Several police services across Canada reported that their 911 lines were down this morning, though the outages appeared to be resolved within an hour or two in many cases.
Police services including those in Toronto, Ottawa, London, Ont. and Waterloo, Ont., reported the disruptions on social media, urging residents to call non-emergency lines in case of an emergency.
Ontario Provincial Police also said they were alerted to intermittent 911 outages in parts of the province, while the Surete du Quebec said technical issues were affecting the transfer of certain 911 calls.
Many said the issue was resolved by about 7:30 a.m. ET.
A spokesperson for Montreal police says the outage affected the telephone carrier responsible for 911. Even if calls came in, the spokesperson says, there was a possibility they would be transferred to police services elsewhere in the country.
Further east, the Nova Scotia government says intermittent 911 outages may affect some cellphone and VoIP users, while police in Saint John, N.B., say 911 is down on cellphones but still available from landlines
“There are reports that some cellular carriers are having difficulty connecting to 911 across Canada,” the Nova Scotia government said in a statement.
“The province is working to understand the full extent of the service disruption. The issue appears to be related to telecommunications carrier networks and is not a problem with the provincial 911 system itself.”
The cause of the outage hasn’t yet been determined, it added, reminding residents not to call 911 to test whether the system is working as that may further affect emergency operations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2026.
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