Ontario police seek tips on 310 missing children

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique took to Twitter this morning to ask Ontarians for their help in locating 310 children currently missing in the province.

The first statistics on missing children in Canada were released in 1987 – 57,233 children were reported missing that year. According to data compiled by Statistics Canada, in 2018 more than 40,500 missing children reports were filed.

While more than 31,000 are listed as “runaways,” there are some 9,000 other children who vanished for reasons “unknown” and more than 160 were considered “abductions” by parents with dual-custody, those involved in custody disputes, and total strangers.

In Ontario, 9,710 new missing children reports were filed with police in 2018.

Here are some pertinent stats about missing children across the country from Statistics Canada:

• 58% of all missing children/youth reports involve females.
• 73% of missing children/youth reports (male and female) are runaways.
• 62% of missing children/youth reports were removed within 24 hours, while 92% were removed within a week
• 57% of all missing persons reports (male and female, adults and children) involve children.
• British Columbia has the highest number of missing children reports per capita with 667 reports per 100,000 people, 92% higher than missing adult reports in the province, followed by Saskatchewan with 458 reports per 100,000 people, while Prince Edward Island has the lowest with 10 reports per 100,000 people.

If you have any information that could help find a missing child report it here.