Recent cases of missing Manitoba seniors revive calls for silver alert notification system

Quickly issuing public alerts when seniors go missing would improve their chances of making it home safely, says a Winnipeg woman who hasn’t seen her husband in more than 19 months.

Brenda Moberg, whose husband Earl was last seen on Dec. 12, 2023, has been advocating with her family for more than a year for a national silver alert program for speedy public notifications via cellphone networks, similar to amber alerts issued when children go missing.

The issue is again in the spotlight following Saturday’s disappearance of Ralph Osterwald, 66. RCMP said the Gimli man was last seen at about 7 p.m., cycling away from his residence on a grey mountain bike. He is believed to still be in the Gimli area.

And on July 15, 69-year-old Stewart Campbell was last seen at a friend’s place in Stonewall at about 3:30 a.m. He was reported missing two days later.

His car was found in the RM of MacDonald on July 24 east of Starbuck.

An aerial search of the area failed to locate him, and residents in the area have been asked to check their properties and any security cameras they have.

Moberg, whose online and paper petitions have garnered more than 2,800 signatures, said people need to know quickly that a senior is missing so they can help if they see the person.

“We want people to be found as soon as possible and that’s why silver alerts are needed,” she said Tuesday.

Kildonan-St. Paul Tory MP Raquel Dancho said she intends to take the call for a silver alert system to the floor of the House of Commons when it resumes in the fall.

“We are really very keen on this, it is going well,” Dancho said, adding that by 2030 there will be nearly one million people living with Alzheimer’s disease.

She said the need for a notification system is clear; an estimated 60 per cent of people with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia will go missing at some point.

“If they do go missing, there is a 50 per cent chance that if they are not found within 12 hours they will be found injured or deceased,” she said. “So time is really of the essence.”

Dancho said some people she has talked to are concerned about getting yet another alert on their phones.

“I think it is a small inconvenience for a much greater good,” she said.

Osterwald’s family declined a Free Press request for comment Tuesday.

Lana Knor, a relative of Campbell, said she thinks an alert could have helped in his situation. She said Campbell hasn’t been diagnosed with dementia, but he does get mixed up.

She said foul play is not suspected; it appears Campbell simply got in his car and drove until he ran out of gas near Starbuck.

“Leaving and not telling anyone is not in his character,” she said. “He was a homebody.

“It is not in his personality to just jump in a car with strangers or to pick up someone, but if mixed up, then who knows what he has done? We do not believe he left to take his life; he truly is missing and this makes no sense to anyone who cares about him.”

Knor said Campbell took a cat with him, so she said if anyone in the Starbuck area has found a stray cat they should call the RCMP.

“We just want to find him,” she said. “That’s all we want.”

RCMP spokeswoman Michelle Lissel said there are no updates on either recent case.

Lissel said the RCMP uses the Alert Ready system which sends out notifications about missing children as well as weather events and other emergencies.

“We do want to underline that all missing persons are thoroughly investigated by officers and that we use traditional media as well as our social media channels to ensure Manitobans are quickly alerted to any missing persons where there is concern for their safety,” Lissel said.

A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba’s Emergency Measures Organization has brought forward recommendations for having silver alerts issued on phones, television and radio.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca