SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There is no money in the NWT budget to fund 9-1-1 service in Yellowknife or anywhere else in the territory. So said Tom Williams, deputy minister of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), the department in charge of implementing the service, when and if it ever happens.
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The question of whether the city should have a 9-1-1 service was ignited earlier this week after a man unsuccessfully dialed the three-digit emergency line after a fire broke out. He ended up driving to the fire hall to notify firefighters. Fitzgerald Carpeting was destroyed. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
Yellowknifer requested an interview with MACA Minister Robert C. McLeod but was told he was in meetings and travelling and unavailable for comment.
The lack of a three-digit, emergency phone number came to light once again this week after a man tried to call 9-1-1 to report a fire. The Fitzgerald Carpeting building on Woolgar Avenue was completely destroyed by the fire. The man who tried to call 9-1-1 eventually drove about a kilometre to the fire department to report it.
Williams said his department has submitted a business plan for the 2016-17 fiscal year but the plan makes no mention of 9-1-1.
"It wasn't included in the mandate of the 18th assembly. We are in a position to more forward with a basic 9-1-1 but it has to be in the right fiscal environment because we'll have to fund this ongoing," Williams said.
"Right now ... the government is trying to find $150 million so we are in a budget reduction mode as opposed an investment mode. We're hoping, who knows, in the next two years - in the life of the 18th assembly - there may be an opportunity to make re-investments. This initiative certainly has the attention of the public at least in Yellowknife and the politicians will take notice."
As is, those seeking emergency services in Yellowknife must call a three-digit local prefix followed by 1111 for RCMP or 2222 for fire and ambulance. Customers of Ice Wireless are the exception. The company uses call centres in Ontario and Europe for 9-1-1.
The GNWT is in the midst of developing its budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year, which is expected to be tabled in the legislative assembly in late May or early June. The current operating budget is $1.8 billion.
A revised report on 9-1-1 implementation, released last September, estimates the cost of starting the service at $616,100, which includes a dispatch centre. The annual cost would be about $266,200 once a 90-cent monthly user fee for cell phones and landlines is factored in.
That report states the most viable location for the dispatch centre is at the fire hall. It rules out working with Ice Wireless to expand its 9-1-1 service.
Williams said that during the upcoming budget process, MLAs in theory have the ability to take funding away from other programs and services to put toward establishing 9-1-1. But he added that does not mean it would be up and running right away.
"The report suggests it would take at least a year but we'd have to develop legislation ... and it would depend of the legislative agenda on how fast the legislation would go through. Sometimes it could be done in a year - sometimes it takes a couple of years," said Williams. "Legislation would be required so we could charge a fee and recoup some of the money."
Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart said the government has to get this done, sooner rather than later. He is aware that there is no great demand for the service in the smaller communities but added that it shouldn't matter.
"A lot of representatives and Northerners from smaller communities feel it's a problem that we have too many policies that are developed in Yellowknife and only apply to Yellowknife concerns," Testart said. "In this case we have the opposite taking place where we have something that could work in Yellowknife and it's being held back because it's not something that could work everywhere in the NWT. The cost to our community is too great to drag our feet on this."
Cory Vanthuyne, MLA for Yellowknife North, said the 9-1-1 debate has been going on for years and always comes up when there is an incident like Sunday night's fire. He intends to raise the issue when the assembly sits again in late May.
"I'll try to see what, if any kind of resources can be allocated to bring it forward for Yellowknife," Vanthuyne said. "Maybe again (I'll) start the discussion with partners like the City of Yellowknife and private enterprise."
Dennis Marchiori, the city's director of public safety, acknowledged that Whitehorse has had 9-1-1 service for more than 10 years now, but that city's model might not work here.
"Whitehorse had support from other orders of government. The Yukon government provided financial backing and the RCMP agreed to assist in the initial project implementation," Marchiori stated in an e-mail.
"The City of Yellowknife did look into the provision of 9-1-1 service in 1999/2000 and 2006 and looked to GNWT support which was not available at that time."
Northwestel deferred questions about 9-1-1 to the GNWT. RCMP also did not respond to questions about 9-1-1 as of press time.
