When he dialed 911 to alert authorities that someone was having a seizure on the streets of Toronto, Brett House didn’t think he had to wait five minutes. I thought they would answer right awayhe said.

Although the five-minute wait seemed endless, it was actually less than the average wait time to speak to the Toronto Police Department’s 911 communications center. October 30 was the record day of 2022 with an average of six minutes and 28 seconds.

However, the Toronto Police Department has committed to complying with the standards of the National Association of Emergency Numbers, which mandate that 90% of calls to 911 be answered in less than 15 seconds.

This obligation is not overseen by the province, which does not have statutory response times for emergency calls in Ontario.

By these standards, in 2022, police services will only have met their obligation for 11 days. Instead, the average was twice as high at 38 seconds.

The waiting time can vary from 33 seconds to 10 minutes

The Brett House case is therefore far from extraordinary and the explanation must be sought on the side of staff shortages, according to an investigation by CBC Toronto.

Toronto’s population of 2.8 million sometimes has fewer than 10 officers on duty, according to internal Toronto police documents.

And the trend is not improving. According to 2022 data obtained by CBC through a freedom of information request, wait times have increased compared to the previous year.

Depending on the month, they sometimes doubled and even quintupled. Such was the case in July 2022 when they hit a minute, compared to 19 seconds the previous year.

An audit of the 911 communications center conducted by Toronto’s Auditor General last June confirmed that staff shortages are the primary reason for the increase in wait times.

In his report’s 26 recommendations, the Auditor General mentions hiring staff and developing data systems to better understand and improve performance.

He also proposed conducting public awareness campaigns on the use of the 911 number and introducing a tax on the 911 number to help modernize the city’s emergency services.

Recruitment of operators in progress

CBC Toronto asked Police Commissioner Myron Demkiw for an interview, but the request was denied due to spring break.

In an email, Toronto Police Department spokeswoman Stephanie Sayer says the service is taking steps to follow the Auditor General’s recommendations after noting that all police departments in North America face the same difficulties when it comes to staffing issues.

She also assures that the hiring of 20 full-time operators is underway, which would make it possible to regain the same number of staff as a year ago when they were 301. However, she does not specify how many of those total would be part-time or full-time.

The email also cites other initiatives such as better training programs and mental health support for operators to increase customer retention.

Ontario and Manitoba are the only tax-exempt 911s

The 911 tax would require legislation to be passed by the provincial government.

According to the Auditor General’s report, if the tax were set at $1 per cell phone user in Toronto, it could generate as much as $28.8 million a year.

The Office of the Attorney General of Ontario, through its spokesman Hunter Kell, states that this responsibility rests with the municipality.

He also says the province is allocating $208 million to Ontario’s 911 call centers to help them modernize.

For Robert Stewart of the Association of Public Safety Communicators, Every second counts. There should be minimum standards for training and call response timeshe said.