Poilievre urges Canadians to back petition for national missing-person alert standards

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is urging Canadians to sign a House of Commons petition calling for national standards for public alerts when people with autism or developmental disabilities go missing.

"When a vulnerable child goes missing, every second counts," Poilievre wrote on X on Sunday. "Parker Wells' tragic story exposed a gap in Canada's emergency alert system."

Parker Wells, an 11-year-old autistic boy who did not speak, went missing from a Calgary day home on July 16. Calgary police said on July 29 that a child's body had been found during the search.

Petition e-7703 was started by Jennifer Ball of Calgary and is sponsored by Mike Lake, the Conservative MP for Leduc—Wetaskiwin. It asks the federal government to bring together the provinces, territories, police, autism and disability organizations and affected families to develop shared national standards for an alert framework for vulnerable missing people.

The petition says existing missing-person alerts can depend on criteria such as age or a suspected abduction, which can leave gaps when a vulnerable person is in immediate danger but does not meet them. It notes that each province and territory sets its own alert criteria.

It calls for alerts targeted to where the missing person is likely to be, voluntary location-finding technology, clear authority for police to act quickly, annual public reporting on how many alerts are requested and issued in each jurisdiction, and training for first responders.

As of Friday, the petition had 11,928 validated signatures, including 4,476 from Alberta and 855 from Saskatchewan, according to the House of Commons. It is open for signatures until Dec. 22. Once a petition is presented in the House, the government has 45 days to table a response.