SASKATOON — Métis Nation–Saskatchewan (MN–S) ministers are leading a push for Saskatchewan to join Alberta and consider implementing a new alert system to address individuals currently falling through the cracks.
The Indigo Alert System was proposed in Alberta after the death of 11-year-old Parker Wells. The autistic boy was reported missing from his Calgary daycare home on July 16. His body was found in a culvert following a massive 13-day search. This case didn’t fit Amber Alert criteria.
“For me, this advocacy is deeply personal,” MN–S Health and Mental Health and Addictions Minister Beverly Fullerton said.
“My son Weston is autistic, non-speaking and lives with a severe intellectual developmental disability. If he were to wander or go missing, he would be unable to communicate his name, address or needs, ask for help, or explain the danger he may be facing. For families like mine, this issue is not theoretical. It is a fear we carry every day, and it can become a life-or-death emergency within minutes. A new system needs to be put in place to close those gaps.”
Fullerton is joined by Minister Loretta King, responsible for Child and Family Services, and Minister Brennan Merasty, responsible for Justice, in calling on Saskatchewan to follow Alberta’s lead and explore the option of an Indigo Alert. A letter sent last week to their provincial counterparts requests a co-operative and inclusive approach to developing a new alert system, with an open invitation for Indigenous involvement at the table.
King is also personally touched by Parker’s case. She lost her niece last year, so is in full support of the push for an alert system for those outside the parameters of the Amber Alert.
“Adyson was in a vulnerable state when she went missing last April near Meadow Lake. While RCMP searched the Meadow River bank to bank, it was our family and community who organized a more intensive ground search that led us to our heartbreaking discovery shortly after.
“Families in those situations should be supporting each other, while the authorities spearhead the search. We need an inclusive alert system that carries the same weight as an Amber Alert, no matter who the missing individual is.”
“The Indigo Alert System would be inclusively and distinctively designed for individuals outside of child abduction – those with autism, mental or physical challenges, suffer dementia, in vulnerable situations; the list goes on,” said Merasty.
“We need authorities to be able to respond to missing persons reported, regardless of their age, immediately. We need to remove the barriers that currently prevent a wider alert system that could save lives.”
According to MN–S, Alberta’s premier has confirmed her government will look into expanding emergency alert protocols, indicating plans to give local law enforcement the direct authority to issue public alerts for missing vulnerable or neurodivergent children without needing a special provincial exemption. The MN–S government says it wants Saskatchewan to consider going a step further to include all missing persons.
