RCMP say proposed NWT missing persons legislation would help investigations, but police say some changes are needed to comply with existing obligations.
Superintendent Dyson Smith shared law enforcement’s perspective on the draft Missing Persons Act during a Thursday public briefing with a committee of regular MLAs.
“It’s a very important piece of legislation,” Smith said, describing it as “very comprehensive and very thoughtful.”
“This gives us another tool for investigators to utilize outside of the criminal investigation realm,” he explained. “A lot of our investigations don’t centre around crimes that have been committed, they’re just missing.”
Last month, Department of Justice officials laid out how the proposed legislation would allow police to access records, search premises and make other emergency demands in non-criminal missing persons investigations.
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Smith said on Thursday police are already able to request information – such as cellphone records, banking activity or social media accounts – on humanitarian grounds if there’s a reason to believe someone’s health or well-being is in imminent danger.
But he said the missing persons legislation would provide a legal framework for accessing that information, as organizations aren’t currently required to provide it.
In criminal investigations, Smith said, police can access records and search premises through court orders and search warrants, but that can take time.
“It’s not like you see on Law and Order where they make a phone call and somebody issues a search warrant,” he said, adding a basic production order can take eight hours of work before it reaches a judge.
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“When you’re looking for people that might be in trouble, every second counts.”
Smith said the proposed legislation would expedite that process.
If people don’t want to be found
Smith said he would “be remiss,” however, if he did not highlight issues RCMP have with the bill as it’s currently written, saying the perceived problems were “not fatal flaws.”
In particular, he raised concern with sections of the bill that require RCMP to consider whether a missing person may not want to be found, such as if they are fleeing violence, before using powers under the legislation.
Smith said when someone is reported missing, RCMP are legally obligated to conduct a full investigation and “cannot take it for granted that person might not want to be found.”
“It doesn’t matter what the rationale is or what the reason is they are deemed to be missing,” he said. “They are also considered to be missing until located. So we actually have files that must remain open for 100 years if we cannot locate them.”
To close an investigation, Smith said police need credible information confirming the person’s identity and safety, including seeing them in person. If police fail to adhere to those policies, he said, that would be viewed as neglect of duty under the RCMP code of conduct.
Smith said there are already safeguards in place when private information is released to police, and what information police can release. He said, for example, that when a missing person is located, RCMP may inform the complainant that the person was found safe but not release their location or contact information.
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The NWT government introduced the proposed missing persons legislation in February, in response to a related call for justice in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The bill is now being reviewed by a committee of regular MLAs, which plans to hold public meetings in Aklavik and Inuvik later this month.
The disappearance of Frank Gruben, who grew up in Aklavik, is the highest-profile NWT missing persons case in recent years. His case has involved discussion of how missing persons legislation might have helped in the days after Frank’s May 2023 disappearance.
You can provide input on the bill by emailing the committee.
