Indigo Alert Canada — Close the Gap in Emergency Alerts for Vulnerable People

When a vulnerable person who relies on caregiver support and cannot self rescue goes missing, silence shouldn't be the default.

Canada's emergency alert systems were built for abductions. They were not built for a vulnerable person who relies on caregiver support, cannot self rescue, and wanders off with no one able to explain where they went. We are asking every province and territory to close that gap with an Indigo Alert focused on vulnerable people who rely on caregiver support, cannot self rescue, and are prone to wander into danger. Alerts are authorized province by province, not by one federal law, so we are building this one legislature at a time, starting in Alberta.

49%

of children with autism have eloped/wandered at least once after age 4, per a 2012 Kennedy Krieger Institute study in Pediatrics

0/13

provinces and territories currently have an Indigo Alert in law

12/13

provinces & territories live on this site so far: Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, BC, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories & Nunavut. Help us verify the rest below

The issue

A gap in the system, not in the rules for who deserves help

This campaign started with Jennifer Ball, a Calgary mother of a non-verbal autistic child. Her question is simple: what happens when a vulnerable person goes missing, but there's no evidence anyone took them?

"It is essential to recognize that their inability to communicate and understand danger puts them at a heightened risk." — Jennifer Ball, Calgary

Right now, Canada's Amber Alert exists for one specific scenario: abduction. It is a vital tool, and it works well for what it is designed to do. But vulnerable people who rely on caregiver support and cannot self rescue can wander off with no suspect and no abduction, leaving them alone near roads, rivers, or in dangerous weather. Under the current criteria, that situation does not trigger any province wide alert at all, even when the person is at immediate risk.

Today

Alert requires evidence of abduction

If there is no sign a person was taken, a mass public alert is not issued, even when a vulnerable person who relies on caregiver support and cannot self rescue is at serious risk of harm.

Proposed

An "At Risk" / Indigo Alert category

A new alert tier triggered when a vulnerable person who relies on caregiver support and cannot self rescue wanders into immediate danger, regardless of whether abduction is suspected.

Closing this gap does not mean replacing the Amber Alert. It means giving law enforcement a second, faster tool for a different kind of emergency that current criteria were not designed to catch.

This is not a call to alert the public every time someone goes missing. Amber Alert works because its criteria are narrow and specific. An Indigo Alert should follow the same discipline with clear, verified risk factors, not a blanket trigger. Alert fatigue is real, and a system people learn to tune out helps no one. The goal is a small number of alerts that people take seriously, not a large number they start to ignore.

Immediate risks for vulnerable people who rely on caregiver support

49% of autistic individuals have attempted to elope after age four.
65% of elopement cases involve danger from traffic.
24% involve danger from water.
Autistic individuals are 160 times more likely to die from drowning compared to the general pediatric population.
75% of fatal drownings involving autistic children occur during elopement.
33%+ of autistic individuals who elope cannot communicate their name, address, or phone number.
70%+ of elopement incidents happen from home where there is no evidence of abduction.

These risks show why a dedicated alert is needed when a vulnerable person who relies on caregiver support wanders into danger.

Sources: National Autism Association, Autism Research and Safety Studies, Pediatric injury and drowning risk reports.

Why this started in Alberta, and why it cannot stop there

This began in Calgary, but the gap it uncovered is not limited to one province. Alert Ready is coordinated nationally, yet each province and territory sets its own alert criteria. This is why Amber Alert rules already differ across the country, and why no single federal law can create an Indigo Alert everywhere at once. Other provinces have identified the same gap, and progress will need to be made one legislature at a time, wherever momentum is already building.

Side-by-side comparison of Amber Alert and Indigo Alert: purpose, criteria, alert type, goal, and who each serves, with a note on the current gap in the system. — Amber Alert vs. Indigo Alert: same goal, different criteria for triggering the alert. Download image ↓

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Everything in one download: the logo in color and white, this comparison graphic at full resolution, and a one-page fact sheet with the key numbers, the ask, and the origin story. Free to use, no permission needed.

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Step one

Add your name

The petition asks Canadian authorities, provincial and federal, to formally recognize this gap and create a new alert category for medically or developmentally vulnerable missing children. It takes under a minute to sign.

Sign the official House of Commons petition

This petition, e-7703, is sponsored by MP Mike Lake and now sits before Parliament. It crossed 10,000 signatures on September 17. Every signature adds weight when it's presented in the House. Share it with your own network after signing.

Sign now →

Every signature counts, and only Canadian citizens and residents can sign.

One note on scope: the petition above, started by Jennifer Ball, is written specifically for vulnerable children, and that's where this campaign started. This site's broader ask, for an Indigo Alert covering vulnerable people of any age (including older adults with dementia), builds on that same petition and the same momentum. Signing the petition is still step one either way.

Why this petition and not the Change.org one? The original Change.org petition is where this campaign started, and it's since passed 41,000 signatures. But Change.org signatures aren't tabled in Parliament or officially recognized by the House of Commons. The e-7703 petition above is, so it's the one that carries formal weight with government, and the one we're asking everyone to sign now.

Step two

Email your representative, and CC the people in charge

Signatures show support. A direct message from a constituent to their own representative is what usually gets read first. Choose your province or territory, find your representative, then send a short, personal note.

There's a deadline now. Alberta's premier has committed to changing the alert criteria this fall. The fall sitting is when that promise either becomes law or quietly doesn't. Letters that land before then are the ones that count, and every other province is watching what Alberta does.

Your province or territory

Find your MLA

Search below, or use the official address-based lookup for guaranteed accuracy.

Review and personalize the email

A template is generated for you. Add your own experience in a sentence or two. Personal notes carry more weight than form letters.

Send it

Copy the text into your email client, or use the button to open a pre-filled message, addressed and CC'd automatically.

Find your MLA

Your email

A civil, personal note lands better than an angry one. This goes out under your name, to a real person's office. Add a sentence or two of your own experience if you have one.

Your name

Your city / community

To: [ select your representative above ] · Cc:

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MLA office emails are tied to the constituency, not the individual member, and are cross-referenced against the Legislative Assembly's own records rather than guessed from a formula. One constituency (Calgary-Bhullar-McCall, renamed since our reference data was published) is flagged "unverified." Please confirm it on the profile page before sending.

When a vulnerable person who relies on caregiver support and cannot self rescue goes missing, silence shouldn't be the default.