Call for Silver Alert in B.C. after North Okanagan senior goes missing

Some parts of Canada already have the system, but in B.C. a Silver Alert system has been advocated for but never implemented. The founder of the BC Silver Alert group continues to push for the system, following the disappearance of a senior in North Okanagan.

“The idea is to alert people when someone is missing, to treat it like the emergency it is, and to activate resources to find them quicker, I believe it definitely could save lives,” said Michael Coyle, Co-Founder of BC Silver Alert.

North Okanagan resident Robert Baines, 83, was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and walked out of his home six days ago. He has been missing ever since. The search for Baines has gone on for five days, and not a single lead has turned up.

“A lot of searches throughout the province are for dementia, regardless of the severity. It could be mild, moderate, or advanced,” said Coralie Nairn, search manager with Vernon Search and Rescue.

The Silver Alert will target the vulnerable population, including people with dementia.

“A responsive person is going to respond to somebody calling their name, they’re going to move towards lights and various things like that, someone with dementia might not necessarily know they’re lost,” said Coyle.

The BC Silver Alert group was created following a personal experience involving one of the founders.

“Me and Sam Noh founded the BC Silver Alert after his father went missing, I was the search manager for his dad and after a while, we noticed there were sightings that didn’t get reported very early in the search,” said Coyle.

The idea is to have an alert sent to cellphones in the vicinity of the missing person.

“Just like an Amber Alert, there (would be) an alarm system and more people are more apt to read it,” said Nairn. “When we use social media or the news people are more apt to see it in the evening, or later in the day.”

The alert would urge people not to go out and search themselves, but rather look around their surroundings, check any doorcams they might have, or think of the last time they saw the missing person.

“What we want is for people to search their backyards because we see people with dementia seek shelter, under bushes, and in outbuildings, so they would look in their home area and be alert if they saw something earlier in the day,” said Coyle.