Chilliwack RCMP had issued a press release about her disappearance, but Durham says it didn’t get enough attention to make locals aware of the grave danger she was in.
“It was so out of character for her to just walk away like that,” Durham said. Belle had left her two young sons in the care of a friend.
On June 2, 2021, Bell’s body was found in the Fraser River near Coquitlam. Police said foul play is not suspected.
Although the Coroner’s Service concluded that she died by drowning, it did not classify whether it was accidental, murder, natural or suicide. The medical examiner’s report said the night before she disappeared, Bell visited the Chilliwack hospital and “staff arranged for an outpatient mental health appointment,” the Chilliwack Progress reported.
Durham is now pushing for Ottawa to expand Canada’s National Public Alert System to include missing adults who police identify as being at high risk of harm or harm.
Her plea comes as the second anniversary of the day Bell first disappeared from her Chilliwack apartment approaches.
Durham says an early warning system for adults may have saved her elderly daughter.
“My result will never change, but I want it for other families. If an adult is in serious danger of harm, the public needs to know.’
America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) warning system was developed after the 1996 abduction and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman from Texas. The police now use it to quickly spread information to inform the public about child abduction cases.
In British Columbia, the Amber Alert system was introduced in May 2004 and is used as a tool by law enforcement to locate and rescue children from accidents.
Durham wrote a legislative bill in hopes that the same use of text messages, radio and television announcements and highway message boards could be used to quickly inform thousands of people across the province about missing adults, including their physical description and last known whereabouts.
Chilliwack-Hope MP Mark Strahl voiced his support for the bill.
However, in order for any private cabinet member to present himself before parliament, his number must be drawn from a lottery with 297 others. And the approval process for private members’ bills has been difficult, with only six bills being advanced by the House of Commons since the 2021 federal election.
Durham’s Change.org petition bringing attention to the cause has garnered more than 3,600 signatures.
“Time is critical in these cases, so we have to do it,” the mother said.
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