Rally held outside N.S. RCMP detachment to demand answers about two missing children

STELLARTON — Under a cloudless sky in central Nova Scotia, about 50 people gathered outside an RCMP detachment Saturday to demand answers about the disappearance of two young children exactly one year ago.

On the morning of May 2, 2025, RCMP were told six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and her four-year-old brother Jack had wandered from their home in rural Lansdowne Station, about 140 kilometres north of Halifax.

Since then, very few clues have emerged about their whereabouts, though a senior RCMP officer said this week there was only a slim chance that the children are still alive.

As well, Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon said there was no evidence to suggest the siblings had been abducted or that any kind of criminal behaviour was involved. Still, he said all scenarios are being investigated.

At the “Rally for Justice” outside the detachment in Stellarton, N.S., Jack and Lilly’s paternal grandmother said the event Saturday marked one year of getting no answers from the RCMP.

“One year and there’s still so many questions,” she said in an interview before the rally.

“I want (people) to start demanding more answers, demanding more openness from our law enforcement. Nobody’s asking to jeopardize the investigation.”

Gray said the stress caused by the lack of outward progress in the case has been somewhat offset by the outpouring of support from across the country and around the world.

“I am so grateful and thankful that the world has fallen in love with Lilly and Jack and I don’t have words to express that gratitude,” Gray said.

Some of those attending the rally carried placards with photos of both children flanked by plain-spoken slogans, including “Enough Waiting,” “365 Days of Silence” and “Justice for Jack and Lilly.”

At one point, almost everyone taking part in the rally lined the main street in Stellarton and chanted: “We want answers! We want justice!”

Rally organizer Kent Corbett said the RCMP must be more forthcoming with what they know.

“We’d rather have a little bit more communication,” he told reporters. “We don’t need the details of the case, but it just seems that we don’t have a direction, so we’re out there conjuring our own thoughts and voicing our own thoughts.”

Corbett said investigators should tell the public what scenarios have already been ruled out. “We want answers. We need answers, and that’s what we’re here for today.”

RCMP Staff Sgt. Curtis MacKinnon told the crowd that the police force is doing everything it can to find the children, adding that Mounties from across Canada are working on the case.

“Seeing so many people here gathered at the Stellarton detachment is a powerful reminder of how much Lilly and Jack matter,” the uniformed officer said.

“They haven’t been forgotten, and the concern and compassion shown by Pictou County and beyond continues to be felt.”

MacKinnon said investigators are keen to receive “fact-based” tips from the public, a message McCamon delivered during a news conference Friday at the RCMP’s provincial headquarters in Dartmouth, N.S.

So far, the RCMP have received more than 1,100 tips from the public, but McCamon made a point of explaining that many of those tips have been based on speculation from social media.

McCamon, the officer in charge of the major crime unit in Nova Scotia, said the information needed “isn’t speculation or thoughts or theories.”

As well, McCamon confirmed there are parts of the investigation that he can’t talk about in public because doing so could compromise “operational security.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2026.

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press