Campaign Launches in Time for National Missing Children’s Day on May 25.

CANADIAN CENTRE FOR CHILD PROTECTION PARTNERS WITH MAC’S CONVENIENCE STORES AND TORONTO POLICE SERVICE TO HELP FIND CANADA’S MISSING CHILDREN


For Immediate Release

TORONTO, ON: No one expects their child to disappear. But every year, police across Canada receive more than 40,000 reports of missing children.1 Today, the Toronto Police Service (TPS), the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s MissingKids.ca program and Mac’s Convenience Stores (Mac’s) launched a campaign to promote National Missing Children’s Day, and to help raise funds and awareness in order to help bring Canada’s missing children home.

“Every day MissingKids.ca supports families of missing children, and we know that Canadians want to help, too,” said Christy Dzikowicz, Director of MissingKids.ca. “We’re so grateful that Mac’s has created this opportunity for Canadians to get involved to help ensure more kids are safely located, and that their families have the support they need while living a parent’s worst nightmare.”

From now until the end of August, customers can make a donation at the counter of Mac’s stores in Ontario to support the work of MissingKids.ca, a national program that assists with the location of missing children and provides ongoing support to their families. Mac’s customers are also encouraged to view province-specific ‘MissingKidsALERTS’ that will be displayed on screens in Mac’s stores across Canada.

“Creating awareness and engaging our community plays a key role in public safety,” said Sean Sportun, ICPS Manager, Security & Loss Prevention for Mac’s in Central Canada. “Keeping children safe should be a priority for everyone; we are very excited about teaming up with MissingKids.ca and the Toronto Police Service in helping to achieve this goal.”

The historical case of Nicole Morin, who disappeared in 1985 from the Toronto area when she was eight years old, is an example of the important collaboration between the TPS and MissingKids.ca. While the TPS continues to actively investigate this case, MissingKids.ca staff support the Morin family and raise public awareness that might generate new leads for police.

"The Toronto Police Service is proud to support the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and the work they do to support the families of missing kids," said Chief Blair. "Any public awareness, including that brought about through the efforts of community partners such as Mac's, protects our children and helps to bring home those who are missing."

Whether a child has been missing for one day or for many years, caseworkers at MissingKids.ca are there to provide critical support to families. MissingKids.ca is accessible 24-hours a day, seven-days-a-week by calling toll free at 1-866-KID-TIPS (866-543-8477), and will provide support, receive tips and sightings, and deliver important prevention and education materials to the public.

Canadians are encouraged to visit the missingkids.ca website and learn more about Canada’s missing children. Additionally, individuals can sign up to receive MissingKidsAlerts at http://www.missingkidsalert.ca/en/#signup.

MissingKids.ca is a program of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a registered charitable organization dedicated to the personal safety of children. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection does not receive any government funding for the operation of MissingKids.ca. 100 per cent of the funds raised during the campaign will be donated to MissingKids.ca.

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About the Canadian Centre for Child Protection:

The goal of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (www.protectchildren.ca) is to reduce child victimization by providing programs and services to the Canadian public. Its four national programs include Cybertip.ca (www.cybertip.ca), Canada’s tipline to report the online sexual exploitation of children; MissingKids.ca (www.missingkids.ca), a national missing children resource and response centre; Kids in the Know (www.kidsintheknow.ca), an interactive child personal safety program for children in Kindergarten to Grade Nine; and Commit to Kids (www.commit2kids.ca), a program to help child-serving organizations create safer environments for the children in their care and reduce their risk of sexual abuse.

About Nicole Morin:

On, Tuesday, July 30, 1985, in the Rathburn Road and Highway 427 area of Toronto, Nicole Louise Morin, 8, was excited to enjoy the day with her friends. Nicole had spoken to a friend earlier in the morning and had made a plan to meet up with her later that day to go swimming in her apartment building’s outdoor pool.

Unfortunately, Nicole never joined her friend.

Upon learning of Nicole’s disappearance, the Toronto Police Service became engaged in one of the most extensive and exhaustive searches in Toronto’s history.

When the initial building searches revealed no sign of Nicole, the search expanded to open areas, parks, creeks, rivers, wooded areas, retail areas and schools. The police asked for the assistance of the public to help in the search for Nicole. The plea for help generated a huge response from the community and hundreds of citizens, looking to help find the missing girl, came out to assist police.

As more time passed, Nicole’s case grew cold. Investigators from 22 Division continue to follow up on tips from the public, but none have ever brought police any closer to finding Nicole.

The Toronto Police Service sought the help of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in the search for Nicole. Posters of Nicole were placed in supermarkets and on the back of bank statements in an effort to generate any new information into Nicole’s disappearance. Age progression software has been used to develop a photograph of what Nicole may look like as an adult and has been sent out to the public.

Despite the best efforts of the Toronto Police Service and the members of the community who assisted in the search for Nicole, no trace of Nicole has ever been found. As of today, she is still listed as a Missing Person.

1. Reports of missing children are based on the Canadian Police Information Centre’s 2013 Missing Persons Statistical Report.

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