Quebecers will be able to text 911 in 2025

Quebecers will be able to text 911 operators and send them images and videos by March 2025, the province announced Monday.

Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel said Quebec will invest $45.5-million over three years to modernize 36 call centres. This is part of a larger plan by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to expand emergency services nationwide.

The CRTC's Next-generation 9-1-1 is expected to make interactions with operators safer, faster and more informed.

"With a text feature, a woman who is a victim of domestic violence and who cannot speak could pick up her phone and text 911 and communicate without her aggressor seeing," said Bonnardel.

Melpa Kamateros, who works with victims of domestic violence with the Shield of Athena, says this is an important step, especially as cases of domestic violence rose during the COVID-19 pandemic according to a study from the Université de Sherbrooke.

"This will just expand the potential for victims to come out and to try and access services," says Kamateros. "By doing so, it will decrease, potentially, the danger to such victims."

She says the helpfulness of the expanded 911 service will come down to how the province promotes it.

"We want to see this accessible to everybody," she said.

"We have to also make sure that people who do not speak English or French, people that have no status, people that are the most vulnerable of vulnerable [that] they too can also access information about this service."

The texting feature will also allow people to share biomedical information and speed up communications with the operator.

"We have to save lives and saving lives is time," said Bonnardel.

The updates aren't expected to take place until March 2025. Until then, people will have to call 911 like usual if they need to reach emergency services.