Why this campaign exists.

An 11-year-old boy, and a two-day silence

In July 2026, an 11-year-old non-verbal autistic boy named Parker Wells went missing from a day home in Calgary. According to Global News' reporting, no Amber Alert was issued in the first two days of the search. That's because, under the criteria that exist today, an Amber Alert requires evidence of abduction, and there was none. There was no suspect. There was just a boy, alone, somewhere, unable to tell anyone where he was or ask for help. "On July 18, an exception was made to allow for an Amber Alert to be sent out for Parker," Jennifer Ball told the Calgary Herald, "but the time it took to reach the community was detrimental."

Sourced from Global News and Calgary Herald reporting. See the full press coverage.

What followed was not a small search. By Premier Danielle Smith's own account, on the July 25, 2026 broadcast of Your Province. Your Premier., roughly 400 police officers were involved, alongside the fire department, Alberta Fish and Wildlife, Alberta Health Services, trained search and rescue, the sheriffs, Calgary bylaw and peace officers, and CPKC, whose rail line runs through the search area, with the Missing Children Society of Canada also involved. More than 5,500 search hours, and hundreds of hours of CCTV and residential security camera footage reviewed. "They've tried everything," the premier said.

Jennifer Ball

Jennifer Ball is a Calgary mother of a non-verbal autistic child. Watching Parker's case unfold, she recognized something she already understood in her own life: that a child who cannot explain where they are, or recognize danger, faces a completely different kind of risk than the one Amber Alert was built to address.

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

She started a petition on Change.org called "Improve Canada's emergency alert system for vulnerable children," asking for exactly one thing: a new alert category that can activate on vulnerability, not just suspected abduction. It has since gathered more than 41,000 signatures. That petition is the reason this campaign exists at all.

That momentum has since reached Parliament: MP Mike Lake sponsored an official House of Commons petition, e-7703, putting the same ask formally before the federal government.

She's not stopping at a petition. Jennifer has reached out to government offices directly, one step at a time, including, she told the Calgary Herald, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, whose daughter is also autistic: "Also communicating with even Pierre Poilievre, his daughter's autistic as well, and I think that these people need to step up and focus on the gap that is at hand."

"If you heard Premier Danielle Smith's podcast (Saturday) talking about how she recognizes the gap, allowing this to maybe not have to be a provincial decision — so the Calgary police, if they have an Indigo Alert at hand, they can deploy that within their parameters and quick time frame." — Jennifer Ball, to the Calgary Herald, July 26, 2026

Quoted from Daniel Gonzalez, "Calgary parent calls for improvements to Amber Alert system," Calgary Herald, July 26, 2026.

Steven Phan's story

My name is Steven Phan. When I heard about Parker's disappearance, it made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't sleep properly for a couple of days, and it affected me so much that I had to do something. On Sunday, July 19th, I went out to help organize volunteers and get them the information they needed to search sections of the city for Parker.

I'm a father of three kids myself, and I can't imagine what Parker's family was going through, or how debilitating it would feel to face that alone. When I heard about Jennifer and her campaign, I knew this was what we actually needed to do: prevent situations like Parker's from happening again, close the gap in our system, and give families like his the support they deserve to find their loved ones swiftly.

What we built, and what we're asking for

Jennifer's petition asked for one province to fix one gap for children. This campaign builds on that: a province-by-province push for an "Indigo Alert," the same broadcast-level tool as Amber Alert but triggered by a missing person's vulnerability instead of suspected abduction, for vulnerable people of any age.

On July 25, 2026, Alberta's premier committed on air to revisiting alert criteria this fall. That's not a law yet. It's a window, and the rest of this campaign, the letters, the petition, this site, exists to make sure that window doesn't close quietly.

Read the full case for an Indigo Alert →

The team

A small group of people across the country who decided this was worth building. More names and faces will be added as the team grows.