Family and friends of Darius MacDougall rallied outside Lethbridge city hall on Tuesday night, marking one year since the 11-year-old disappeared during a camping trip in the Crowsnest Pass near Island Lake. Attendees held signs and wore shirts bearing his face. Darius is autistic and non-verbal, and his family believes he is still out there.

His mother, Meagan Bernicky, urged people to report information and keep circulating his image. “If you see anything here, know anything - say something,” she said. “Just keep sharing his face out there. Keep getting them out there. Don’t stop. We’re never going to stop until we find him - never going to give up hope that we find him.”

An 11-day search involving more than 400 police officers and professional search and rescue crews covered 22 square kilometres of forests, rivers and mountains. Helicopters, drones, horses, infrared equipment and solar cameras were used, but the search found nothing. The RCMP have received more than 70 public tips about Darius and say each has been investigated.

“There’s nothing at this time. We’re still at a loss of where our kid is,” Bernicky said. “It’s harder than it was a year ago, because there’s no answers.”

An online petition called “Darius’s Law” continues to collect signatures seeking reform of Canada’s Amber Alert system. It drew renewed attention in July, when 11-year-old Parker Wells went missing in Calgary. Wells, who also had autism, was found dead inside a stormwater pipe near Deerfoot Trail after a search lasting nearly two weeks.

“It’s taken a year. It’s taken, unfortunately, the tragedy of Parker Wells, as well as this petition, to really get the conversation around Amber Alert reform going,” said petition organizer Ronnie Degagne.

Based on reporting by CTV News Calgary.