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The NDP continues to push for 9-1-1 service across all of Ontario.
In some parts of the province, residents have to different numbers to access police, fire or ambulance services.
Mushkegowuk-James Bay MPP Guy Bourgouin says it should not be like that.
“Three different numbers for if you have a fire, if you need the ambulance, or if you need a police department. Nobody can remember all these numbers. So 911 should be right across Ontario’” says Bourgouin.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois says in areas of northwestern Ontario, dialling 9-1-1 is difficult even where it is available.
“And whether or not you’re going to get 911 is a big question. And if that service is not available, then there’s a crisis. And of course there are very large gaps in cell service,” says Vaugois.
Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa says for many far north communities, it is a call to the nursing station for help.
“Sometimes our 911 is a call to a nursing station if there’s a health emergency, going to nursing station, talk to the nurse. The nurse phones the physician on call and then the physician calls Ornge to do a medivac. That’s our 911 in the north. I mean, this is not the 1950s. This is 2023,” says Mamakwa.
A similar effort in 2019 saw a bill reach as far second reading.