Missing Persons Act takes effect Saturday, giving new tools to Kneebone investigators

Police forces on Prince Edward Island will have greater powers to seek access to crucial data in missing persons cases when a law passed more than two years ago finally comes into effect this Saturday.

The Missing Persons Act will give officers the ability to obtain judicial orders to require cellphone and social media companies to share GPS data, text messages, internet browsing histories and other information that could help locate a missing person. They can already do that in criminal investigations, but not when there's no proof of any wrongdoing.

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P.E.I.'s Missing Persons Act received royal assent in May of 2021, but it wasn't until Tuesday of this week that cabinet issued regulations that included its Sept. 9 coming-into-force date.

Almost every other province already has similar legislation in place.

Police and others involved in the ongoing search for 27-year-old Summer Kneebone have suggested a lack of data to help try to determine her location has been a stumbling block in the search.

"The implementation of the Missing Persons Act will provide us with a mechanism to obtain data that could help us achieve our goal of finding Summer," Det.-Sgt. Darren MacDougall of the Charlottetown Police Service told CBC News in a text message on Thursday. 

"The investigation is evolving and we are using all available tools to advance the search," he added. "Using the MPA as a tool/mechanism to obtain data/records will be decided upon if and when it's an option."

No power to compel release of data

Kneebone was last seen on Aug. 7 in downtown Charlottetown, and her disappearance was reported to police about a week later. Tips from the public and a search of video surveillance recordings eventually led the police to connect her with trips in two different vehicles later that evening. 

MacDougall said Wednesday that police were considering the driver of the second vehicle "a person of interest" in Kneebone's disappearance.

Because it is a missing person case and not a criminal investigation, officers have had no power to compel corporations to release personal information about her, including her phone and internet records. 

Under the Missing Persons Act, police could also ask a judge or justice of the peace to allow them to seize private surveillance camera footage. 

In cases where a missing person is a child or considered a vulnerable person, police can also apply for permission to search a private property, even entering by force if necessary, if there's reason to believe the person could be found there.

'We need to find them'

When P.E.I.'s politicians were looking at whether to adopt a Missing Persons Act back in March 2021, similar legislation was already in place in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. 

New Brunswick has since joined the club. 

Blair Barbour, a legislative specialist with the province's Department of Justice and Public Safety, told MLAs considering a draft act that bringing in this kind of legislation was one of the recommendations in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report, back in 2019.

"Currently under the law that applies in P.E.I., if there's reason to suspect that there's a criminal offence, the Criminal Code provides police with authority to do searches and request records, that sort of thing," he said. "This act really applies where there is no grounds to believe that there is a criminal matter.

"If someone is missing and we don't know what happened, we need to find them."  

Back in 2021, Barbour told MLAs the Missing Persons Act would likely come into effect that summer, once the necessary regulations were drawn up.

Province confirms timing related to Kneebone

Asked why there had been a delay, the P.E.I. Department of Justice and Public Safety emailed a statement to CBC News late Thursday.

"Government's intention when it brought forward the Missing Persons Act in 2021 was for implementation," it said. "However, a related piece of legislation, the Justice of the Peace Act, was a prerequisite piece of legislation that included many steps of implementation."

The email said that act, which was proclaimed on Aug. 1 of this year, officially established a new category of judicial official who can deal with police applications.

"In short, this means that government could not proclaim the Missing Persons Act in force until after the Justice of the Peace Act was proclaimed in force."

It added: "Government was already working toward implementation of the Missing Persons Act in September, but did accelerate the coming into force date to provide an extra legislative tool that may be useful to police in their current missing persons investigation."