🚨 Alberta Mother Calls for More Action as Son Remains Missing – “He’s Out There”
Nearly a month after six-year-old Darius Macdougall vanished during a family camping trip in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, his mother Maegan Bernicky continues to plead for stronger police action and wider search efforts to bring her son home.
“I was a wreck, because they said he was presumed dead,” Bernicky said in an exclusive interview with Global News. “How do you release that he’s presumed dead if you haven’t found a body or anything?”
Darius disappeared on September 21, 2025, while playing with other children near Island Lake Campground, roughly 250 kilometres south of Calgary. He had been camping with his father, his father’s girlfriend, his grandmother, and extended family members when he went missing. Bernicky was at home when she received the devastating news. “I went crazy,” she said. “I went out there myself and started looking for him.”
📍 Timeline and Search Efforts
A massive ground search was launched immediately after Darius disappeared. Search-and-rescue teams, volunteers, and RCMP officers combed the mountainous and forested area for over a week. On October 1, however, the official search was suspended. RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney told reporters: “If Darius is still in the search site, it is our belief that he is no longer alive.”
Despite the statement, the investigation remains active. Bernicky says she’s been in contact with the RCMP but feels updates have been minimal. “I called them last Tuesday,” she said. “I asked, ‘Why didn’t you classify this as a possible abduction? Why aren’t you looking at it like that?’”
🚨 Amber Alert vs. Child Search Alert
RCMP have not issued an Amber Alert in Darius’s case but instead released a Child Search Alert through the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC). These alerts are text-based notifications sent to registered subscribers once a defined search area is established, but they do not reach the general public in the same way as Amber Alerts.
The criteria for issuing an Amber Alert are strict. Police must have reasonable grounds to believe a child under 18 has been abducted and is in imminent danger, with enough descriptive details to assist in recovery. In Darius’s case, police say there was no evidence suggesting he was removed from the site.
“Based on the information the family on scene provided, there was nothing to lead investigators to believe that he was subject to an abduction,” said Cpl. Slaney.
Bernicky, however, remains unconvinced. “I feel like he’s out there. I feel like someone has him,” she said. “I’ve felt that since Day 2 or Day 3 when they were getting no hits of him on the mountain.”
📢 Petition for Darius’s Law
Ronnie DeGagne, a friend of the family, launched a petition known as “Darius’s Law” to reform Canada’s Amber Alert system. The petition, which now has over 13,200 verified signatures, calls for more flexibility in issuing alerts for high-risk disappearances, not only confirmed abductions.
The proposal includes creating a legal definition for “high-risk disappearance” — covering situations near highways, borders, or wilderness areas, or involving children whose age or conditions place them in immediate danger. “When a boy goes missing near a highway, wooded area, or border, we need every tool available, especially in those critical hours,” DeGagne said.
🛣️ Why Roads Weren’t Closed
Bernicky also questioned why surrounding roads were not shut down during the early stages of the search. RCMP explained that road closures are only implemented when there are grounds to suspect a criminal element.
“For missing persons investigations, roadways are not closed unless there are grounds to believe a criminal element is in play,” said Slaney. “In cases such as this, Search and Rescue is deployed to the point last seen, a radius is established and searched in a thorough manner.”
💔 A Mother’s Hope
As the weeks pass, Bernicky says she still feels in her heart that her son is alive. “He’s out there,” she said firmly. “They have to do more. I’m not giving up.”
🔗 Source
👉 What You Can Do
- Support verified petitions like Darius’s Law to improve missing child alert systems.
- Share verified information to keep Darius’s case visible.
- Encourage community dialogue about reforming Canada’s Amber Alert criteria.
Visit CanadaMissing.ca for more Canadian missing person cases.
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