During the last 10 years, Christine Moore has advocated her adult son who, according to her, fights with mental illnesses and addictions, but privacy laws have made it difficult for her to obtain the information she needs to take care of it.
Since her son disappeared more than a year ago, she says that these problems have become even more evident.
Moore lives in Alberta and says that it is not uncommon to spend long periods of time without talking to his son. He has not had a cell phone since 2022, but she says that he would always call at Christmas and on her birthday in January.
“When he didn’t call Christmas or his birthday, I knew something was wrong,” he said.
Christopher Newton, 33, disappeared in December 2023, according to police.
Nelson’s police department told CBC Newton that Newton was last seen at the Walmart in Nelson, BC, where Moore says he lived in the streets. Nelson, located on the shores of Lake Kootenay, is about 164 kilometers southeast of Kelowna.
Moore says he has not spoken with his son since then.
His understanding was Newton sightings last summer, although Nelson’s police say that the information they advertised for the first time stating that it was seen in the center in August has proven incorrect.
Newton often visited the support services in Nelson and called his mother from those places, but Moore says he cannot confirm if the dissemination workers saw him last summer due to the privacy laws that protect Newton’s personal information.
She is asking for a systemic change to privacy guidelines and the way in which people not attacked are taken care of other families do not go through the same.
In BC, in the vast majority of cases, a person must provide verbal or written consent so that family members can access personal information about them, such as health or support services records.
“Ensure that personal health information is confidential is a priority for the government, as well as for medical care providers who attend patients,” the Ministry of Health told CBC News in a statement.
An exception is in emergency situations.
According to the Ministry, if a person is in crisis and could represent a risk for themselves or for someone else, information about them can be shared between medical care providers and family members.
But Moore says that he has not hit anything more than road blocks from the treatment centers, support agencies and the Ministry of Health when he tries to obtain more information about his son, where he has been and his condition.
“I think that if I had allowed me to be part of his care that he would not be missing today,” said the mother.
“In the case of a missing person like Christopher’s, it is necessary that there is something that allows all barriers to collapse only so that we can obtain the information we need. I call a psychiatric room and say: ‘Well, Sorry, we can’t give you any information …
Aislin Jackson, a policy personnel lawyer of the BC civil freedom association, says there is some flexibility within the BC laws when it comes to information or released, but the main mechanism is to protect the privacy of people and their Right to autonomy.
“The fundamental idea is to put people in control of their own information, and for that reason, we really do not have rights to access other people’s information, even if those people are our relationships, because it is personal autonomy about this information “.
Jackson says not everyone has a positive relationship with their parents or spouse, for example, so the laws are written as they are.
In BC, adults can accept approving the power of decision making to another person in things such as financial matters and medical care if they believe they will be unable to do so independently in the future. But Moore says he didn’t know that such representation agreements were options until after Newton disappeared.
Asking for a first housing approach
Moore says that his son suffers from schizophrenia, which leads him to live in the streets and finally resort to drugs to try to control symptoms.
CBC News could not confirm Newton’s diagnosis due to privacy laws, but Moore says he was formally diagnosed by a psychiatrist through the judicial system at age 20.
She says the symptoms began when he was 23 years old and has only worsened since then. Newton has been entering and leaving prison for things like joy, taking a motorized vehicle without consent and driving it.
Moore blames medical and judicial systems, calling them a “vicious circle.”
“Mental illness is not a crime, addiction is not a moral failure, and poverty is not a choice,” he said.
“There must be a housing approach first. The solution does not displace them. I think the wrapping services must be there and must be individualized for each person.”
Research from the missing person
Nelson Police first informed Newton missing on January 4, 2025, after Moore presented a missing person report. Research on your whereabouts is ongoing.
In an email to CBC News, the Nelson Police Department said they have followed a series of potential clients. They are asking anyone with information to communicate with the local detachment.
Newton has five 10 -inch feet and 159 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and a skateboard tattoo on his left shoulder.
