Ottawa’s 9-1-1 system misses call answer time target

The 9-1-1 dispatch centre in Ottawa, Ont. on April 10, 2024 (Leah Laroque/CTV News Ottawa)

The Ottawa Police Service failed to meet its target for answering 9-1-1 calls for the fifth straight year in 2025, according to a new report.

The service level agreement between the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Services Board requires 9-1-1 operators to answer 97 per cent of all 9-1-1 calls within six seconds.

The 9-1-1 annual report to be presented to the emergency preparedness and protective services committee on June 15 shows 91 per cent of 9-1-1 calls were answered within six seconds.

“The Ottawa Police Service states that spikes in calls and broader operational staffing pressures are responsible for not reaching the service standard,” staff said.

Staff note the 9-1-1 performance improved compared to 2021 to 2023, when between 81 per cent and 89 per cent of calls were answered within six seconds.

Under the service agreement, the Ottawa Police Service provides the Primary Public Safety Answering Point services for the city, and will receive and triage all 9-1-1 calls before transferring requests for fire, paramedics, and other emergency services to the appropriate department.

Ottawa’s 9-1-1 service received 382,175 calls for service in 2025, down from 384,330 calls in 2024 and 411,617 calls in 2023.

Data shows 60 per cent of calls to 9-1-1 were for the Ottawa Police Service, while 33 per cent of calls were for paramedics and three per cent of calls for fire services.

The report, submitted by Public Safety Service director Beth Gooding, says the city is finalizing a review of the 9-1-1 call intake operations to assess potential alternative service delivery models and identifying opportunities to strengthen the service agreement over the Primary Answering Point operations.

“As part of the review, the city is also considering adoption of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) call answer standards,” the report said.

“NENA recommends that 90 per cent of 9-1-1 calls be answered within 15 seconds and 95 per cent within 20 seconds. These benchmarks are widely used across the emergency services sector to support consistent and comparable performance measurement. In 2025, the Ottawa Police Service met the NENA standard for 9-1-1 call response performance.”

According to the report, the Ottawa Police Service met the two other service standards for 9-1-1 operations in 2025: a minimum number of 9-1-1 operators on duty at all time and staffing levels adjusted based on call volume.

9-1-1 transfers

Ottawa’s 9-1-1 operators transfer dozens of calls a month to other jurisdictions across North America.

Since 2023, the City of Ottawa has had an agreement with a third-party provider to allow operators to transfer 9-1-1 calls to any other jurisdiction.

The report shows an average of 85 call transfer requests were received by Ottawa’s 9-1-1 operators a month in 2025, “many seeking wellness checks on loved ones.”

Ottawa businessman Michael Wood advocated for 9-1-1 services to have the ability to transfer calls after trying to call 9-1-1 for his brother in Toronto.

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