OTTAWA - A New Democrat MP is calling for a national DNA databank to help trace missing persons.
Wayne Marston says he took up the issue when he was approached by the Hamilton-area family of Billy Mason, who disappeared in February 2006.
Marston says there is a patchwork process in place to check DNA in missing-persons cases, but he says it's governed by luck.
He says a national DNA bank and missing-persons index would enable law enforcement to cross-check DNA on items and remains that have been found with that of missing persons.
Mason's family has started a national petition with 6,600 signatures calling on Parliament to review research and legislate implementation of a DNA human-remains index and a DNA databank for missing persons.
The petition states there are thousands of missing-person cases in Canada and no established method to cross-reference recovered remains with people on the missing-persons list.
The federal, provincial and territorial governments have been discussing a DNA missing-persons index, but the petition says while they talk families suffer without closure even though their loved ones may already have been found.
