The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is raising its voice on the issue of calls made to 911 without service in French. The organization calls on telephone service providers to review “without delay” their contracts with problematic subcontractors, but it refuses to modify its regulations in this area.
“All telecommunications service providers must immediately review their contracts with third-party emergency call centers,” writes the Council in a letter sent to service providers on January 19.
The duty and recently The Press revealed that some users of IP telephony services and even traditional cellular services were unable to get someone to speak French when they called 911.
A situation that arises from the fact that certain suppliers occasionally use subcontractors based in Ontario.
“Such situations can cause delays when emergency assistance is required and can have serious consequences for public safety,” writes CRTC executive director of telecommunications Leila Wright in the letter.
No question of reviewing the regulations
Questioned by The duty on the relevance of legislating to impose bilingual services, the CRTC however responds that this is not within its jurisdiction. “The CRTC does not regulate third-party call centers,” the organization reported by email. He also mentions that the 911 call centers do not report to him, but to the provinces and cities.
Its president, Vicky Eatrides, also sent a letter to the Minister of Innovation, François-Philippe Champagne, in which she said she was not responsible for the problems observed.
“As you know, the CRTC does not supervise these public 911 call centers,” she wrote in a letter to the federal minister dated January 25.
“Call centers,” she continues, “are under the jurisdiction of the provinces, territories and municipalities, and it is therefore up to the appropriate province, territory or municipality to determine the official language(s) of the service. »
However, the Quebec government insists that it is, on the contrary, up to the federal government to resolve the problem, to which the Trudeau government has also committed.
In April, the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion to “demand that the CRTC act immediately so that all responders called upon to handle emergency 911 calls are able to respond quickly, efficiently and clearly in French.”
On the Quebec side, the elected representatives of the National Assembly had also formally challenged the CRTC, demanding, in a motion, “the ban” on any transfer of 911 calls “to call centers located outside [du] Quebec.”
Adopted unanimously, the motion tabled by the Parti Québécois requires “that all responders called upon to handle emergency 911 calls in Quebec be able to respond quickly, efficiently and clearly in French.”
No “regulatory obligation”
This fall, the CRTC also wrote to the various service providers to document the problem.
In its response, the main subcontractor of the providers in Ontario, Northern 911, retorts that call centers do not have regulatory obligations in terms of language and that stricter rules could “exacerbate the staff shortage”.
The company mentions that it has a service in French, but that it cannot guarantee that French-speaking staff will be available at all times. However, she is not able to say how many calls she receives in French per year.
Northern 911 adds that it also offers a translation service, in French but also in many other languages if the operator and the person contacting 911 do not understand each other. However, she is not able to say how quickly the translators can take over, because it is a question of “availability” and “coordination”.
This service, she reports, was used in “only 0.1% of calls in 2022”. Finally, the company argues that it is also up to customers to find out about the “language options” linked to the service.