New Missing Persons Act comes into force in the Yukon

The Government of Yukon is committed to protecting the safety and wellbeing of all Yukoners. In support of this commitment and in keeping with the implementation plan for Changing the Story to Upholding Dignity and Justice: Yukon’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit+ People Strategy and Call for Justice 5.8 of the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Yukon’s Missing Persons Act came into force today.

The Act details what information the RCMP can access when someone goes missing in the Yukon while balancing an individual’s right to privacy. It is designed to help police complete missing persons investigations quickly and successfully by allowing fast access to important information.

This legislation supports the goals of coordinated and effective violence prevention, intervention and crisis response across the Yukon to contribute to safer and healthier communities for Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit+ People, as discussed in both the implementation plan for Changing the Story to Upholding Dignity and Justice and Call for Justice 5.8.

In the years of work to develop the Missing Persons Act and Regulation, the Government of Yukon engaged with women’s organizations in the Yukon, Yukon First Nations and the RCMP. The coming into force of this legislation brings the Yukon in line with other jurisdictions across Canada.

The Act strikes a balance between police powers and maintaining individual rights to privacy by:

• limiting the RCMP’s use of information obtained under the Act solely to the investigation of the person’s disappearance;
• mandating court oversight by requiring that orders to access information through the Act must be granted by the Territorial Court and that police must justify why the information will help to locate the person and;
• prohibiting the public release of any information collected under the Act, unless it is deemed necessary to locate the person, with the Act and Regulations strictly limiting what information may be released in these circumstances.