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EDMONTON — A woman has been charged after an eight-year-old girl was left unattended in a vehicle at an Edmonton shopping centre.

Police say officers responding to a call Nov. 29 at South Edmonton Common found the child in a car that was cold to the touch.

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The temperature outside was about -8 C at the time.

Officers had the girl unlock the vehicle and placed her in the warm patrol car.

An investigation determined the child has been left unattended for more than an hour.

“A vehicle is not a babysitter. Leaving a child unattended in a vehicle goes beyond the weather conditions, whether it is a cold winter day or hot summer day,” Const. Kamlesh Patel said in a news release Friday.

“The safety and well-being of a child should always be the priority.”

The woman was charged under the Child, Youth and Family Act with causing a child to be in need of intervention.

There were reports that the girl had at one point gone to look for her mother in a store, but couldn’t find her.

Police say the child was dressed appropriately for winter weather, but the car had cooled down “substantially.”

Police laid 20 charges last summer, including three criminal charges, in connection to children being left alone in vehicles.