Police issue emergency alert for missing 14-year-old

Editor’s note: RCMP reported the girl was found safe Aug. 22. Her name and image have been removed from the story.

Nova Scotia RCMP issued an emergency alert for a missing 14-year-old girl from Whycocomagh, overnight on Thursday.

The alert said police believe the youth was in the area of Canoe Lake, southeast Cape Breton at around 7 p.m. Wednesday, with 47-year-old Darcy Doyle.

Police said the two are believed to be using a green ATV.

The alert was sent to communities east of the Mira River in Cape Breton, according to police.

RCMP Cpl. Lisa Croteau says the alert was issued to communities in those areas to “be on the lookout for them in case they saw them.”

She said on Thursday that an alert wasn’t issued when the two were identified on video surveillance at a gas station in Catalone, on Aug. 13 and 14 because it wasn’t considered current information.

The Thursday alert was sent out after police received information the missing youth and Doyle may be in Canoe Lake at the time.

The teen is a member of We’koqma’q First Nation, was reported missing after last being seen on Aug. 13 in Eskasoni.

Nova Scotia RCMP have faced backlash since for not issuing an Amber Alert in response to the teen’s disappearance.

Lorraine Whitman, president of the Native Women’s Association, says the public should have been alerted a long time ago and she’s disappointed.

“I know if it were a non-Indigenous 14-year-old and this had come up, my God, there would be an Amber Alert,” she said.

Croteau told Global News on Wednesday that a person has to be abducted to warrant an Amber Alert.

“For us to be able to say the person was abducted, they have to be under the age of 14, it does not matter on consent. Between the ages of 14 and 16, we have to prove the person went unwillingly,” Croteau said. “We don’t believe that is the case in this situation.”

RCMP have also confirmed that Doyle is known to police.

The teen’s grandmother told Global News she does not believe the 14-year-old would have gone willingly with Doyle, who has had a relationship with the family for several years.

Whitman says this situation is not an isolated incident for Indigenous youth.

“I am so distraught, upset that we never meet the criteria,” Whitman says.

“In my mind, this is an abduction… She’s gone and she’s with an offender.

“We need to be able to be there for our youth and our girls. We’re failing, we’re failing badly because it’s a week since this young girl has been taken.”

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On Thursday after cabinet, Premier Stephen McNeil told reporters he has concerns about the situation.

“Regardless of what potential law may be, talking about a 14-year-old, as a father, I would have major concerns that (not considering it an abduction) would be allowed to happen,” McNeil said.

“There’s no question, law enforcement and interaction with minorities in our province has been challenging. We’re working through that, ensuring all voices are being heard and that people are feeling confidence in the police agency that is actually serving them.”

McNeil said there are racism-related systemic issues in institutions, including government, which need to be addressed.

Whitman says she commends the Mi’kmaw communities that have established checkpoints in several areas in Cape Breton.

“We have been there pushing, advocating, defending ourselves without any weapons and not knowing what to do in the proper direction, when the RCMP are there to protect us,” she says.

Police say the missing 14-year-old is described as five feet one inch tall and weighing around 100 pounds.

She has brown hair and brown eyes, may be wearing glasses and has a rose tattoo on her left forearm.

Doyle is described as six feet tall, weighing 190 pounds, with long black hair, a full beard and a moustache, police say.

RCMP say aerial surveillance was initiated Wednesday night and continued Thursday. The Cape Breton Regional Police Dog Service is also assisting in the investigation, police say.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the youth are asked to contact Eskasoni RCMP at 902-379-2822.