Emergency 911 services have been restored after a network outage disrupted access to emergency lines in communities across several Canadian provinces early Thursday morning.
Bell Canada said it detected an issue with its next-generation 9-1-1 network at approximately 3:13 a.m. ET on September 17. Backup systems were activated to route calls to emergency services while technicians worked to resolve the problem. Bell said the network was fully restored at approximately 4:40 a.m. ET. The disruption affected or was reported by emergency and police services in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba. Police services in Toronto, Ottawa, London, Waterloo, York Region, Peel Region, Durham Region and other communities reported intermittent problems with 911 access.
In Ontario, the Ontario Provincial Police received reports of intermittent outages in parts of the province. Police advised people who could not connect to 911 and required emergency police assistance to use the OPP’s non-emergency number while the issue was being investigated. The OPP later said the system had largely stabilized, although intermittent disruptions could still occur.
Several Quebec police services also reported problems involving the transfer of some 911 calls. Montreal police said the issue was connected to the telecommunications provider responsible for the service, while the Sûreté du Québec later confirmed that emergency call processing had returned to normal. Nova Scotia officials reported that some wireless and voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) users experienced difficulties connecting to 911. The provincial government said the problem appeared to be related to telecommunications carrier networks rather than the provincial 911 system itself. Service was later restored, and residents were advised to resume using 911 as their primary emergency number. During the outage, officials advised people experiencing difficulties to try a landline, Wi-Fi calling or a phone using another carrier’s network, where available. Residents were also repeatedly asked not to call 911 simply to test whether the system was working, as unnecessary test calls could place additional pressure on emergency communications operations. Bell said its backup SafetyNet system was brought online and that the vast majority of calls from Bell customers were immediately picked up and rerouted to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Points. The company said it is continuing to investigate the root cause of the network problem.
Bell also said the incident was not triggered by a cyberattack, according to a company spokesperson cited by The Canadian Press. The precise technical cause of the disruption has not yet been publicly identified. The outage briefly affected a critical piece of Canada’s emergency communications infrastructure at a time when police, fire and medical services rely heavily on telecommunications networks to receive urgent calls. Although backup systems helped route most calls and service was restored relatively quickly, the incident has renewed attention on the reliability and resilience of Canada’s 911 network. By Thursday morning, emergency services in the affected areas were reporting that 911 operations had returned to normal or were largely restored. Nova Scotia confirmed that its 911 service was operating normally, while police agencies in Ontario and Quebec continued monitoring their systems for any remaining intermittent problems. The investigation into the outage remains ongoing. Bell and emergency-service authorities are expected to examine what caused the failure and how backup systems performed during the disruption. With 911 serving as the primary emergency lifeline for police, fire and medical assistance, Thursday’s nationwide disruption highlights the importance of maintaining reliable telecommunications networks and effective backup systems. Authorities continue to monitor the situation as they work to determine the cause and ensure the emergency network remains resilient against future disruptions.