Draft city budget’s $1 monthly 911 fee to help pay for federally mandated system upgrade

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This article was published 12/02/2024 (581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg was the first city in North America to implement a three-digit phone number to connect with emergency services in 1959.

But the city’s 911 infrastructure has failed to keep up with technological advances that have leaped forward since.

The draft multi-year budget, released last week, includes a proposed $1 monthly fee for anyone with a Winnipeg-based address to fund a $10-million project upgrading 911 services that would help dispatchers better pinpoint the location of calls made from cellphones and enable residents to send texts and photos to emergency operators.

The budget proposal will need to be approved by city council. The phone charge requires provincial government approval.

“Right now, if you download an app, an app on your phone knows where to find you, it knows exactly where you’re at,” Stacey Cann, the director of 911 communications for the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service, said Monday.

“And you think of when you call 911 with that same device, the infrastructure behind the 911 systems are so old that it can’t capture properly where you’re calling from.”

Winnipeg has had a text-to-911 program for several years, but it is targeted toward people who are hard of hearing or have speech impediments, and requires phones to be registered with the WFPS.

The proposed upgrades will bring that program up to a standard where it’s available to everyone.

Ron Williscroft, the director of special projects for the WFPS, listed active assailant or domestic violence situations as examples of where texts could be advantageous, but said calling will remain the best way for most people to receive the help they need.

“The industry associations have always basically stated, if you can call, call, and then text if you can’t,” he said.

Data from some regions in the U.S. that already have text options for emergency calls shows fewer than one per cent of all calls for service are texted, and the WFPS expects Winnipeg will see similar stats.

Today, only Strathcona County in Alberta and the Toronto Fire Service have the technology in place.

The rest of the country is rushing to play catch-up due to a upcoming federal mandate that requires transitioning 911 systems to next-generation networks by March 2025.

“We’re the first country in the world to actually do this from coast to coast to coast. So the United States, for example, is implementing it on a regional municipal basis. It’s a very fragmented approach,” Williscroft said.

“A lot of other countries are looking at Canada right now, as we’re the first large country to do this type of an implementation countrywide.”

It’s unlikely these changes will impact the record high numbers of 911 calls Winnipeg has recorded in the past year. While the city’s budget requests that the Winnipeg Police Service and WFPS look into consolidating their call centres to improve overall efficiency, Cann and Williscroft said it’s too early to discuss that possibility.

If approved, the fee will be tacked on monthly phone bills and is set to start July 1.

Premier Wab Kinew said last week he’ll be working in collaboration with Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham on the mandated changes.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca