Adam Miller, The Canadian Press Published Sunday, Jul. 22, 2012 6:27AM EDT Last Updated Monday, Jul. 23, 2012 7:18AM EDT
A national database to help identify missing persons and unidentified remains is more than a year away, but families and experts say that DNA is the missing piece of the puzzle that the initiative needs.
Judy Peterson has been a proponent of such a database since her daughter, Lindsey Jill Nicholls, went missing in 1993.
"I think the DNA databank is just the missing piece," she said from her home in Sidney, B.C. "I believe it will happen, I just can't understand why it's taking so long."
Peterson started a petition in 2003 called Lindsey's Law, calling for DNA from missing persons and unidentified remains to be added to the National DNA Data Bank, which was set up in 2000 to help police with their investigations.
Melanie Alix's son Dylan Koshman went missing in Edmonton in October, 2008 and she too has been petitioning the government for such an addition to the data bank.
"I'd give my life to find my son," she said from her home in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Alix and her husband gave DNA samples to police in Edmonton after her son's disappearance, but they were not accessible to law enforcement in other provinces because there is no national DNA database for missing persons and unidentified remains.
A new index called the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains would store descriptive information on these cases and allow for them to be compared nationally for the first time when it launches in late 2013, but it won't include DNA.
The federal government has been resistant to amending the National DNA Data Bank to include the thousands of missing persons and hundreds of unidentified bodies across the country. It cites privacy concerns and high costs.
Read more:
No DNA in new missing and unidentified persons database
- Molecular Visualizations of DNA [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA Structure [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- Time Is Money Presents: Dna vs. T-rex [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA Replication Process [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- darwin deez - dna (official video) [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- The Secret of Life -- Discovery of DNA Structure [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA - Blonde Red Head (from Downtown 81) [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- How Big is Your Genome? Strange DNA [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA live [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- Amanda Knox's father says DNA evidence 'critical' [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Judge: No more DNA testing in Amanda Knox appeal [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- NASA | DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Starchild Skull- The SHOCKING DNA Results Are In....WATCH THIS! *HD* [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Svante Pääbo: DNA clues to our inner neanderthal [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- CIA may have tried 'to trick DNA from Bin Laden' [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- SMACK/ URL Presents DNA vs X-Factor [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Court denies re-test of DNA in Amanda Knox trial [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Chapter 10: Tenacious DNA [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- dna [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- Saul Williams - DNA [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA--Not Moving [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA Extraction Home Experiment [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- How to extract DNA from strawberries [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- frequency 528 Hz (DNA repair frequency ?) : NO MUSIC single tone [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- darwin deez - dna [director's cut] [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA Replication Song [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- BioRap (DNA Replication and Protein Synthesis with a Beat) [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA Transcription and Protein Assembly [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- 888 Gateway DNA Meditation [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- From DNA to Protein [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- Blame it on the DNA [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- DNA Replication [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- Recombinant DNA ©2004 Demonstratives, Inc. [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- A Flock of Seagulls - DNA [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- DNA - Detached (from Downtown 81) [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- Aliens, UFOs, DNA [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- DNA Speaks On Recent Battles And X-Factor [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- The DNA of the World's Most Innovative Companies [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Anunnaki Human DNA 1 [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Host DNA Dicing - Green Phat Bet - 11bill+ Total - [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Judge Alex - DNA Test [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Prosecution downplays DNA in Knox appeal [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- NASA officially announces alien DNA found in meteorites. [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- Antimatter Found, Artificial DNA ,Social Unrest [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- Chrono Khalid - DNA activation 2.0 [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- 'Baby' Alien found by farmer in Mexico - DNA tests and scans baffles scientists [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- DNA : The Secret Of Life (PBS) [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- DNA - Size [Last Updated On: September 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 27th, 2011]
- Starchild Skull 2010 DNA Result [Last Updated On: September 28th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 28th, 2011]
- Cowboy BeBop- Ask DNA [Last Updated On: September 28th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 28th, 2011]
- Symphony of Science -- DNA and Life [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2011]
- Molecular Biology Visualization of DNA [Last Updated On: October 2nd, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 2nd, 2011]
- Same Dna Livin Life Ep 8 [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2011]
- Danny Brown - DNA [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2011]
- Rockmond Dunbar Traces His DNA To Nigeria [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- TEDxFortGreeneSalon - Melvin Gibbs - The DNA Project [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- Building a tiny "DNA brain" (Part I: design) [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- DNA "Post-Summer Madness 2011" Interview Part 1 [EME] [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- Proof that Evolution is True/Real/Fact: Mutations, DNA, Natural Selection [Last Updated On: October 9th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 9th, 2011]
- DA John Bradley once excluded DNA testing [Last Updated On: October 9th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 9th, 2011]
- Benbassat Says Apple's `DNA' Will Continue After Jobs [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- BRO BOBBY HEMMITT; DNA TRANSFORMATION part 1 [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- DNA - 2 Ounces And A Dream (Instrumental) [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- The Truth About Italian DNA [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- DNA - Ludovico Einaudi [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2011]
- DNA - FAIR FIGHT (THE SNITCH) PROD BY : BLESSED BY THE BEATS - Video [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2011]
- DNA REPAIR - Video [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2011]
- DNA MUTATION - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- Spiritual DNA - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- DNA Structure - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- DNA - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- DNA Replication - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- THE DNA SONG - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- That Spells DNA by Jonathan Coulton - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- DNA Activation Power - 2012 Ascension - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- Journey Inside The Cell - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- DNA - ROMAN NUMERALS (MUSIC VIDEO) - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- DNA - Blonde Red Head - Video [Last Updated On: October 16th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- [HD] The Kills - DNA (Live in Paris @ Bataclan, April 6th, 2011) - Video [Last Updated On: October 17th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 17th, 2011]
- Blackfield - DNA - Video [Last Updated On: October 22nd, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 22nd, 2011]