May 25 is National Missing Children’s Day. Two hundred and thirty children, from infants to age 17, dating back to 1953, are featured on Canada’s Missing website – The National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains (NCMPUR) administered by the RCMP. While these are not Canada’s only missing children, the ones on the site come from every province and territory and their disappearances include everything from suspected drownings, to runaways, parental abductions, and most rare of all, abduction by stranger.
Michael Dunahee, 4 (Victoria, BC); Tammy Nattaway, 16 (Garden Hill, Man); Rico Akpaleapik, 15 (Nunavut); Madison Roy-Boudreau, 14 (Bathhurst, NS); David Fortin, 15 (Alma, Que); Tamra Keepness, 5 (Regina, Sk); Dylan Ehler, 3 (Truro, NS); Melanie Ethier, 15 New Liskeard, Ont); Adam 14, Trevor, 11 and Mitchell O’Brien, 5 (Torbay, NFL); and Nicole Morrin, 8 (Toronto). Eve Lazarus graphic, May 2026
Cold Case BC:
The hardest part for me when I was writing Cold Case BC, was researching the cases of missing children and knowing that for everyone I wrote about, there are many more still missing. How many of these children are missing because of abduction, human trafficking, or, as the police like to say, “foul play?” I wish I could tell you. Unfortunately, the definition of a missing person—anyone whose whereabouts are unknown—is so broad that it renders annual statistics published by NCMPUR almost meaningless.
According to NCMPUR, 34,189 children were reported missing across Canada in 2025. Reasons for these disappearances are categorized into eleven categories. These include runaways (which account for 70% of all missing children), accidents, human trafficking and unknown. A total of 13 children—eight female and five male, were categorized as stranger abduction. One in five missing children were Indigenous.
More than half of all missing children were found within 24 hours, 91% were found within a week.
How many are still missing? We don’t know.
As well as a lack of context for these huge numbers, there is inconsistency in reporting. We don’t know from these numbers how long a child has been missing or whether they are a teen late home for dinner, a body that hasn’t been recovered from a boating accident, or a toddler snatched off the front porch of their home ten years ago.
Cold Case Canada:
In December 2025 I changed the name of my Facebook page from Cold Case BC to Cold Case Canada (the name of my podcast). It was always my intention to go outside BC, but quite honestly there have been so many cases to cover in my home province that it’s taken a bit of time to branch out.
I’m often contacted by the families, friends and law enforcement who are trying to create awareness for a missing child. Sometimes these children have been missing for decades, and while the chance of getting answers is slim, it’s a small way to honour and remember the child and the impact that their loss has had on their family, friends and community. In a best-case scenario, I hope that the posts will prompt new information that could help police provide the families with some answers.
If you have or know of a missing child that you would like me to write about, please send a photo and a brief write up as well as your connection to the person to eve@evelazarus.com.
Related:
- Terri-Lynn Scalf
- Joanne Pedersen
- Michael Smith
- Casey Bohun
- Brenda Byman
- Lindsey Nicholls
- Philip Porter
- Ryan and Russell Jack
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