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Iqaluit council discusses possibility of 911 line

Mar. 24, Iqaluit – The City of Iqaluit has begun working on getting a 911 line for people to access emergency services, but there’s no timeline on when it might be available, said the city’s chief administrative officer.

A 911 line would have to be a Government of Nunavut initiative, said Amy Elgersma, but the city has been in “very early preliminary discussions” with telecommunications company Northwestel and the territorial government.

“It is my understanding that this is quite a ways down the road before the systems and infrastructure would be available to do this,” Elgersma said Tuesday evening at a city council meeting.

Mayor Kenny Bell said he has had discussions with RCMP, and that it may be around $1 million to implement.

He said it’s still far away from happening.

The discussion was brought up in response to deputy Mayor Solomon Awa asking if the city had looked into getting a central emergency services line.

Awa said right now, Iqalummiut are faced with four different phone numbers to get bylaw, fire, ambulance or police services.

“This would be more centralized,” Awa said in an interview.