{"id":838282,"date":"2026-07-31T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/838282\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:15:09","slug":"death-of-calgary-boy-with-autism-hits-home-for-conservative-mp-and-party-leader-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/838282\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of Calgary boy with autism hits home for Conservative MP and party leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever Mike Lake hears news that a child with autism is missing, he knows how vulnerable they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a need to catch my breath a little bit because it hits close to home right away,\u201d the Conservative MP from Alberta said in a phone interview on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Lake and his party\u2019s leader, Pierre Poilievre, are both fathers of children with autism. They are calling for a Canada-wide framework for public alerts when vulnerable children go missing, even when abduction or foul play is not suspected.<\/p>\n

Lake\u2019s son, Jaden, is now 30, but he said a child with autism on their own can be in serious danger within minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has and has always had a really visual memory. He would know exactly where a swimming pool that he likes is, or a park that he likes is, but the abstract world is a little bit tougher for him to navigate,\u201d Lake said about his son, who is non-verbal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo things like danger and understanding traffic, and dangers around water and those kind of things for a lot of kids on the autism spectrum \u2014 particularly in that range of the autism spectrum \u2014 are really difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 16, an 11-year-old boy named Parker, who had autism and was non-verbal, wandered from his daycare home in Calgary just before lunchtime. He was found dead in a labyrinth of pipes under the city, police announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Early in the search, Parker\u2019s family described him in a statement as a \u201cloved son, brother and friend.\u201d A massive search galvanized the city, with hundreds of officers and volunteers scouring city blocks, homes, sheds, garages, boats and under patio decks.<\/p>\n

The search raised questions about how to alert the public when vulnerable children disappear. Amber Alerts are currently broadcast for children abducted and in serious danger.<\/p>\n

In Parker\u2019s case, an Amber Alert was issued as a special exemption on the second day of the search.<\/p>\n

Lake and Poilievre say in a letter to Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski that according to Autism Canada, nearly half of children with autism are prone to wandering. Emergency alert systems, they note, are not properly equipped to respond when a child who has autism is non-verbal or is otherwise vulnerable disappears without evidence of foul play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger existed from the moment Parker went missing. The alert system should have been able to respond from that moment,\u201d Lake and Poilievre say in their letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever form the solution takes, the principle should be simple: the system must respond to the danger facing the child, not only to whether a crime is suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to calling for timely public alerts, the politicians also ask for strengthened first-responder training and search protocols for missing children who have autism and are non-speaking, as well as for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n

Olszewski, in a statement, said she has received the letter and would meet next week with Lake to discuss its proposals and how to strengthen emergency communications.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile provinces and territories are responsible for deciding when and how many types of alerts are issued, we remain committed to working together to ensure Canadians receive timely and reliable emergency alerts when they need them most,\u201d she says in the statement.<\/p>\n

She also shared condolences to the boy\u2019s loved ones.<\/p>\n

Because of Parker\u2019s case, a group of mothers have launched petitions urging officials to create alerts for neurodivergent children.<\/p>\n

Lake said children with autism can be drawn to things like traffic, water or, in his son\u2019s case, big dogs. He said their understanding of dangers \u2014 and the way they experience fear \u2014 may be different.<\/p>\n

He commended Calgary police in their communications with the public, which they explained Parker might not respond if called or could be frightened if approached by strangers.<\/p>\n

In their letter to Olszewski, Lake and Poilievre expressed gratitude to everyone who \u201cworked tirelessly to bring Parker home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think probably more than anything else, my heart just goes out to Parker and his family,\u201d Lake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2026.<\/p>\n

Rob Drinkwater, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n

Add CityNews Calgary as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\"Add
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whenever Mike Lake hears news that a child with autism is missing, he knows how vulnerable they are.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48,84,47,715],"class_list":["post-838282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-national","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}