RCMP says criteria for Amber Alert haven’t been met in case of missing boy

As the search continues on the Red Earth Cree Nation for a missing five-year-old boy, community leaders once again are calling on the RCMP to issue an Amber Alert.

Frank Young has been missing since April 19, when he was seen at a playground on the First Nation.

Hundreds of volunteers, more than a dozen crews and members of the RCMP, the Prince Albert Grand Council and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency have been conducting searches on land, in the water and from the air, but they haven’t found any sign of the boy.

Red Earth Cree Nation Chief Fabian Head said Young’s family is grateful for the ongoing support and prayers they’ve received since the boy disappeared. Head acknowledged it has taken an emotional toll on members of the community, considering they’ve also held funerals for different members since then.

“Our people, we’re resilient and we come together in times like this to support one another,” Head said. “It’s the words of our Elders that give us comfort, those words we are thankful for.”

Head renewed calls for an Amber Alert, but said the response he and other Indigenous leaders have been getting is that it doesn’t fit the criteria.

RCMP Sgt. Richard Tonge said, at this time, the criteria for such an alert have not been met.

“The main criteria for an Amber Alert is we have to have confirmed evidence of an abduction,” Tonge said. “It can be stranger abduction, parental abduction or abduction by another family member.

“We (also) have to have concern for the safety of the child. We don’t have evidence of those things happening in this case and therefore no Amber Alert has been issued.”

Tonge mentioned a Saskatchewan Emergency Advisory Alert was issued when Young was reported missing and it was updated Thursday morning.

Tonge said the warmer weather and melting snow are allowing searchers to comb more ground, but they’re not finding anything.

“We’re in Day 11 of this intensive search and (with) each passing day and each passing hour, our concern continues to intensify,” he said.

— With files from The Canadian Press and paNOW