Manitoba family in “final major push” to petition for changes to missing vulnerable adults alert system

It's the home stretch for the family of a man who disappeared more than a year ago to collect the final signatures on a petition supporting the use of cellphone emergency alerts to find vulnerable adults after they disappear.

Earl Moberg went missing on December 12, 2023 in the River East area of ​​Winnipeg. He was 81 years old at the time and suffering from dementia.

On the night Earl disappeared, Winnipeg police issued a Silver Alert to notify the public of a missing adult who was considered at risk.

But his family is pushing the federal government to develop a national strategy that would display these alerts on cell phones, similar to Amber Alerts for missing children.

“We don’t want any more elderly people to go missing and for a family to suffer like we did,” said Brenda Moberg, Earl’s wife.

The family has submitted a petition to the federal government since October with more than 4,400 signatures from across the country in support of changes to the existing silver alert system.

On Saturday, Brenda set up a table at McIvor Mall in North Kildonan with pictures of her husband and a QR code for people to sign the petition.

Earl Moberg, 81, is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, medium build, with short white hair and a white beard. He was last seen on December 12 in the River East area of ​​Winnipeg.

It has been more than a year since Earl Moberg, who suffered from dementia, went missing in the River East area of ​​Winnipeg on December 12, 2023. (Submitted by Britt Moberg)

“This is the last big push personally,” she said in the hallway she and her husband had walked countless times before he went missing.

Manitoba changed its missing persons law, allowing police to share information about vulnerable adults in the hopes of safely locating them. Silver Alerts are shared with media outlets who may broadcast or publish content on them, while Winnipeg Police disseminate the information on their social media.

Britt Moberg, Earl's daughter, said that after the Silver Alert was triggered, the media published stories about her father's disappearance online, but they could not be shared on Facebook or Instagram due to the ban on news content on meta platforms.

The Silver Alert was posted on the Winnipeg police Facebook page the next day, she said, leaving the family with limited content to share online the night he went missing.

“We were in a panic… it was very stressful for us,” Britt Moberg said. “[With] “The current system as it is… not enough people could be informed quickly enough to find my father alive.”

Days after the Silver Alert went off, a person contacted police and said they had seen someone matching Earl at a clinic near where he was last seen, Britt Moberg said.

But the person didn't know he was reported missing until days later, when they found Earl's photo on social media.

If the alert had been sent by phone, Britt Moberg said her father “could certainly have been found alive … and that's just one example” of many people who encountered him but didn't believe he was missing.

Short time window for the search

To date, Earl has not been found and his disappearance has been classified as a critical incident by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, which is defined by the province as a case in which someone seeking health services suffers “serious and unintentional harm.”

The health authority issued a series of recommendations after identifying missed opportunities for proactive care and safety planning to address Earl's care needs.

But despite these proposed improvements and other prevention efforts to ensure the safety of vulnerable adults, Britt Moberg says the system needs to change to inform the public more quickly when adults like her father go missing.

According to Public Safety Canada, most people with dementia wander at some point during the course of their cognitive state, and the chance that Alzheimer's sufferers will be found injured or dead 12 hours after disappearing is 50 percent.

“It's a very short window of time and a very high risk situation… in the progression of dementia he was very similar to a child,” Britt said.

Brenda Moberg said she has been entitled to 60 per cent of her husband Earl Moberg's Canada pension since his disappearance on Dec. 12, 2023, but has been unable to receive the money because she does not have a death certificate.

Brenda Moberg (right) said she hopes changes to the silver alert system could help find more at-risk seniors like her husband Earl Moberg (left) after he went missing. (Submitted by Brenda Moberg)

Britt Moberg's petition calls for silver alerts to be targeted to cell phones located in the immediate area where the missing person was last seen.

Data from the University of Waterloo study published in the Globe and Mail suggests that vulnerable adults who go missing are usually found within four to 12 kilometers of their last known location.

The warning “doesn't necessarily reach the entire province, but rather the communities…we can't give too many warnings because then people won't pay attention,” she said.

Raquel Dancho, Conservative MP from Winnipeg, is supporting the petition, whose signatures will be submitted Monday morning.

The intention was to table the proposal this week, but with Parliament adjourned until March, the timetable is now uncertain.

Britt Moberg (left) hopes recommendations from the review into the disappearance of her father Earl (right) can help prevent similar incidents.

Britt Moberg (left) says there is only a very short window of time to find a person with dementia unharmed after they disappear, as data suggests that Alzheimer's sufferers are less likely to be injured or dead 12 hours after they disappear are found is 50 percent. (Submitted by Britt Moberg)

“I don’t know what priority the petition will be, maybe there are other things on their agenda,” Brenda Morberg said.

But for her and her daughter, it's a matter that needs to be addressed soon.

The Alzheimer Society estimates that more than 414 people in Canada develop dementia every day, and by 2030, nearly a million people in the country could be living with dementia.

“Nobody wants to see their loved one… wandering around and dying because that could be preventable,” Britt Moberg said.

“It’s something no one should have to go through.”