B.C. Amber Alert cancelled after roughly 90 minutes

An Amber Alert that was issued province-wide in British Columbia Saturday has been cancelled, roughly 90 minutes after it began.

Surrey RCMP – which issued the alert – did not provide an immediate explanation for why it had been cancelled.

Authorities have removed the names and images of the two-month-old victim and the suspect, as is standard practice in such cases. CTV News has done the same.

B.C. residents received the alert on their cellphones shortly before 12:30 p.m. Saturday. 

Amber Alerts are issued “only for the most serious, time-critical child abduction cases,” according to the BC RCMP website. 

The explanation adds that such alerts are “not intended for cases involving parental abductions, except in life-threatening situations.”

Amber Alerts can only be activated in B.C. when all of the following conditions are met:

The victim is under the age of 18

Police have reasonable grounds to believe that the victim has been abducted

Police have reasonable grounds to believe the victim is in imminent danger

Police have obtained enough descriptive information about the victim, abductor and/or the vehicle involved

And police believe that the alert can be issued in a time frame that will provide a reasonable expectation that the child can be returned or the abductor apprehended

Saturday’s was the second Amber Alert issued in B.C. in 2023. The first was issued in July and led to a 10-day search for two children police said had been abducted by their mother.

The children were found safe in rural Alberta on July 29, and the mother and her boyfriend were each charged in the case.