The Issue
Six-year-old Darius MacDougall went missing on September 21  near Tent Mountain and Island Lake Campground, just minutes from the busy Crowsnest Highway and the B.C.–Alberta border — a region surrounded by dense forest and known smuggling corridors.

Despite extensive searches — dogs, helicopters, drones, and elite Search & Rescue teams from across Canada — no trace of him has been found.

Critically, no Amber Alert was ever issued — even as hours turned into days.

In Darius’s case, the absence of a confirmed abduction prevented an alert — even though he vanished in a high-risk, cross-border region with immediate access to major transportation routes frequently flagged for smuggling and human trafficking activity.

Under current Canadian law, police must confirm an abduction, identify a suspect or vehicle, and determine that the child is in imminent danger before an Amber Alert can be activated. If even one box remains  unchecked — even when a child disappears near a major highway, border, or trafficking route — the public remains in the dark during the most crucial hours.

Darius - like many other still missing children - didn’t meet Canada’s rigid Amber Alert criteria.

That gap costs time.
And time costs lives.

Why Change Is Needed

This is not an isolated failure.
Across Canada, families have faced the same nightmare: a child disappears in clear danger, and the system’s rigid criteria silence the public’s best chance to help.

Samuel Bird, an Indigenous teen from Edmonton, vanished under suspicious circumstances with no Amber Alert.
Dylan Ehler, disappeared in Truro, Nova Scotia. No abduction was witnessed, so no alert was issued. His family has since fought for an “Ehler Alert” — a call for reform that has gone unanswered nationally.
Lilly and Jack Sullivan, also from Nova Scotia, vanished under unclear circumstances that again exposed the limits of the system.
Tori Stafford, abducted and murdered in Ontario, remains the most painful example — proof that delay can be deadly.
Each story reveals the same truth: delay equals danger.

When a child is missing, minutes matter.

Other countries already empower police to issue alerts based on risk level, not rigid confirmation. The United States’ model has saved hundreds of children this way. It’s time for Canada to modernize ours.

 
What Darius’s Law Would Do
Darius’s Law would modernize Canada’s Amber Alert framework and close this deadly gap by allowing officers to issue alerts when a child is clearly at risk — not just when an abduction is proven.

This is not a call for more Amber Alerts — it’s a call for a targeted, risk-based system that responds to credible danger.

This law must:

a. Empower police and RCMP to issue alerts in high-risk disappearances, including cases near highways, borders, or known trafficking routes.
b. Define “high-risk disappearance” to include factors such as age, weather, terrain, proximity to wilderness or cross-border zones, or credible threat indicators.
c. Create an independent Amber Alert Review Board to ensure transparency, oversight, and accountability across all provinces and territories.
d. Mobilize community expertise by integrating truckers, hunters, trappers, search-and-rescue teams, park rangers, Indigenous knowledge keepers, and local guides — those who know Canada’s land and roads best. Truckers, especially, are vital eyes along highway and border corridors.
e. Establish a national task force to harmonize criteria across provinces and enable alerts to cross borders seamlessly, closing jurisdictional gaps that traffickers exploit.

 
Who We Call On

We urge the following leaders to act with courage and compassion:

Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta
David Eby, Premier of British Columbia
Gary Anandasangaree, Federal Minister of Public Safety
Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada

We also call on the RCMP and all provincial public-safety ministers to support this reform and to issue an Amber Alert for Darius MacDougall.

This is not about blame — it is about bravery and action.

 
Why Act Now
Our RCMP and Search & Rescue teams are doing everything they can — but they’re operating without their most powerful tool: the ability to alert the public instantly when a child is in danger.

When a disappearance occurs near a highway, border, or dense forest corridor, the danger is already real. Every passing minute increases the chance that the child crosses jurisdictions or disappears beyond reach.

An early alert reaches thousands within seconds. Phones buzz, highways light up, and communities mobilize. Those first moments can turn fear into action — and action into hope.

 
Call to Action
Every minute of silence is another minute of risk.
Darius’s Law isn’t just about one boy — it’s about every child who could vanish tomorrow, and every parent that shouldn't have to ask, “why an Amber Alert issued for my child?”

We call on parents, teachers, truckers, first responders, and citizens to demand this change.

Sign. Share. Speak up.
Let our leaders know that our children’s safety must never depend on bureaucracy or hesitation.

Because when a child disappears, there’s no second chance — only the moments we act on.

Every minute matters.