AMBER Alert was introduced to Quebec on May 26, 2003.

During an abduction, every minute counts, so the cooperation of media and citizens is crucial to the police. This is the purpose of the AMBER Alert, which is triggered in the most serious and time-critical abduction cases of children under the age of 18.

• Criteria
• Function
• Partnership
• Background

Criteria 

These four criteria must be met, simultaneously and with no exceptions, before the police will trigger an AMBER Alert:

1. The missing person is a child under the age of 18.
2. The police have reason to believe that the missing child has been abducted.
3. The police have reason to believe that the physical safety or the life of the child is in serious danger.
4. The police have information that may help locate the child, the suspect and/or the suspect's vehicle.

Function 

If all four criteria are met, the SPVM or one of our police partners may call an AMBER Alert.

• Simultaneously, all Quebec Ministry of transport message boards broadcast the police messages. Société d'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) road traffic controllers also help with the search.
• Television and radio stations broadcast a description of the child, the abductor and/or the abductor's car. The alert asks the listening and viewing audience to contact 9-1-1 immediately if they have any information that could lead to the child or the suspect.
• On the radio, the information is broadcast every 20 minutes for two hours or less if the child is found.
• On the television, the information is broadcast on a ticker tape at the bottom of the screen for two hours with no interruptions. After this, the ticker tape is withdrawn, but the police continue to inform the public through the usual means of communication.

Child Alert App (Androit and iPhone)

Partnership

The AMBER Alert is able to function thanks to the cooperation of the following organizations:

• Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM)
• Sûreté du Québec (SQ)
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
• Missing Children's Network
• Quebec 9-1-1 Emergency Centres
• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ)
• Ministère des Transports du Québec
• Quebec radio and television stations
• L’Association canadienne des télécommunications sans fil (ACTS) : les alertes Amber sans fil sont maintenant offertes gratuitement aux clients canadiens de la téléphonie cellulaire. C’est un nouveau service par texto qui contribuera au retour sécuritaire d’enfants victimes d’enlèvement. Les clients de la plupart des fournisseurs canadiens de services sans fil auront la possibilité de recevoir gratuitement les alertes Amber par texto en s’inscrivant sur le site Internet suivant : http://www.ambersansfil.ca/
• Facebook and the Child Safety Research & Innovation Center (CIRSC) of New-Brunswick : It will be now possible to subscribe to the Quebec AMBER alert page on Facebook to receive informations regarding an initiated Amber alert in the province.

Background

The AMBER Alert program was created in 1996 in the United States after a tragedy in Arlington, Texas, when 9-year-old Amber Hageman was abducted from a park where she was playing near her home. Four days later she was found murdered, even though a citizen had described the suspect and his vehicle to the police.

Several citizens then suggested to the media that in similar situations, they could broadcast a media alert to inform the public. On April 30, 2003, the “AMBER Alert Bill” was enacted in all American states.

AMBER Alert stands for “America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.”