Quebec Solidaire considers it “unacceptable” that Quebecers “unable to make themselves understood in French in an emergency” by contacting 911 via an Internet telephone line (IP).
Ruba Ghazal, the party's French-language spokesperson, responded to the headline. Press On Monday, Transat Télécom said the Montrealer could not be served in his language when he contacted 911 on the IP line.
Mitchell Menard, who wanted to report a car fire in front of his house at 1:20 a.m. on Jan. 9, spent 10 minutes trying to make himself understood by a man who spoke monolingual English.
Photo by Hugo-Sebastian Aubert, La Presse Archives
Michel Menard was unable to speak French to the agent while calling 911 through his IP telephony provider.
The employee in question worked for Northern 911 in Ontario. Under contract with most IP telephone companies, this company routes Internet calls that do not go through the regular telephone network to the proper emergency centers.
“It could have very serious consequences,” says Ruba Ghazal. She asks Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel to “make an official commitment to ensure that this sad incident is the last”.
Quebec Solidaire proposes to return to Quebec the powers in the region, which are currently held by Ottawa. The political party wants to establish a “Quebec Communications Council” to regulate and monitor communications in Quebec and better prevent this type of situation.
Last March, Northern 911 was also involved in an incident involving another emergency call. This time it was from an Axio customer (Cogeco connection) in Saint-Jean-Port-Joly in Chaudière-Appalaches.
The citizen was trying to contact help for his partner, who had just collapsed on the ground, but the employee was unable to speak to him in French, it was reported. destiny.
After these events, Cogeco required Northern 911 to route all emergency calls from its customers to bilingual employees, regardless of the setting associated with the customer.
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