Last update :
2012-02-02
QUESTIONS
NEWS
12 January 2012
NEW ISSUE OF NEWSLETTER INFO 9-1-1 QUÉBEC
PARTNERS
- Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités
- Quebec Union of Municipalities
- Ville de Montréal
- Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire
QUICK LINKS
Nouvelles
The agency: Mission and Board of Directors
According to the Civil Protection Act, local municipalities are responsible for ensuring that an emergency 9-1-1 call centre serves their territory. It's also their responsibility to finance the costs of these 9-1-1 call centres.The municipal tax for 9-1-1 service
The municipal tax for 9-1-1 service is a monthly payment of 40 ¢ that must be paid by every customer of a given telephone service, regardless of the physical mode (landline or wireless, including internet phone service and prepaid card services), if that service allows users to call, directly or indirectly, an emergency 9-1-1 centre. This tax came into effect on December 1, 2009.
This tax replaces the former municipal 9-1-1 user fee of 47 ¢, which has been in effect since 1995. However, the former 47 ¢ fee was not collected by all telephone service providers but only by those which had signed agreements with the various municipalities. Most cellular or mobile telephone service providers had not signed such agreements, so that only some of the customers of a given phone service (roughly 4.4 million out of a total of 8 million) were contributing toward the financing of the emergency 9-1-1 call centres. This raised a problem of fairness. It also caused a problem of underifnancing for the emergency 9-1-1 call centres, particularly in contexts where some people replaced their landline phones with other telephony modes.
Similar conditions exist in other Canadian provinces.
This tax replaces the former municipal 9-1-1 user fee of 47 ¢, which has been in effect since 1995. However, the former 47 ¢ fee was not collected by all telephone service providers but only by those which had signed agreements with the various municipalities. Most cellular or mobile telephone service providers had not signed such agreements, so that only some of the customers of a given phone service (roughly 4.4 million out of a total of 8 million) were contributing toward the financing of the emergency 9-1-1 call centres. This raised a problem of fairness. It also caused a problem of underifnancing for the emergency 9-1-1 call centres, particularly in contexts where some people replaced their landline phones with other telephony modes.
Similar conditions exist in other Canadian provinces.
Quality and accreditation standards for emergency 9-1-1 centres
Standards regarding norms, specifications and quality criteria now apply to emergency 9-1-1 call centres. A Regulation respecting standards, specifications and quality criteria applicable to 9-1-1 emergency centres and to certain secondary emergency call centres is in force since December 30, 2010 (see Documents section).
In 2008, the Civil Protection Act was amended so as to require local municipalities to ensure that their territory would be served by an emergency 9-1-1 call centre, and the government was given the power to adopt a regulation imposing quality standards on the 9-1-1 centres, respecting response time, continuous service, number of staff on duty, personnel training, equipment, security in the call centre building, and so forth. According to the law, 9-1-1 call centres are now subject to an accreditation process that will enforce compliance with these standards. The Ministère de la Sécurité publique will be responsible for establishing and monitoring compliance with these new standards, but the inspection costs will be charged to the Agency.
In 2008, the Civil Protection Act was amended so as to require local municipalities to ensure that their territory would be served by an emergency 9-1-1 call centre, and the government was given the power to adopt a regulation imposing quality standards on the 9-1-1 centres, respecting response time, continuous service, number of staff on duty, personnel training, equipment, security in the call centre building, and so forth. According to the law, 9-1-1 call centres are now subject to an accreditation process that will enforce compliance with these standards. The Ministère de la Sécurité publique will be responsible for establishing and monitoring compliance with these new standards, but the inspection costs will be charged to the Agency.