Long-awaited DNA index aimed at solving missing persons cases

The federal government has finally launched its missing persons DNA databank to collect and store the DNA of missing Canadians and their consenting relatives, an initiative that had become mired by delays and privacy concerns.

The hope is that the databank will help crack outstanding cases by allowing coroners, medical examiners and police  investigators to use the index to match missing persons with unidentified human remains.

"The RCMP has been using DNA for about 18 or 19 years now, criminally, but this is the first program that extends that beyond criminal investigations [to help identify missing persons]," said Insp. Roland Gosselin of the RCMP's National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.   

There are three components of the new databank that correspond with where DNA in the databank comes from, Gosselin explained. DNA can be obtained from a missing person's personal items such as a hairbrush, from a body that hasn't been identified or from a close relative of the missing person, provided with their consent. 

"The relatives of the missing person, by submitting a sample we can confirm if a remain is found down the road. The missing person's index gets compared to all indices within the databank, so if this DNA would show up at a crime scene or something 20 years on, we'd at least be able to pinpoint a kind of a location and a time," he said. 

The idea for the databank sprang from the work of Judy Peterson, whose daughter Lindsey Nicholls went missing in 1993.

The federal government first promised the legislation, called Lindsey's Law, in its 2014 budget, committing $8 million to create the DNA-based missing persons index. 

Delays, privacy issues

Lindsey's Law was supposed to be rolled out in 2017, but by last year families were left wondering what had happened to the promised DNA databank. 

"It's very frustrating to get letters saying, you know, 'Very sorry for your loss and we're sorry for the delay,' and just nothing seems to be happening," Peterson said at the time. 

On Ottawa Morning, Gosselin chalked the delays up to the time it took to consult with federal agencies and issues with privacy. 

"There was a change to legislation in 2014, but then after that there's considerable consultation with a number of agencies.... We have to be very careful to safeguard Canadians' personal information as well as implementing this program," he said. 

"You don't get consent from a person who's missing, and no one else can consent for that person, if they're an adult," Gosselin explained. "So what we do is 'informed understanding,' basically explain to the family member what it is that we're using it for, basically the purpose and what the missing persons program does."

A relative can also change their mind about providing DNA. They can withdraw their consent at any time, Gosselin said, and then it's removed from the database.