Toronto police have issued a province-wide "Amber alert" for a nine-year-old girl who they believe was abducted from her home.

"We believe that we're following up a child abduction case based upon the investigation thus far," Deputy Chief Mike Boyd told reporters Monday evening.

"I'm not prepared to disclose the evidence at this time. Some of the details, as you can well imagine, we have to keep to ourselves. But, we're pursuing a child abduction and we're fairly certain we're on the right track."

Dong-yue "Cecilia" Zhang, a Grade 4 student, went missing Monday morning from her home in North York, in north Toronto. Her parents told police when they went into their daughter's bedroom at about 8:30 a.m., she was gone.

They say she has never gone missing or run away before.

Police immediately began a search. Police say they have evidence of "foul play" at the home and are treating the case as an abduction.

"We're very, very concerned for her safety,'' Sgt. Jim Muscat told an afternoon news conference in the girl's neighbourhood.

The home may have been entered into during the night, and one of the windows was broken, CFTO News' Tom Hayes reports.

Police did not release details on who lived at the home nor on what the girl was wearing when last seen.

The Ontario Provincial Police has extended the Amber alert across the province and the police sex crime unit has been brought in.

Dozens of officers are going door-to-door in the area while other officers conduct a canine search and eight mounted units canvas fields.

Cecilia is described as Asian, 4'11, 70 pounds with shoulder-length straight black hair with blond highlights. She speaks good English.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police hotline at (416) 808-8390.

Members of Child Find Ontario are putting up posters in Cecilia's neighbourhood. Spokeswoman Jan Barr says studies show the first few hours of a child going missing are critical in the safe return of that child.

The Amber Alert program helps police locate missing children by broadcasting descriptions of victims and suspects on a variety of public channels as well as highway signs within hours of the disappearance.

The last time an Amber alert was issued in Toronto was in May for 10-year-old Holly Jones. Her dismembered remains were found the next day. A 35-year-old man who lived in Holly's neighbourhood was arrested in the case and charged with first-degree murder.

The only other time an alert was issued in Toronto was in 2002, when police were searching for two-year-old Alexis Currie. Sadly, she was also found murdered. Her father pleaded guilty to her murder.

In 2001, almost 67,000 Canadian children went missing. The majority, 80 per cent, were runaways who were generally found within 24 hours. Almost 400 others were abducted by a parent or guardian. Only 48 were abducted by strangers.