west of Ottawa.

At the time of Hinsberger's departure, he was not wearing a life jacket.

When he didn't return for supper that evening, his wife thought he may have gone for a beer with a neighbour. She called police Friday morning after realizing he had still not returned.

OPP Const. Darcy Nichol said the underwater search and rescue, emergency response and canine units conducted an extensive search of Carson Lake. They found Michael Hinsberger's overturned canoe, but no other sign of him.

Search 'exhausted': OPP

Diane Hinsberger believes her husband may have lost his grip on the canoe while coming ashore and is still alive, but lost somewhere on land. (Robyn Burns/CBC)"The search has been exhausted at this point," Nichol said Tuesday.

But Diane Hinsberger believes her husband is still alive. She suspects he may have been getting out on the shore when he was startled by a barking dog heard by neighbours around that time. At that point, the canoe may have gotten away from him.

"He could have got so easily disoriented," she said. "He doesn't know this area whatsoever."

She added that her husband startles easily and doesn't have a very good sense of direction. However, he is a strong swimmer, and she believes that if the canoe did flip in the water, he would have been able to make it to shore.

Both paddles were inside the canoe when it was found close to shore last Friday.