Missing Persons Act to be proclaimed soon, says minister
Justice minister's response comes after delay in accessing phone records for James Cuthbert
Nova Scotia's justice minister says she hopes to proclaim a new law, soon, that would make it easier for police to get telephone records in the case of a missing person.
The police now have access to the cellphone information for the 71-year-old man missing in the Halifax region, Jim Cuthbert. However, there was a delay in getting that information. Bell Mobility says, in the end, Cuthbert's wife, who is authorized on his account, allowed police access to his records.
The Missing Persons Act was passed in December of 2012, but it has not yet been proclaimed into law.
Justice Minister Lena Diab says justice officials have been consulting about regulations that will support the law.
She also says that time is just about up, and the new law will be in place in less than two months.
"We were moving it forward, now we are going to make sure that we have everything that we need to do done as soon as possible to ensure that we can proclaim it. So, certainly, I’m looking at shorter than two months. We’re going to try to do this as soon as we can," says Diab.
Diab says everyone in government hopes Cuthbert is found soon.
He's not been seen since Sunday.