Bram Abramson, Commissioner for Ontario
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
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Thank you for the invitation to speak today and for that warm welcome. It's a pleasure to be in Kingston on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee Confederacy. I thank them and pay respect to their Elders.
And it is a pleasure to meet again with a community that was so welcoming when I last attended this conference in 2024. If it is your first time here, or we simply haven't met yet, don't hesitate to come say hello, and to say hello to Suneil Kanjeekal from the CRTC, who has joined me here in Kingston. Suneil is our director of dispute resolution and regulatory implementation within the CRTC's telecommunications branch.
I appreciate the dialogue we have had in the past. On a personal note, while I have always had some involvement in the emergency communications area, my service as CRTC Commissioner has allowed me to visit primary and secondary PSAPs across Ontario, from Hamilton to Ottawa to Sudbury to Toronto and back again. I have paid attention to some of NENA's promotional material and completed my Emergency Number Professional designation. I have gotten a better understanding of how hard you work and the challenges you face. Your work has made a tremendous impression on me.
As I did in 2024, I would like to open things up for questions and answers. But before that, I would like to speak for a bit on what has been happening at the CRTC in the time since we last met, the ongoing work we have together, as well as a few other CRTC initiatives that have an impact on Canada's telecommunications networks and, by extension, the emergency services ecosystem.
It seems finally to be getting warmer after a pretty snowy winter. Spring is traditionally a time of rebirth - green grass, sunny skies, and new beginnings. This community, of course, is nearing such a new beginning.
Transition to NG9-1-1
As you are well aware, March 31, 2027 is less than a year away. That means that when we see each other for NENA Ontario Conference next year, network providers will have decommissioned their regulated Enhanced 9-1-1 networks. In less than a year, all public safety answering points (PSAPs) will be expected to have completed the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 networks.
This is a message I have repeated in front of Ontario's municipalities, and it is one that you know all too well: with NG9-1-1, Canadians will have the infrastructure and ability to connect in new ways with 9-1-1 operators. Ways that keep pace with how the public uses technology, starting with text messaging and video calls.
