Thursday February 6, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Last week 10 south Vancouver Island municipal mayors demanded prompt action of BC’s public safety minister to avert the downloading of 911 service delivery fees onto their municipalities.
The mayors sent their joint letter to Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Garry Begg on January 30 as they also that day stood on the front steps of the BC Parliament Buildings to visibly protest what would be a significant property tax increase for their residents.
And a week later, the mayors got their meeting. On Tuesday February 4 they had their meeting with Minister Begg.
Meeting with 10 mayors:
“This morning, I met with mayors from the communities of Colwood, Duncan, Ladysmith, Langford, Metchosin, North Cowichan, North Saanich, Sidney, Sooke and View Royal to discuss the concerns outlined in their most recent letter,” said Minister Begg on Thursday February 4 in a statement issued to media.
“We had a productive discussion on the transition to E-Comm, while also listening to their concerns. We’ve offered to follow up with them to address any further questions and share more details as needed,” said Begg.
“We all share a commitment to ensuring we have a reliable and dependable 911 service delivery system in British Columbia. This is a priority for our government, and we remain committed to working closely with these communities through the transition,” said Minister Begg.
What transition?
There is still no clarity on what “transition” means. Island Social Trends has inquired as to what comes next.
Will municipalities (and their taxpayers) still have to pay for 911 services (passing that cost onto municipal taxpayers)? Or will the cost for 911 services (provided by a service called E-Comm, located in Saanich) shift to being fully covered by the Province?
In the latter case, will the Province arrange for a 911 service fee to be levied on people’s cell phone bills, or do the 10 municipalities need to arrange that?
Three-year warning:
The Province reminded the mayors that they’ve had a few years to deal with the upcoming 911 fee load.
South Island communities were informed in December 2020 that starting in 2021, they would be responsible for covering 100% of the costs associated with dispatch calls. As concerns were raised on impacts to residents, the Province provided these municipalities with multi-year transitional funding to fully cover their police dispatch services until March 31, 2025, with the understanding that the municipalities would then assume responsibility for funding.
“This transitional funding provided communities with over three years to budget appropriately,” it was stated by the public safety ministry.
Did municipalities drop the ball? Did they become distracted or otherwise engaged with other issues in their jurisdictions?
Buck stops with local governments:
The responsibility for 911 services in British Columbia rests with local governments, as delegated by the Province through agreements like the Municipal Police Unit Agreements (MPUAs) and the Provincial Policing Service Agreements (PPSA).
“This applies regardless of whether a community is served by the RCMP or local police department and is often funded primarily through property taxes and landline levies,” the ministry says.
Centralized E-comm was advocated for by local police agencies:
The E-comm centre in Saanich that serves the 10 south island municipalities opened in 2011 with what appeared to be municipal political support.
“The decision to move to a consolidated police dispatch centre (from three older centers dispersed across the South Island) and run by E-Comm was advocated for by local police agencies, including the Westshore RCMP as well as the CRD. Local government officials at the time were involved in this decision-making process,” says the public safety ministry in their February 4 statement.
911 is called ‘optional’:
The Province states that “911 is an optional service and is delegated to municipalities”.
People throughout BC may be surprised to hear that about a service that is considered essential to public safety.
“The communities have an option to use E-Comm or provide an alternate service,” as stated by the public safety ministry.
Municipalities are ‘creatures of the province’, i.e. they are extensions of the province. But in the case of 911 it seems that municipalities are in some ways out on a limb.
The mayors in their protest speeches on January 30 at the legislature seemed to imply that starting up their own 911 service was beyond reason.
Meanwhile, the public safety ministry this week provides examples of where the 911 service has been successfully undertaken by other BC municipalities, describing the benefits as staffing efficiencies, improved coordination between police agencies for calls for service, enhanced ability to respond to large emergency events, capacity for quality control and training and improved service to the public and police officer safety.
Municipalities with their own 911 services:
Communities serviced by E-Comm pay 100% for the third-party service delivery model. There are communities in B.C. that are served by the RCMP provincial police service that benefit from the (70/30) Provincial cost sharing agreement. That is because the federal government will subsidize RCMP call centres where RCMP is the Police of Jurisdiction (POJ).
- The City of Nelson operates their 911 service delivery independently and have their own police force, and call center with primary and secondary call taking and dispatch. All paid for by Nelson residents.
- The City of Surrey is another example who has now transitioned away from an RCMP OCC and are now 100% responsible for their own service delivery as Surrey Police.
- The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George recently announced they will also transition to their own 911 services in 2026.
Clearly a local policing service has benefits that include more connected knowledge of the local community being served. But the cost and administration to manage a police service and/or 911 would be significant.
So far there has been no evident expression of interest by the 10 south island municipalities to shift away from using the RCMP as their protective service agency of choice.
===== RELATED:
South Vancouver Island mayors want 9-1-1 cost equity & fees shifted to cell phone bills (February 4, 2025)
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