On Friday, B.C. released two independent reviews calling for major changes to how the province’s 911 dispatch network is governed and funded.
The reports — ordered after cities raised concerns about rising costs tied to Emergency Communications for British Columbia Incorporated (E-Comm) — recommend stronger financial controls, more predictable fee structures, and clearer accountability inside E-Comm.
The province says the goal is to improve transparency, affordability, and long-term sustainability.
The reviews also outline potential service delivery models for the future and call for the provincial role to be more clearly defined.
E-Comm says it accepts the findings and will work with the province and local governments to implement the 25 recommendations, but the union representing call takers says this must also translate into faster response times for the public.
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Union president Donald Grant says callers have recently been waiting four minutes — and in some cases up to nine minutes — to reach a 911 call taker.
“Unfortunately, [these] announcements are not going to directly change that.”
Grant says while cost controls and governance reforms are important, wait times in emergencies can have serious consequences.
“When you dial 911, seconds count. And when you’re dealing with something like, say, a heart attack, a house fire, a violent incident, each second that passes can feel like an eternity.”
He says the main priority now must be mandatory provincial service standards so calls are answered immediately, along with staffing levels to support it.
“The third step is overhauling the governance and financial structure to make sure that we don’t end up in the situation again.”
E-Comm handles more than two million 911 calls across B.C each year, “consistently meeting high service standards by answering 98 per cent of calls within five seconds,” according to the province.