CALGARY – Calgary police say they still believe 11-year-old Parker Wells can be found alive as the search for the non-verbal boy with autism crossed the one-week mark on Thursday. The extensive search has not been scaled back, as police have deployed drones and other specialized resources, while firefighters, search-and-rescue crews and hundreds of volunteers comb parks, pathways and neighbourhoods. “Never give up. We’re standing with you 100 per cent, Parker,” said Deanna Daher, who has spent the past week supporting the search effort. “The parents aren’t alone. The city has pulled together and showed what true Calgarians are about.” Investigators are also renewing their appeal for homeowners and businesses to thoroughly search their properties, urging residents to check under decks, inside sheds, in hot tubs, among accumulated debris and anywhere someone could hide. Joe Diwan, whose family lives near the police command post established in the Thorncliffe community where Parker was last seen on July 16, said the response has united Calgarians. “It’s definitely impacted the community and the city. The support has been amazing,” he said. Mark Burbridge, who also lives in the northwest community, said police downloaded footage from his home security camera after it captured Parker walking by. “He was walking south on the other side of the road,” Burbridge said, adding that police also searched his home. “They checked underneath my beds, closets, cubbyholes — anywhere someone could hide." Another neighbour, Mark Burney, said he is struggling to understand how Parker has remained missing, despite the enormous search effort. “There’s hundreds of people searching every nook, cranny, hillside, whatever. It blows my mind,” Burney said. “You know what I mean? In this day and age, we can’t find a kid that’s got lost.” Parents question use of Amber Alert As the search continues, Parker’s disappearance has continued to fuel discussion about Canada’s alert system when vulnerable children go missing. Some have questioned why an Amber Alert was not issued until two days after Parker disappeared. “I believe that if the Amber Alert went out when it should have, he would have been home,” said Daher. The Alberta government says police only activate an Amber Alert if four criteria have been met: The search has inspired Jennifer Ball, a Calgary mother whose son is on the autism spectrum, to launch a petition calling for an “Indigo Alert” — a proposed emergency alert category for vulnerable, neurodivergent children who go missing. “I truly didn’t know until a week ago that the Amber Alert is truly just an abducted child, and not a missing child,” Ball said. “I think that we just have to create a sub-category for the children that are not in that Amber Alert.” Ball said Parker’s disappearance has been difficult to comprehend. “It’s been a week … and I think it’s devastating that we haven’t seen anything.”
