Further to the response provided to the Member for Great Slave on May 28, 2025, regarding 911 services and the planned service outage by NorthwesTel that occurred earlier that same day, the following additional information is provided.
As you are aware, this planned NorthwesTel outage began at midnight and affected
911 services across the Northwest Territories. The Government of the Northwest Territories, through NWT 911, had contingency measures in place to maintain access to emergency services. This included a reroute process intended to keep 911 service available for unaffected communities, which has worked in past incidents such as the 2023 wildfire evacuations but failed on this occasion due to a technical issue on NorthwesTel’s network.
Anticipating this risk, NWT 911 had proactively set up an alternate internet-based phone system with a dedicated 10-digit emergency number. This number was publicly shared ahead of the outage via the GNWT Public Safety website, social media, and radio. It was accessible as a normal call in communities unaffected by the outage and could be accessed in affected areas through Wi-Fi calling options like Starlink. While we acknowledge options like Wi-Fi calling are not available to all residents, these measures reflected a meaningful effort to improve access using evolving technology.
To support operations, NWT 911 doubled staffing for the duration of the outage. Despite the reroute failure, NWT 911 staff monitored incoming calls via a third-party platform which allowed for prompt follow-up and maintained communications with emergency service providers via radio and satellite phone. Full telecommunications service was restored by approximately 4:00 a.m.
The scope of this outage was controlled entirely by NorthwesTel. GNWT has no control over these planned interruptions. The NWT 911 system was designed referencing Alberta’s 911 standards but operates as a single, Basic 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) due to NorthwesTel’s legacy infrastructure, unlike Alberta’s Enhanced 911 multi-PSAP model. This reflects the unique geography and infrastructure challenges in the North.
NWT 911 is assessing options for external backup support. While many southern PSAPs have mutual aid agreements to assist each other during telecommunications outages or periods of high call volume at no cost, the NWT’s Basic 911 model and dependency on NorthwesTel infrastructure make such agreements unfeasible. Any such partnership would require a one-way paid contract, with costs expected to exceed the revenues currently generated by the NWT’s 911 call answer levy.
In summary, this was a planned NorthwesTel outage. NWT 911 took all operational steps to maintain emergency access, including backup systems, public communication, and increased staffing. NWT 911 is aware of processes followed by other jurisdictions but is limited in applying them due to the current telecommunications infrastructure. The GNWT is committed to improving 911 reliability through system upgrades and collaboration with partners.
