The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has mandated its Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG) to examine the difficulties that Francophones may encounter when calling 911. The reflection exercise will begin on September 25. A report is expected on February 28, 2025.
This consultation exercise is the consequence of several events recently reported by the media: French-speaking Quebecers had to deal with unilingual English-speaking respondents during a call to 911.
Any consideration of universal access to emergency services is welcome and should be encouraged. However, in a press release dated July 11, 2024, the CRTC sets out the mandate granted to the GTSU and introduces a certain ambiguity. It is clear from reading the press release that the exercise is being carried out within the restricted framework of official language minority communities. However, Quebec’s Francophones are not part of such a community. In Quebec, it is Anglophones who qualify for such recognition.
There is therefore a gap here that will leave the CRTC and the GTSU quite helpless when it comes to denying emergency services to official language communities in a majority situation. Yet this is precisely the case in question.
Simple solutions
There are relatively simple solutions that can be implemented to resolve the problem of access to emergency services in French, provided that a certain political will is demonstrated in Quebec or Ottawa.
The CRTC could require companies that offer VoIP telecommunications services to provide access to 911 third-party responders accredited by the province where the service is offered.
In such a case, the 911 call reception centre using VoIP telephony would have to be installed in Quebec. This centre would be subject to inspection and approval by the Ministry of Public Security. The service would therefore have to be offered in both official languages. The problem would be solved.
Another way to do it: the Quebec government could make an amendment to the Consumer Protection Act to prohibit the sale of VoIP telephone plans where the third party responder for emergency services is not located in Quebec.
A discriminatory system
The current situation meets the exact definition of systemic discrimination. No English-speaking citizen anywhere in Canada will experience a denial of access to emergency services. The system is built to guarantee access to emergency services in English, including in Quebec. The only ones who can experience a denial of service are necessarily French-speaking.
Let’s be clear, there is no desire to discriminate against Francophones, either at the CRTC or in the companies that market VoIP telephone packages. Quite simply, the system, as it is designed and managed by the CRTC, mechanically produces discrimination against Francophones through system effects.
Francophones outside Quebec are under the umbrella of official language minority communities. The CRTC has given itself six months to examine their situation and propose a way to provide equitable access to 911. It has also committed to consulting minority language communities before submitting the final report. It remains to be seen whether the CRTC will be able to go beyond the restrictive framework of official language minority communities to provide emergency services in their language to Francophones in Quebec, even if they are in the majority.
Furthermore, nothing prevents the Quebec government from forcing the game, while respecting constitutional powers. It is enough to amend the Consumer Protection Act in the sense proposed above.
There is no doubt that the government will have the support of the opposition for such a maneuver.