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Support for missing children a positive for Saskatchewan

Recently the Saskatchewan government’s Ministry of Justice pledged $100,00 to expand its Most Valuable Network Program in Saskatchewan through its Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund and while usually I am against government spending money, in particul
Christopher Lee
Humboldt Journal Reporter

Recently the Saskatchewan government’s Ministry of Justice pledged $100,00 to expand its Most Valuable Network Program in Saskatchewan through its Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund and while usually I am against government spending money, in particular when they do not have it, this time I think it’s a great idea.

The Most Valuable network “leverages the viral power of social media to instantly spread awareness and alert the public of a missing child,” notes the Missing Children Society of Canada’s website.

The network uses the social media accounts of registered users to instantly notify the public of a missing child.

The funding provided by the Government of Saskatchewan will be used to support the expansion of the project into Saskatchewan.

What great news that is.

As has often been noted the first 24-72 hours of a missing persons case are the most important and spreading the message of a missing person quickly greatly increases the chances that person can be located.

In Saskatchewan alone, according to Statistics Canada in 2016, 4,011 children went missing from their homes for a variety of reasons including abductions and runaways among others.

We need to make sure that all 4,011 children are returned home safely and this program will provide Saskatchewan with a greater chance of that happening.

The MCSC website noted a case from 2013 where a teenage girl went missing from her community.

Once the abduction took place more than 1.3 million people were notified of the missing child, with a media release sent to 1,000 traditional and non-traditional media sources.

In addition to the more than 1.3 million people who were notified of the missing person an additional 69,000 plus people learned of the abduction through the MCSC’s own social media accounts.

What resulted was pressure on the abductor who felt compelled to return the missing child to her family and turn themselves in.

While I understand this is not going to happen every time, getting that information out there could help quickly locate a child in danger.

Admittedly, as someone who is not a father I could not imagine what it would feel like to have a child go missing, but I do know it would not be a pleasant feeling.

While stopping those feelings are nearly impossible we can stop parents from having to deal with the realities of them never seeing their child again.

That is where this program comes in.

And good on the Saskatchewan government for supporting it.