Several police forces in Quebec were affected by a nationwide routing issue with the 911 emergency line early Thursday morning, though service has since been restored. As a result, the forces were urging the public to use their local telephone line, normally reserved for non-emergency calls, to report an emergency. “Due to a provincial issue affecting telecommunications services, calls made to 911 may be routed via an unusual path before being forwarded to our dispatchers,” explained Thérèse-De Blainville police, one of the many forces impacted. “911 remains operational and emergency calls continue to be received and handled. However, the call may be transferred before it reaches us.” Other forces, including the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and Quebec City police (SPVQ), confirmed that their services were also disrupted. “A technical issue is currently affecting the transfer of certain calls between the 911 centres and the Sûreté du Québec’s call centres,” the SQ said. It noted that “public safety remains our priority. We will keep you informed of developments as soon as further information becomes available,” adding that its police services “remain fully operational.” Montreal police (SPVM) said it was also affected by the disruption, but its service was operational as of 4:45 a.m. An SPVM spokesperson told The Canadian Press that the outage occurred at the telephone provider. Although calls were still being received, it’s possible that they were being routed to police forces elsewhere in the country. As of 5 a.m., the SPVM said it was assessing the impact of the disruption. Investigation underway Matt Silver, a senior communications manager for Bell, the company in charge of the emergency system, confirmed that “an issue with the next-generation 911 network was detected this morning at approximately 3:13 a.m. ET.” “Backup systems were brought online to route calls to emergency services while technicians investigated the outage,” he said. “911 service is now fully restored, and people with an emergency can call 911. We are investigating the root cause of the issue and will have further details once available.” In response to the situation, Quebec Domestic Security Minister Ian Lafrenière took to social media to state that the issue was being investigated. “Overnight, we experienced a 911 service disruption that lasted over an hour,” he wrote. “Although extremely rare, the police have contingency measures in place, including increased visibility, public announcements via social media and alternative telephone numbers.” He added that the Government Operations Centre (COG) was also activated. “We are still investigating and verifying what appears to be a technical fault with call routing,” Lafrenière said. “The extent of the fault is believed to extend beyond Quebec. Service is reported to have largely been restored.” Country-wide issues The situation involving the 911 service was not limited to Quebec. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said it had received reports of intermittent 911 disruptions in certain parts of the province. “The issue is under investigation and updates will be provided as soon as information becomes available,” it wrote on Facebook. Police forces in the cities of Toronto and Winnipeg and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick also reported routing problems with 911 calls. - With files by The Canadian Press. CTV News, BNN Bloomberg and CP24 are owned by Bell Media, which is a division of BCE.
