Kananaskis, Alberta — A ceremony was held on Saturday, November 1, 2025 in Lethbridge to raise awareness about a petition designed to raise awareness about the need for reforming the national Amber Alert.
The petition was launched by friends of the family of Darius Macdougall, who disappeared while out camping with his family in Kananaskis country.
Kananaskis country (also known as K-Country) is a multi-use area located west of Calgary in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies, Alberta).
"I started this petition after a young boy named Darius went missing from our community near the Alberta/B.C. border next to a highway," said petition organizer Ronnie DeGagne.
According Darius' family, on the weekend of September 21 there were 10 children in the group, including six-year-old Darius MacDougall, his father, his father's girlfriend, and Darius' grandparents.
"Darius and the other children knew their way around, like it's not something unusual for them. Didn't think nothing about it," said Tina Herron, Darius' grandmother.
Herron told Global News that they just finished having multiple birthdays' cause they had three birthdays for the weekend. They were cleaning up, getting everything packed up. The children were asked to go clean up toys, garbage, whatever's laying around.
"As they were doing that, Darius and two of the other children went across the water to play," said Herron.
But when two of the children returned about 20 minutes later, Darius was not with them. The other children said he was missing.
"No Amber Alert was ever issued and I realized there was a dangerous gap in our system," said petition organizer Ronnie DeGagne."
Police are unable to issue an alert without a confirmed proof of an abduction even when a child is at risk.
"I began this petition so no parents of a child have to go through that silence again."
The intensive search for Macdougall was called off after 11 days.
"There are too many cases of missing people, children, Indigenous people, vanishing without a trace despite the use of dogs, cadaver dogs, drones and helicopters," DeGagne said. "And they're vanishing near highways, near borders, and national parks. We fear these are areas being exploited by smugglers and traffickers and we're advocating for national amber alert reform."
DeGagne said he hopes to take the petition, which had close to 14,000 signatures on Sunday afternoon, to Ottawa to advocate for national Amber Alert reform.
"We're optimistic but there's a long battle ahead and we're going to keep fighting," DeGagne said.
