Would AirTags prevent deaths when Quebec seniors go missing?

Could AirTags help avoid tragedies when seniors go missing?

Among the 17,466 missing persons reports recorded in Quebec in 2025, police say they are receiving increasing phone calls about one demographic in particular: seniors living with cognitive disorders.

Last year, police forces across Quebec reported that 1,489 seniors aged 65 and over went missing.

• READ MORE: 4 dead seniors in 1 month raise alarms about future of long-term care as Quebec’s population ages

According to André-Philippe Savoie, lieutenant in charge of specialists in the emergency response unit at the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the force’s search strategy remains the same despite the volume of disappearances.

“A person with cognitive impairment will mostly move in a straight line,” Savoie tells Noovo Info, explaining that he based his research on numerous behavioural analyses in cases of disappearance.

Alerte SILVER

In 2023, the Quebec government launched a pilot project called Alerte SILVER in some regions of the province to help locate missing seniors.

The project ended in 2024 and has not been renewed.

The Quebec Ministry of Public Security maintains that “work is continuing on the Silver Alert system,” but refused to grant an interview on the subject.

Marguerite Blais, the Quebec minister responsible for seniors from 2018 to 2022, says she is filled with “dismay and sadness” that the project has been essentially abandoned.

• READ MORE: A third Montreal-area senior has died after being found outside in the cold

“We hear horror stories of elderly people who have gotten lost [...] who die, who freeze outside,” she said. ”We should use all the tools available to us.”

All the same, she points out that the project “proved difficult with both the Ministry of Public Security and the Sûreté du Québec,” citing “the fear of disturbing people too often.”

As a result, some families say they are using AirTags to track the movements of their older loved ones.

Police say they encourage the initiative, as intrusive as it may be, “because without it, if people don’t have a cell phone and they leave without a vehicle or bank card...it’s much more difficult to locate them,” said Éric Bolduc, head of the SQ’s missing persons and unsolved cases division.

The Quebec Federation of Alzheimer Societies acknowledges that “the disappearance of an elderly person is a deeply disturbing human reality,” but did not wish to grant an on-camera interview with Noovo Info.