Giving 911 operators the ability to transfer calls to other North American cities has been a success since it was implemented in Ottawa last November, according to the director of the city’s public safety service.
“The service is proving popular,” Beth Gooding told the city’s Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee on Thursday.
Gooding said Ottawa residents now use the 911 call transfer function about 70 times a month. The technology isn’t yet available in every Canadian city.
Michael Wood, an Ottawa businessman and professor at Algonquin College, began advocating for the service after he tried calling 911 on behalf of his brother in Toronto in 2022, but discovered his call couldn’t be transferred to emergency services in that city.
“In Ottawa, they thought there would be five to 10 call transfer requests a month,” Wood told CBC last week.
On Thursday, he thanked city staff for their “amazing” work, but said the technology should be available across Canada.
That would be possible through next-generation 911 (NG911), a national update planned by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that would improve the system for operators and allow for new features down the line, like allowing callers to text or send photos.
Some groups including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) have applied for an extension to the CRTC’s implementation deadline of March 4, 2025.
“The main concern, to be frank, is not for the cities the size of Ottawa and Toronto,” said Eric Janus, the Ottawa Police Service’s director of communication and head of the CACP’s NG911 working group.
“That request was made on behalf of all 911 centres within the country.”
Wood has filed an intervention with the CRTC arguing against an extension.