ARCHIVED - Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-549

PDF version

Ottawa, 10 October 2013

Call for comments

Matters related to emergency 9-1-1 services

Deadline for submission of interventions: 25 November 2013

[Submit an intervention or view related documents]

File numbers: 8665-C12-201313304 and 8665-C12-201215781

The Commission invites all interested persons to comment on the content of A Report on Matters Related to Emergency 9-1-1 Services, prepared by Commissioner Timothy Denton.

The Commission also invites all interested persons to identify and prioritize those matters within its jurisdiction that the Commission should address with respect to 9-1-1 services.

Background

1. Access to emergency services is critical to the health and safety of Canadians. The Commission considers that an effective emergency 9-1-1 system that meets the needs of citizens is an important part of ensuring that Canadians have access to a world-class communications system. Accordingly, the Commission is continuously looking for ways to improve the provision of 9-1-1 services.

2. Telecommunications service providers, provincial/territorial governments, and municipal governments collaborate to provide 9-1-1 services. The Commission’s jurisdiction, under the Telecommunications Act, includes the regulation of telecommunications carriers, which provide the network infrastructure necessary to direct and connect 9-1-1 calls to public safety answering points. Emergency responders and public safety answering points fall within the jurisdiction of provincial/territorial and municipal governments.

3. The Commission has mandated telecommunications service providers to provide their customers with 9-1-1 service wherever provincial/territorial and municipal governments have established public safety answering points. As a result, it is estimated that 98 percent of Canadians with telephone service have access to 9-1-1 services through various methods of communication, such as traditional wireline, wireless, or voice over Internet Protocol service.

4. However, telephone networks in Canada are evolving to next-generation networks that will handle a variety of communication methods based on Internet Protocol (IP) standards. These IP-based communication methods are expected to provide, among other things, new ways for Canadians to access emergency services and interact with emergency service providers. The transition to IP technology will have a major impact on the networks, systems, and arrangements used to provide emergency 9-1-1 services across Canada.

5. The CRTC Three-Year Plan 2013-2016 outlines the key activities that the Commission expects to carry out during that period, and one of the planned activities is a review of the regulatory framework for next-generation 9-1-1 services. The objective of the review will be to develop the policy and regulatory framework for next-generation 9-1-1 services needed to meet the evolving public safety needs of Canadians.

6. In preparation for that review, the Commission considered it appropriate to broaden its knowledge of the issues concerning 9-1-1 services. Therefore, in Appointment of an Inquiry Officer to review matters related to 9-1-1, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2012-686, 17 December 2012 (Notice of Consultation 2012-686), the Commission appointed Commissioner Timothy Denton as Inquiry Officer to conduct research on 9-1-1 services in Canada and report his findings to the Commission.[1]

7. The Inquiry Officer’s report was to focus on three broad areas:

• the performance and adequacy of the technology currently employed for 9-1-1 services, such as that used to locate a caller who is using a cellphone;
• the issues related to the provision of 9-1-1 services on next-generation networks, including how systems should be designed and the appropriate institutional arrangements; and
• policy considerations on 9-1-1 matters.

The Report

8. After consulting with numerous stakeholders and experts in Canada and abroad, and reviewing comments from the public, the Inquiry Officer presented his findings and recommendations to the Commission in A Report on Matters Related to Emergency 9-1-1 Services (the Report), which is being released concurrently with this notice. The Commission would like to thank former Commissioner Denton for his work and insight in the preparation of this report.

Call for comments

9. The Commission has not made any determinations in respect of the content of the Report. The Commission considers that issues related to the provision of emergency 9-1-1 services now and in the future are matters of both broad public interest and high importance to Canadians. Therefore, the Commission considers that Canadians should have an opportunity to comment on the Inquiry Officer’s Report.

10. In light of the above, the Commission invites all interested persons to file interventions

• commenting on the content of the Report, including its findings and recommendations; and
•  identifying and prioritizing, with supporting rationale, those matters within its jurisdiction that the Commission should address with respect to 9-1-1 services and next-generation 9-1-1 services.

11. The Commission expects that the submissions it receives will inform its actions on various matters within its jurisdiction regarding the provision of 9-1-1 service. The Commission will take all submissions into consideration as it plans its future activities related to 9-1-1 service.

Procedure

12. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure) apply to this proceeding.[2] For help understanding the Rules of Procedure, see the Guidelines on the CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure.

13. All documents submitted to the Commission as part of Notice of Consultation 2012-686 are considered part of the record for this proceeding.

14. Interested persons who wish to become parties to this proceeding must file an intervention with the Commission regarding the above-noted issues, by 25 November 2013. In accordance with section 26 of the Rules of Procedure, this intervention must explicitly state that the person wishes to be considered an intervener.

15. Interventions will be posted on the Commission’s website shortly after they are filed. All documents required to be served on a party or parties to the proceeding must be served using the contact information contained in the interventions.

16. All parties may file replies to interventions with the Commission by 9 December 2013.

17. The Commission may request information, in the form of interrogatories, from any party to the proceeding.

18. The Commission will not formally acknowledge submissions. It will, however, fully consider all submissions, which will form part of the public record of the proceeding.

19. Parties are reminded that, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, if a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date. A document must be filed with the Commission by 5 p.m. Vancouver time (8 p.m. Ottawa time) on the date it is due. Late submissions, including those due to postal delays, will not be considered by the Commission and will not be made part of the public record. Parties are responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of their submissions and will not be notified if their submissions are received after the deadline.

20. Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary, and each paragraph of all submissions should be numbered. In addition, the line ***End of document*** should follow the last paragraph. This will help the Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission.

21. The Commission encourages interested persons and parties to monitor the record of this proceeding and/or the Commission’s website for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.

22. Submissions must be filed by sending them to the Secretary General of the Commission using only one of the following means:

by completing the

[Intervention form]

or

by mail to

CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2

or

by fax to

819-994-0218

Important notice

23. All information provided as part of this public process, except information granted confidentiality, whether sent by postal mail, facsimile, email, or through the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, becomes part of a publicly accessible file and will be posted on the Commission’s website. This includes personal information, such as full names, email addresses, postal/street addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers, and any other personal information provided.

24. The personal information provided will be used and may be disclosed for the purpose for which the information was obtained or compiled by the Commission, or for a use consistent with that purpose.

25. Documents received electronically or otherwise will be posted on the Commission’s website in their entirety exactly as received, including any personal information contained therein, in the official language and format in which they are received. Documents not received electronically will be available in PDF format.

26. The information provided to the Commission as part of this public process is entered into an unsearchable database dedicated to this specific public process. This database is accessible only from the web page of this particular public process. As a result, a general search of the Commission’s website with the help of either its search engine or a third-party search engine will not link directly to the information provided as part of this public process.

Availability of documents

27. Electronic versions of the documents referred to in this notice are available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca by using the file numbers provided at the beginning of this notice or by visiting the “Public Proceedings” section of the Commission’s website. The documents can be accessed by selecting “View all proceedings open for comment,” then clicking on the “View entire record” link associated with this particular notice. All interventions are also available on the Commission’s website, at the same location, by clicking on the “Interventions” link associated with this particular notice.

28. Documents are also available and may be examined during normal business hours at the Commission offices and documentation centres directly involved with this process or, upon request, within two business days at all other Commission offices and documentation centres.

Commission offices

Toll-free telephone: 1-877-249-2782
Toll-free TDD: 1-877-909-2782

Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage, Room 206
Gatineau, Quebec J8X 4B1
Tel.: 819-997-2429
Fax: 819-994-0218

Regional offices

Metropolitan Place
99 Wyse Road, Suite 1410
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B3A 4S5
Tel.: 902-426-7997
Fax: 902-426-2721

205 Viger Avenue West, Suite 504
Montréal, Quebec H2Z 1G2
Tel.: 514-283-6607

55 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1M2
Tel.: 416-952-9096

360 Main Street, Suite 970
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3Z3
Tel.: 204-983-6306
Fax: 204-983-6317

2220 – 12th Avenue, Suite 620
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 0M8
Tel.: 306-780-3422

100 – 4^th Avenue SW, Suite 403
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3N2
Tel.: 403-292-6660
Fax: 403-292-6686

858 Beatty Street, Suite 290
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 1C1
Tel.: 604-666-2111
Fax: 604-666-8322

Secretary General

Date modified:

2013-10-10