'If they wanted to do the right thing'
Five days set aside to settle question of Bell's court costs in 9-1-1 case
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A lawyer in a class action lawsuit against Bell Canada says his client is open to a settlement from the company that would provide funds to the territory to help start a 9-1-1 service.
James Anderson, along with his son Sam Anderson, launched a class action lawsuit against Bell Mobility over the 9-1-1 charges it placed on NWT customer bills for a service that’s not available here. - NNSL file photo |
"This would be a chance for them, if they wanted to do the right thing and be good corporate citizens, to do some good for the people of the North and we would encourage that," said Toronto-based lawyer Sam Marr. "We're going to see if that's a possibility and if not, we'll have a trial."
Marr is representing James Anderson and Sam Anderson of Yellowknife who filed a class action lawsuit against Bell in 2007.
More than 20,000 Bell customers were charged a 75-cent fee on monthly bills over several years for 9-1-1 despite the service not being available. Courts have ruled in the Andersons' favour. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case and ordered Bell to cover the costs of the case.
Having exhausted all means of appeal, the NWT Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the next step in the case in June.
Five days have been scheduled for a trial where the sides will argue the amount Bell should pay to the over-charged customers.
Because the fees on each bill were relatively small, the amount an individual would receive would be small, Marr said. The lawyer said they'd be open to settlement and have raised the option of Bell donating money to help the territory establish a 9-1-1 dispatch centre.
"In the North, one of the worthy causes that would be appropriate would be to see them put some money toward creating 9-1-1 centres. That's something we'd like to explore with Bell. It's something they have to do voluntarily," Marr said.
Bell, which owns Northwestel, declined to comment on the case.
"Unfortunately, we can't comment as the matter is still before the courts," stated Bell spokesperson Caroline Audet in an e-mail.
The GNWT commissioned an outside study of the costs of implementing 9-1-1. The report estimates it could cost between several hundred to more than a million dollars to set up a basic version of the service.
Currently, a Bell customer seeking RCMP must call a three digit local area code followed by 1111. Fire and ambulance services use the three digit area code followed by 2222.
When someone calls 9-1-1 elsewhere, the call is routed automatically to a call centre. The operator gathers information from the caller such as their name, location and nature of the emergency and then contacts the appropriate service.
Ice Wireless has established a 9-1-1 service for its customers in the territory.
