911 phone message should include local emergency numbers, says Yellowknife MLA

An MLA wants to know why Northwest Territories residents are still being told to dial the operator when they call 911.

Currentlywhen people in the territory call 911 a service that doesn't exist they hear the following message:"There are no 911 services in this area. Please hang up and dial the emergency number for your area, or hang up and dial zero to reach an operator."

Frame Lake MLA KevinO'Reillysays the message should provide local emergency numbers in the N.W.T.

O'Reilly questioned Caroline Cochrane, the minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, in the Legislative Assembly this week about the need for "this important service" in the N.W.T. He said hehopes the territorial government doesn'twait forthe federal government to "pony up" funding, saying it should be provided by the territory.

But in the meantime, O'Reilly said the recorded message should be updated.

"[Cochrane] committed to look into whether Northwestel could change its current recorded message when someone dials 911 to at least give the right information about what numbers to call," O'Reilly said.

Cochrane said she has met with representatives from Northwestel and asked them to change the recorded message.

"Northwestel is not willing at this time to change it, they say it's due to technical and liability concerns," Cochrane said.

"They've also talked that it would require a technical upgrade and they're concerned that it may jeopardize the current message should a new approach prove not successful."

Emergency numbers on message 'not feasible'

A spokesman for Northwestel says its approach is "the most practical and responsible choice," given that the territory's 33 communities have different emergency numbers.

"As such, providing all numbers for all communities directly on one message is not feasible," said Andrew Anderson in an email.

He said Northwestel operators are available 24/7 from a landline and they can connect people with emergency services in the territory.

That's not the case for cell phone users though; most people cannot dialzero to reach an operatoron a cell phone in the N.W.T.

Cochrane and Northwestel say talks are underway with cell phone providers about improving the message on cell phones.