Latest news with #SûretéduQuébec
Montreal Gazette
a day ago
- Montreal Gazette
Explainer: Missing girl's disappearance didn't trigger an Amber Alert. Why not?
By From the moment Quebec provincial police announced that a three-year-old was missing on Sunday, questions swirled online over why authorities didn't issue an Amber Alert to inform the public. Faced with the question, police have repeatedly stated the case did not meet the criteria needed for an alert. Yet one of the top comments on the Sûreté du Québec's initial post about the disappearance comes from a mother questioning the decision. 'I would rather have 100 false alarms than one child who was not found in time,' her comment says, receiving nearly 2,000 likes. Here is a brief overview of how Amber Alerts work and why one wasn't issued in the case of the girl, who was found alive Wednesday afternoon. What are Amber Alerts? The Amber Alert system was created in the United States and introduced to Quebec in 2003. It is designed to quickly notify the public about a child who has been abducted and may be in danger. Co-operation between various police forces across the province ensures information is disseminated as swiftly as possible. In Quebec, only the Sûreté du Québec and the Montreal police department can trigger an alert. When an alert is issued, it is broadcast on television and radio, interrupting regular programming. In recent years, alerts have also been sent to compatible mobile phones. Quebec's Transport Ministry also ensures the alert is displayed on message boards along highways in order to reach drivers. What are the criteria needed? Amber Alerts are reserved for specific situations. They will only be triggered if three criteria are met at the same time. When a police department receives a report about a missing child, investigators quickly analyze the case to see if it warrants an alert. The criteria are as follows: The police have reason to believe a child has been abducted. The police have reason to believe the child is in serious danger. The police have information to share that could help locate the child, such as the car used or a description of the suspect. Why was no alert issued? Police have stated that no alert was issued in this case because it doesn't involve an abduction. The girl was seen around 9:45 a.m. Sunday near Newman Blvd. in Montreal's LaSalle borough. Her mother, Rachel Todd, reported her missing nearly six hours later at a fireworks store in Coteau-du-Lac, about 60 kilometres southwest of Montreal. Police have said Todd, 34, told an employee she lost the child and didn't know where she was. She has since been charged with child abandonment. Missing Children's Network executive director Mélanie Aubut said she understands why police didn't issue an Amber Alert, but acknowledged the public's frustrations. 'Any parents' worst nightmare is not knowing where their child is,' Aubut said. 'Families with missing children go through an extremely distressing experience, and I think that's why the population is so affected — because we all put ourselves in their shoes.' Aubut said the delay between when the girl was seen in LaSalle and when Todd reported her missing might have also factored into the decision not to trigger an alert. 'Amber Alerts are an essential tool that is usually used immediately,' she said. 'But in this case, we're talking about a delay of six hours between the child going missing and the police being alerted.' Should the criteria be loosened? Different jurisdictions across North America have wrestled with whether or not the criteria needed to trigger an alert should be less strict. While Aubut agreed the criteria is restrictive, she argued in favour of keeping it as is. She noted that in 2024, there were more than 6,600 instances of children being reported missing in Quebec, mainly involving teenage runaways. Five Amber Alerts were issued for the province. Excessive use of the alerts could become counterproductive, she said, as people might start tuning them out or become desensitized to the issue. 'We want to make sure that when we do sound the alarm, people's reaction isn't to say, 'Ugh, not another disappearance,'' Aubut said. In the girl's case, Aubut believes the Sûreté du Québec did its best to communicate information and prevent disinformation from spreading. Regardless of whether an Amber Alert is issued in a case, Aubut said it's crucial the public continues to spread word about a disappearance as new details emerge. 'Any little clue can change the course of the investigation, or could be the missing piece of the police's puzzle,' she added.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
A Quebec toddler was found alive after a 4-day search. It's a rare outcome, police say
In his 34 years volunteering in the search for missing people in Quebec, Guy Lapointe has only witnessed four cases where a child was found alive after 72 hours. On Wednesday, a three-year-old Montreal girl defied the odds. She was found safe in Ontario after an intensive four-day search that included up to 200 officers and trained volunteers, a helicopter and ATVs. "We had hope, but we were starting to think that she wouldn't be alive anymore," said Lapointe, the president of the Quebec Search and Rescue Volunteer Association. "We're still on a cloud." He noted search and rescues that last this long are "rare." Over his three-decade-long career with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), Capt. Benoît Richard said this was likely the first time he had seen a child found alive after the 72-hour mark. "The more [time] goes and the more it gets difficult for us to find them," he said. One of the reasons those initial hours are so critical, he said, is the lack of food or water. Bill Dickson, Ontario Provincial Police spokesperson, echoed that sentiment, highlighting that the longer the search goes on, the higher the chance of a tragic outcome. "It had the best ending we could hope for," he said. No Amber Alert issued sparks debate over criteria The little girl had last been seen at her residence in Montreal's LaSalle borough Sunday morning and her mother reported her missing a few hours later at a store in Coteau-du-Lac, about 50 kilometres west of Montreal. Her mother was arrested on Monday and charged with child abandonment. She's scheduled to appear again in court on Friday. Lapointe, a former RCMP officer, believes social media played a decisive role in this particular rescue. "Without all the information from the public, it would have been very hard. We would still be there and her chance to be alive would be reduced," he said. An Amber Alert wasn't issued in this case, and Lapointe believes that was the right call. He argues the population was advised "very fast" and says police "did exactly the right thing." But not everyone agrees. The events of the past few days brought back painful memories for Amélie Lemieux, whose two daughters, Romy and Norah Carpentier, went missing and were killed by their father in the summer of 2020. "The last few days felt like 2020," Lemieux told Radio-Canada. "It was the same emotions… anxiety, lack of understanding, difficulty eating, difficulty sleeping, difficulty functioning." Lemieux had hoped the three-year-old would be found quickly and believes an Amber Alert should've been issued. She says the "overly rigid" criteria need to be reviewed. "A three-year-old child that is missing, for me, personally, I feel that her safety, her health is in jeopardy," said Lemieux. In Quebec, only two police forces — Montreal police and the SQ — are authorized to activate an Amber Alert, according to the Alerte Amber Québec website. An alert will only be activated if the following three criteria are met simultaneously: Police have reasonable grounds to believe a person under 18 years old has been abducted. Police have reason to believe that the physical safety or the life of the child is in serious danger. Police have information that may help locate the child, the suspect and/or the suspect's vehicle. The SQ's Richard explained that in this case, the criteria were not all met. "We didn't have an abduction," he said. "We need to have something to follow…. Do we have a vehicle? Do we have an area to go through?" Lemieux, for her part, believes the criteria should be more flexible. "I would've liked to know on Sunday instead of Monday that a little girl was missing," she said.
Montreal Gazette
a day ago
- Montreal Gazette
Claire Bell disappearance: A timeline of the four-day search
The disappearance of three-year-old Claire Bell from Montreal on Sunday sparked a frantic four-day search that stretched across two provinces and captured national attention. Claire was found alive near a highway in eastern Ontario nearly 72 hours later — alone, conscious, and able to speak. The Sûreté du Québec and Ontario Provincial Police have credited public tips and drone surveillance for helping locate the child. Here's how the search unfolded. Sunday — Last seen in LaSalle Claire was last seen at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday in the borough of LaSalle, near Newman Blvd., with her mother and pet Chihuahua. Later that day, just after 3:30 p.m., her mother, 34-year-old Rachel Todd, reported Claire missing at a fireworks shop in Coteau-du-Lac, Que. The SQ launched an investigation, set up a command post near the fireworks shop, and began searching around Todd's apartment building in LaSalle. That same morning, Todd uploaded a video to her TikTok account. The account handle does not include her name. In the video, Todd is holding Claire in her arms. Addressing the camera, she says: 'You try that again and it's going to get ugly.' The clip was captioned: 'Have you ever faced a mother who has nothing left to lose?' The video was posted just before Claire was last seen in LaSalle. Monday — A grim discovery and an arrest The search intensified on Monday, with growing media attention and rising speculation online. In the afternoon, officers discovered the body of a Chihuahua along the highway, about 10 kilometres from the fireworks store where Claire's mother had reported her missing. The dog matched the description of the Chihuahua seen with Claire and her mother the day she disappeared. Search crews continued combing wooded areas and grassy ditches near Highway 20 near Coteau-du-Lac. As the day progressed, a major development came when police arrested Todd and charged her with child abandonment. She was questioned by investigators from the SQ's major crimes division. Officers said the investigation remained active and that further charges were possible. Meanwhile, members of the public and media had discovered Todd's social media posts. By Monday night, thousands had viewed her TikTok account. According to Todd's TikTok videos, she and Claire's father were once together but appear to have since separated. Tuesday — The search expands The search operation had widened across southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Helicopters, drones and ground teams were deployed to search a wide swath of territory. News of the mother's arrest made headlines Tuesday morning. Throughout the day, Claire's father, 35-year-old Matt Bell, shared several posts on Instagram and Facebook appealing to residents in Vaudreuil and nearby towns to check their home surveillance systems and dashcams. He declined to speak to the media, but shared widely circulated images of his daughter. Wednesday — Search narrows in Ontario Police said Claire had been seen on Sunday afternoon — around 2 p.m. — in the area the region surrounding Casselman and St-Albert, Ont. Investigators also appealed to the public for help locating a potential witness in the case, a woman who works and lives on a farm somewhere in southeastern Ontario or southwestern Quebec. The SQ and OPP concentrated efforts on rural areas near Highway 417 and deployed additional resources, including drones. Wednesday afternoon — Claire is found Shortly after 2 p.m., a drone operated by the OPP spotted Claire alone in a field outside St-Albert, not far from the highway. Officers reached her soon after, police later confirmed. Claire was conscious, able to speak, and appeared to be in stable condition. She was taken to hospital for a medical evaluation. Police informed the media of her discovery at around 3:40 p.m. At a joint press briefing later that evening, police confirmed that public tips were key to the outcome. However, they declined to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding Claire's disappearance, saying the investigation remains ongoing. Shortly after the the discovery of Claire was announced, the toddler's father, Matt Bell, posted a brief message on Instagram: 'Thank you everyone. Please allow me and my family to take this time with our girl.' This story was originally published June 19, 2025 at 7:04 AM.
CTV News
a day ago
- CTV News
‘It's almost a miracle': Police praised for locating missing Montreal toddler after 4-day search
Claire Bell, 3, seen here moments after being found following a four-day search. (Source: Courtesy/Noovo Info) One day after a Montreal toddler was found, following a desperate four-day search in Quebec and Ontario, an expert in missing children is commending the police work involved in successfully locating her. The three-year-old girl was reported missing on Sunday and was found alone on the side of Highway 417 in St. Albert, Ont. on Wednesday after being spotted by a police drone. 'The fact that we got this outcome after four days is — I want to almost say it's almost a miracle. We were ecstatic, and it's what we all hoped for,' said Nancy Duncan, director of operations at the Missing Children's Network. More than 150 police officers from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were part of the search involving helicopters, drones and ground search crews across a vast area spanning two provinces. Duncan, who has been at the network for 20 years, said the police's efforts were nothing short of 'extraordinary.' Nancy Duncan Nancy Duncan, director of operations at the Missing Children's Network. (CTV News) 'It's hard. It's not something that everybody can do, and they have a certain sense of empathy in keeping the family as the priority, and the child, so it's quite nice to see,' she said in an interview. The girl's father, Matthew Bell, reacted on Instagram Wednesday night, thanking those who helped find his daughter. 'Thank you for everyone's help. [sic] Please allow me and my family to take this time with our girl,' he posted. While the young girl recovers from the ordeal, her mother, Rachel-Ella Todd, 34, remains behind bars after being charged with child abandonment. She is scheduled to return to court Friday to set a date for a bail hearing, likely next week. CTV News has reached out to the SQ for an update on the investigation. This is a developing story that will be updated.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Police thank public after missing Quebec toddler found in Ontario
A three-year-old girl from Montreal missing since Sunday was found alive and well near an Ontario highway on Wednesday, and police say 'critical information from the public' played a significant role. 'This is a prime example of how every tip, every piece of information can help lead us to a positive outcome,' said Acting Staff Sgt. Shaun Cameron of the Ontario Provincial Police at a joint news conference with Sûreté du Québec.
