This is page numbers 659 - 708 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was community.

Topics

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. As of March 9th, 911 has received an estimated total of 9,000 calls. Of those, 29 percent of them were police-related; 1 percent of the calls were fire-related; 4 percent were medical-related. The remaining 66 percent of the calls are classified as non-emergency, which can include prank calls, test calls, and other inquiries of a non-emergency nature. Since going live, as of March 9, 2020, 911 has had five French callers and two Cantonese callers, and there have been no official language calls as of to date. The French callers were supported by the 911 dispatchers who are bilingual. With the Cantonese calls, the dispatcher used translation services through CanTalk. All calls that required translations were within Yellowknife. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marsi, Madam Chair, and thank you for those stats. I think I would ask the Minister, too, to give this in writing to standing committee, please.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I will do that. I will provide the information to the Member. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. I'm just listening to the languages and stuff, how the breakdown went there. I would like to know, too, a breakdown of where the calls are coming from, the communities. I think that would be important, as well. Marsi cho.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I will provide the community context. All calls throughout the Northwest Territories will be within that written report to the committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. Thank you for the response. I would like to know, too, after hours, where are those calls routed to? That's to the Minister. Marsi cho.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. The service is available 24 hours a day, so I am not too sure if that clarifies your question. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you for the response. I'm aware that it's 24 hours, but where are the calls being taken?

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry, I didn't hear you. The calls are from Yellowknife. The 911 office is located here in the city. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. You mentioned something quickly about official languages. I'm always wanting to be proactive and stuff. I remember we had a very serious incident way up in Sahtu where an elder witnessed something, and there was a big disconnect with the dispatcher for the RCMP. Unfortunately, somebody ended up deceased from that. If we have somebody with one of the official languages call in to 911, how is that call dealt with and how does that process work? When the person calls in, where is the call routed to and how is it dealt with? Marsi cho.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just going to start off, and I'm going to get Ms. Young to elaborate on the response. I was concerned very much, as well, with the official languages and to seeing that we do meet the needs of the Northwest Territories. When I went to go toward the location, it was actually that we didn't have very many, I want to say almost none, calls that were called in requesting an Indigenous language. Right now, we do work with CanTalk, that does provide that service, but we did run into situations where we just have a limited number of translators for each of, I want to say there are seven dialects in the Northwest Territories, who actually speak the language, who can respond. We had a hard time to find those translators in the Northwest Territories. Going forward, according to what we have, our response is very quick and very effective, very efficient, to where the responders on the phone are able to decrease and rate a call and that they are able to almost provide the assistance over the phone. I'll have Eleanor elaborate on it a little bit more. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Ms. Young.

Young

Thank you, Madam Chair. The way that the translation system works, the call comes in live to the operators, who, as the Minister said, are in our call centre 24-7. If they recognize that it's not French or English, they immediately dial in this CanTalk service, which then identifies the language and connects with a translator. We have, as much as has been possible, provided them with names of translators in the Northwest Territories who speak the languages, so that CanTalk could actually connect them with those individuals.

Unfortunately, and I know this has been a conversation with Education, Culture and Employment, as well, we don't have enough translators in the Northwest Territories to be able to operate this as a sustainable service in the territories currently, although that is ideally a goal of all of us, to be able to, instead of using CanTalk, have that translation service provided here. This CanTalk service is an interim solution that connects us to translators as quickly as possible. I know that we haven't tested it yet, because we've not had an Indigenous call come in, but the goal is to be able to have the translation connected and working live with the client within 60 to 80 seconds. Unfortunately, I can't tell you whether that has happened on the ground, because we haven't had one to experience yet. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Ms. Young. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marsi, Madam Chair. Thank you to Ms. Young and the Minister for the response. I'm just looking through this, as well. It's always good, when you are doing a new program, you don't want to set it up to fail; you make sure it doesn't go by the wayside. I'm just wondering if the Minister could let me know if they feel like the staffing right now is adequate to keep this program running and if this will be adequate, this number here, this line item, to fund it; if $1.2 million will be enough moving forward. Marsi cho.