Starting in 2026, the person at the end of the phone will be based out of Prince George, rather than Kamloops, Vancouver or Victoria, at least when it comes to the RCMP, Fire Department and rescue services.
Cariboo Regional District Chair Margo Wagner says ambulance services will still be dispatched out of those other areas.
She says there are several reasons she thinks the switch will be good, including the cost.
“It’s an important change because we were finding that the cost of subscribing to the E-Comm system down in the Lower Mainland seemed to be continuing to rise, and so there was the ability with kind of the culmination of four other Regional Districts to make this a little more affordable eventually, it’s expensive to start it up.”
Wagner says they were also worried about future delays if they stayed with the current system.
“During the atmospheric river there was some concern about, you know the lines were jammed down there because of the emergency they were experiencing in the Lower Mainland. And so this, we feel, gives us the reassurance that should another major emergency happen down in the Lower Mainland we would still be secure in being able to get the fire calls answered up in the north. It just made more sense to us than having the system that we have been using for a long time based down in the Lower Mainland.”
Wagner says moving it up north also creates jobs, and she says familiarity with the region could also be an asset.
“There is a better understanding of the actual area. I mean the E-COMM 9-1-1 dispatchers have done a phenomenal job, but it’s very hard when they’re looking at maps trying to figure out exactly where the call is coming from, you know with the GPS and stuff it’s not always that effective. I’m not saying that everybody working at the new Prince George centre is going to be aware of every rural road in the Kitimat-Stikine regional district for instance, but they will have a better understanding of it. I am a firm believe that if you can offer the same or better service locally where you have local understanding of the topography and the whole living in the north thing, then you’re better off going with that.”
Changes are also being made in the Fraser-Fort George, Bulkley-Nechako Valley, and Kitimat-Stikine regional districts.
There were 19,591 9-1-1 calls in the Cariboo in 2024.
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