Silver alert petition gains support

The wife of Earl Moberg, who vanished more than a year and a half ago, has reopened a petition to improve the alerting system when seniors go missing.

Brenda Moberg set up a table in the McIvor Mall on Henderson Highway on Saturday with pens and paper at the ready for anyone who wanted to sign a federal petition supporting the creation of a national silver alert. The system would broadcast an alert to cellphones, radio and television if a vulnerable adult went missing.

“We just want people to be alerted, because we feel that if we had this when Earl went missing, that maybe people would have noticed him,” she said on Saturday.

Earl Moberg — who was 81 at the time and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease — went missing on Dec. 12, 2023 after he wandered away from his home on Gilmore Avenue. He’s never been found, and his wife hasn’t received any new updates from police.

In the wake of her missing husband, Moberg launched a federal petition in October with Conservative MP Raquel Dancho. The petition, which gathered 4,673 signatures, was scheduled to close on Jan. 20 and be brought to parliament.

However, when parliament was prorogued on Jan. 6 and the federal election was called, it ended the progress for many bills and petitions, including Moberg’s.

“I just cried my eyes out, and I thought ‘What the heck?’ All that work and then it was all gone,” Moberg told the Free Press.

But she rallied her family to explore what other options they had to revive the campaign.

Moberg’s daughter, Britt Moberg, started a new petition in June that will close on Oct. 2. Because the previous petition was already widely known, people are more willing to sign on, said Moberg. So far, there’s 2,506 signatures.

Saturday was the second time she set up a table at the McIvor Mall to promote the petition. She chose that location because she and her husband would walk around there often. As his condition worsened, Moberg said her husband got lost in the mall.

“I just hope to make the predicament that happened to Earl not have to happen to others,” she said.

Keith Squirrell, 79, lives near the mall and decided the sign the petition because he believes more supports are needed if seniors go missing.

“You hear a lot about seniors missing, especially ones with Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “I’m hoping the petition is going to do some good to help people.”

Moberg is planning to set up tables again at Garden City Mall on Aug. 15 and Sept. 20.

matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca