More calls for better Silver Alert system as search continues for missing Manitoba senior
Stewart Campbell's family joins call for geo-targeted alerts broadcast to cellphones
The family of a Manitoban who has been missing for several weeks is asking the public to be on the lookout for him and to sign a petition to mandate Silver Alerts on cellphones for seniors who are missing.
Stewart Campbell, 69, was reported missing by police on July 17. Campbell, who suffers from dementia, according to his family, was last seen on July 15 at a friend's residence near Stonewall in the early hours of the morning.
His car was found on July 24, on a muddy road off Highway 2 just east of Starbuck, about 35 kilometres west of Winnipeg.
It is believed that Campbell's car ran out of gas when he turned and drove down an unpaved side road. He was travelling with his cat, the colour of which is not known.
RCMP have conducted a ground and drone search of the area but have found no trace of him, though they say the search is ongoing.
"I'm pretty sure the RCMP are as baffled as we are," said Lana Knor, Campbell's second cousin.
Because of the proximity to a busy highway, and how thoroughly the area has been searched by police, Knor said it's possible that he was picked up by someone passing by.
"The only other logical idea is that he's caught a ride somewhere … and he's in another community somewhere," said Knor. "He was very mixed up."
Knor wishes a Silver Alert — a notice issued by police when a vulnerable adult is reported missing — had been sent out to cellphones in the area when Campbell was reported missing.
"I believe that if we had had that alert, we probably would have had better results of Stewart and where he is," she said.
In Manitoba, the provincial Missing Persons Act was amended in 2017 to include Silver Alerts and allow police to release information when a vulnerable adult goes missing.
However, there have been calls for a national Silver Alert system that would broadcast alerts to cellphones, similar to the Amber Alert system for missing children.
Petition calls for alert system
Britt Moberg's father, Earl — who was also suffering from dementia — disappeared in December 2023, after leaving his home in Winnipeg's River East area.
She says that the best she and her family could do the night her father went missing was to try to share the message as loudly as they could through social media.
She's now the organizer of a national petition to the federal government, calling for a Silver Alert system that would include phone notifications when vulnerable adults with dementia and cognitive impairments are reported missing.
Moberg says she doesn't know why Silver Alerts aren't sent to cellphones already. She acknowledges concerns about the volume of notifications people may receive, but says there are ways around that problem.
"Geo-targeting would be one way to limit the amount of alerts that would be coming out," she said. "We could also develop criteria for the alerts to mobile devices that would come out."
Knor is also behind the idea.
"I fully support it, and I encourage everyone to look it up online," she said.
There is some political will to implement such a system. Raquel Dancho, the Conservative member of Parliament for Manitoba's Kildonan-St. Paul riding, sponsored Moberg's petition to the federal government, and has recently said she plans to raise the idea in the House of Commons when sittings resume in the fall.
Statistics from the Alzheimer Society of Canada indicate that more than 400 people in Canada develop dementia every day, and it's estimated that by 2030, approximately a million Canadians could be living with dementia.
With an aging population, both Moberg and Knor say it's important to implement mechanisms that would act quickly to help protect and locate vulnerable seniors who are reported missing.
In the meantime, Knor is holding out hope that Campbell will be found.
Her message for him: "We love you, and we just want to know you're safe, and if you're out there, we're going to help you get home."
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