CALGARY — Conservative MPs along with a Conservative senator are asking the feds to issue a nationwide framework that would have specialized public alerts when "autistic, non-speaking, or otherwise vulnerable children" go missing.On Friday, Leader of the Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, along with MP Mike Lake, the shadow minister for Mental Health and Wellness, and Senator Leo Housakos, wrote a letter asking the Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience, Eleanor Olszewski, to take action and create specific protocols when autistic children go missing.This comes in light of the discovery of 11-year-old Parker, who went missing in Calgary for 14 days and was found dead on Wednesday in a concrete pipe.They, like all Canadians, are "heartbroken by the tragic death" of Parker, offering their condolences to Parker's family. .However, they add, Parker's death exposes a need that is not being met by the public system when responding to missing autistic children.Wandering among autistic children is extremely common and according to Autism Canada, nearly half of autistic children are prone to it.Yet there is not a protocol in place to address this danger, "our emergency protocol is designed primarily for suspected abductions."Moreover, there is no way to alert the public when an autistic, non-speaking, or otherwise vulnerable child goes missing without evidence of foul play.."The danger to that child is just as real. The need to find them is just as urgent."They point to Parker's case, where an exemption from the usual alert criteria had to be made in order to issue an amber alert for his disappearance, and it couldn't be issued until two days after his disappearance — despite him already being in danger 48 hours prior. "The danger existed from the moment Parker went missing. The alert system should have been able to respond from that moment."They are calling for a new alert system for when vulnerable children go missing regardless of foul play, as well as training emergency services with search protocols for missing children with autism or disabilities, and ensuring police have the authority to warn the public when the missing child's life is at risk..They say no reform can guarantee safety for the children but "Bureaucratic rules must never be allowed to cost precious time."Similarly supporting this call for reform, is the National Autism Network and Missing Children Society of Canada.The authors of the letter, Lake and Poilievre, both have children with autism, and Lakes adds from his experience, children with autism on their own can be in danger in minutes.“He has and has always had a really visual memory. He would know exactly where a swimming pool that he likes is, or a park that he likes is, but the abstract world is a little bit tougher for him to navigate,” Lake recalls about his own son, who is non verbal, in an interview with the Canadian Press. .“So things like danger and understanding traffic, and dangers around water and those kinds of things, for a lot of kids on the autism spectrum — particularly in that range of the autism spectrum — are really difficult.”In a statement, Olszewski made clear she received the letter stating she would meet next week with Lake on proposals to strengthen emergency communications. “While provinces and territories are responsible for deciding when and how many types of alerts are issued, we remain committed to working together to ensure Canadians receive timely and reliable emergency alerts when they need them most,” she stated.
