Background - 2019 Fast Fact Sheet

Introduction

Since 2010, the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains (NCMPUR) has produced the NCMPUR Fast Fact Sheet. This fact sheet provides a national breakdown of missing persons reports by province, age (child or adult), sex, and probable cause. The NCMPUR 2019 Fast Fact Sheet has been prepared using numbers generated by the national Missing Children/Persons and Unidentified Remains (MC/PUR) Database, which provides the necessary data and tools to coordinate a national approach to these investigations. MC/PUR includes occurrences which are currently open, and concluded occurrences^{Footnote 1} only if they were open after May 16, 2014. This is the fifth year for which a full set of data exists in MC/PUR for statistical purposes.

The data in MC/PUR is derived from missing person transactions in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). Therefore, it is limited by the quality and types of data that agencies enter into CPIC and the techniques used by MC/PUR to compile that data. CPIC transactions include repeat runaways, and situations where a single instance of a missing person may be entered and deleted multiple times by different agencies over a period of time (e.g., a child goes missing with the initial report being filed with one police service; however, further investigation indicates the file falls within another police service's jurisdiction). MC/PUR uses algorithms in an attempt to identify and eliminate duplicate data and produce more accurate statistics. These algorithms are different from those used before 2015, so retroactive comparison to years before 2015 will not be completely correct^{Footnote 2}. An occurrence is considered as belonging to the year 2019 based on the reported Date Last Seen. The number of missing person subjects reported herein reflects a "point in time" and can change if records for 2019 cases are added, modified, or flagged as duplicate^{Footnote 3}.

It is also important to note that in terms of probable cause, there is some subjectivity in the original CPIC data that populates MC/PUR, and it may not be consistently completed nor maintained by agencies.

While the NCMPUR anticipates that future fast fact sheets will be in a similar format to the one produced this year, the categories may change in future years to provide a more comprehensive picture of the missing person reports. As the statistics become more descriptive, retroactive comparisons to previous years may not be possible.

Fast facts:

• 57% of missing adult reports in 2019 involved males.
• 66% of adults who wandered off in 2019 were males.
• 62% of missing adult reports in 2019 were removed within 24 hours, while 90% were removed within a week^{Footnote 5}.
• In 2019, British Columbia had the highest number of missing adult reports per capita, with 257 reports per 100,000 people, followed by the Yukon with 195 reports per 100,000 people. Nunavut had the lowest, with 8 reports per 100,000 people.

Fast facts:

• 57% of all missing children/youth reports in 2019 involved females.
• 74% of missing children/youth reports (male and female) in 2019 were runaways.
• 63% of missing children/youth reports in 2019 were removed within 24 hours, while 93% were removed within a week^{Footnote 7}.
• 55% of all missing persons reports (male and female, adults and children) involve children.
• In 2019, Manitoba had the highest number of missing children reports per capita, with 594 reports per 100,000 people, followed by Saskatchewan with 427 reports per 100,000 people. Prince Edward Island had the lowest, with 4 reports per 100,000 people.

Date modified:

2020-02-27