Author: Casey Moffatt

In a significant step toward supporting mental health and well-being across our nation, the 988: Suicide Crisis Helpline launched today.

The Canadian telecommunications industry is pleased to support the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and its network partners in the provision of this vital new phone and text service.

By utilizing an easy to remember three-digit number, the 9-8-8 helpline is designed to provide urgent, live support to anyone in Canada who is experiencing thoughts of suicide or is concerned about someone they know. Accessible via phone or text, the service operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in both English and French. This toll-free helpline, supported by CAMH, is a testament to the collaborative efforts of nearly 40 crisis lines nationwide, which together provide culturally appropriate, lifesaving support to people in crises.

Suicide prevention is the primary focus of the new 9-8-8 crisis helpline, but no one who reaches out using 9-8-8 will be turned away. Trained 9-8-8 responders are equipped to handle a range of crises, ensuring that every person contacting the helpline receives the support they need.

Our members are honored to support the launch of the national 988: Suicide Crisis Helpline, and to contribute to a network of connection that spans the entire country.

For more information and what to expect when calling or texting 9-8-8, as well as answers to frequently asked questions, please visit 988.ca.

The need for a sustainable economy that provides a good quality of life while also protecting the planet is a concern for everyone. Canada’s current approach to sustainability focuses largely on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the adoption of renewables and developing alternative energy sources.

While important, these steps will not be enough to meet Canada’s sustainability goals and must be complemented by other measures.

In 2020, Accenture published Accelerating 5G in Canada: The Role of 5G in the Fight Against Climate Change. It focused on the role 5G serves in making Canada’s wireless networks more energy efficient, and its role in the creation of new innovative technologies that will help reduce Canada’s carbon footprint.

As a follow up to its 2020 white paper, Accenture has published a new report, Canada’s next sustainability frontier: Powering digital transformation with connectivity, that examines the importance of digital transformation to combating climate change and other environmental harms. In simple terms, digital transformation involves industries using data and technology to become more productive, while reducing waste and lowering energy consumption.

In examining how digital transformation can drive both productivity and sustainability, the report focuses on three of Canada’s most important industries, the Oil & Gas, Mining, and Agriculture sectors. Using potential use cases in these industries, Accenture illustrates how connected devices and sensors, along with technologies such as digital twins, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, can be used by businesses to operate more efficiently and safely, and in turn reduce energy and fuel consumption as well as produce less waste.

A few of the use cases highlighted in the report include:

• the use of sensors and drones in predictive maintenance of oil rig equipment can significantly limit unnecessary downtime and energy consumption, while digital twin technology can help optimize drilling parameters and reduce wasted fuel use by 20%;
• connected technologies can help manage mining tailings ponds 25% more efficiently and with a 90% decrease in environmental compliance safety incidents; and
• water and fertilizer use in the agricultural sector can be reduced by 20-40% using sensors and drones to monitor crops.

Critically, each of these use cases requires advanced wireless and wireline networks to support the exponential growth in bandwidth, speed, simultaneous connections, and reliability needed to power the devices and technologies that enable digital transformation and greater sustainability.

But realizing the full benefits of this intersection of connectivity, industry modernization and sustainability will not happen without the right policies and collaboration. Accenture concludes that achieving the productivity and sustainability benefits of digital transformation depends on four key enablers:

1. A regulatory approach that maintains incentives for Canada’s communications service providers to continue to invest in the expansion and enhancement of their wireline and wireless networks;
2. Solution provider ecosystem collaboration and innovation to ensure that industry verticals have the devices and software that meet their digital transformation and business requirements;
3. Embracing of digital transformation by industry verticals, including investing in the tools and processes needed to share data across their businesses, and developing and hiring workers with the necessary advanced skillsets; and
4. An expansion of government approach to addressing environmental challenges, including extending incentives beyond clean technology investments and renewables to include incentives for digital transformation. This approach should also employ a strong emissions measurement strategy so both government and industry can focus on the specific type of digital transformations that have the largest impact.

Canada must look beyond renewables and alternative energy sources to meet its sustainability objectives. Canadian businesses must modernize and transform themselves, not only to become more productive and competitive, but also to reduce their impact on the environment. With Canada having some of the world’s most advanced telecommunication networks, now is the time for governments, communication service providers and industry verticals to leverage this connectivity advantage and work together to build a more sustainable Canada.

Download a copy of the new Accenture report here.

Robert Ghiz – President & CEO

Each year, September 30th marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, when we honour the Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities, and the children who never returned home.

Recognition of this tragic and painful history and reflection on its lasting impacts are an important part of the reconciliation process. But the advancement of reconciliation requires much more than an annual day of observance. It requires on-going and sustained action.

In keeping with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, Canada’s telecommunications sector is engaged in relationship-building with Indigenous communities to support a range of initiatives. These include sustainable land and resource use, education funding, job creation, cultural awareness and community-led infrastructure projects.

We know that expanding and enhancing network coverage is key to the economic prosperity and social well-being of remote and Indigenous communities. That is why our members are working with Indigenous communities, together with different levels of government and Indigenous-led businesses, to build and improve telecommunications infrastructure.

While only a small sample, the following are examples of the type of projects and collaborations taking place across our country.

Through the industry-funded CRTC Broadband Fund, together with its own investments, Northwestel has embarked on a three-year plan to bring high-speed unlimited internet access to every community in the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

As part of this project, Northwestel has partnered with thirteen Yukon First Nations development corporations to bring fibre-to-the-home service to eighteen Yukon communities. Under this model, the fibre assets that connect thousands of homes across the territory will be Indigenous-owned and will result in a guaranteed return on investment for Yukon First Nations over the next two decades.

In 2021, SaskTel launched its Rural Broadband Partnership Program, with the goal of partnering with smaller internet providers to bring advanced broadband connectivity to underserved areas of the province, including Indigenous communities.

Through this program, SaskTel has partnered with a new majority Indigenous-owned internet service provider, Beaver River Broadband, under which Beaver River Broadband will utilize portions of SaskTel’s network to deliver high quality internet service to underserved Indigenous and rural communities.

In British Columbia, Rogers is building new cell towers that will service the highway and communities along the route between Prince Rupert and Prince George, which has sadly become known as the Highway of Tears, and in doing so is fulfilling one of the recommendations of the 2006 Highway of Tears Symposium report to enhance safety for Indigenous women and girls.

These are just a few examples of the numerous projects underway by Association members Bell, Rogers and Videotron, as well as smaller regional carriers, to improve connectivity in Indigenous and other communities across Canada, and in doing so delivering financial benefits, job creation and safer communities.

We know there is much more work to be done. And we all wish it could be done faster. But many underserved areas present the most challenging conditions for network building. It will require continued collaboration, commitment, and resourcefulness by service providers, governments, and local communities to connect all Indigenous communities. It will also require policies that foster ongoing investment in network building.

Ongoing collaboration will not only bring greater prosperity and quality of life to Indigenous communities, but also it will bring greater understanding of the history and perspectives of Indigenous people, build greater trust, and advance the process of reconciliation.

To learn more about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and how you can participate, visit National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, wildfires, and snow and ice storms are becoming more commonplace, endangering Canadians, damaging property, and posing a risk to critical infrastructure, including telecommunications networks.

Telecom providers know that Canadians depend on them to stay connected, especially during an emergency. That is why they have made it a priority to strengthen their networks and make them more resilient in the face of extreme weather events and natural disasters.

But even with these preparations, extreme weather and other disasters can result in power outages, downed poles and cables, and other damage that can impact your use of internet and mobile phone services.

With Atlantic Canada preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Lee , now is a good time to review some important tips on preparing for potential power outages and other storm damage that can affect your use of telecommunications servicers.

The following tips and best practices can be found in the emergency preparedness document we released this spring, Preparing for Severe Weather Events & Other Emergencies, and are also available at telecomprepare.ca:

Before a storm:

• Monitor the weather and be ready for emergency alerts.
• Prepare for power outages by fully charging your devices.
• Have backup power supply that can power essential communications equipment like your internet modem, Wi-Fi router, and cordless phone.
• Determine if your phone or phone service rely on your home power supply and consider a backup power supply if they do.

During a storm and in the immediate aftermath:

• Preserve device battery power, such as by reducing the screen brightness and turning off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and location-based services when you don’t need them.
• Help reduce network congestion by using SMS/texting or email to connect with others and do not use your mobile phone to make phone calls unless it is an emergency.
• If you must make a phone call, keep your conversation as short as possible, and if your call is not connected wait at least 10 seconds before redialing.
• Do not use mobile wireless networks for data-intensive uses, like streaming video or non-emergency related internet use.

When calling 9-1-1:

• If you have a working landline phone and a mobile phone, use the landline phone to help reduce traffic on mobile networks.
• Mobile phone service is designed for 9-1-1 calls to default to whatever wireless network is available, so calling 9-1-1 on your mobile phone may still be possible even if your service provider does not have an operational cell tower nearby or your phone does not have a SIM card.
• 9-1-1 calls may take longer to connect due to increased network congestion following an emergency. If your call is not immediately connected, wait a few seconds to allow your device to make a connection. If your call is not connected, hang up and wait 10 seconds before redialing. Do not immediately redial.
• If you are still unable to successfully place a 9-1-1 call, try removing or turning off your device’s SIM card. In rare circumstances, the presence of the SIM card may prevent your device from connecting to an alternative service provider’s network.

You can also find more tips on how to prepare for emergencies at the Government of Canada’s www.GetPrepared.ca website, and the websites of your provincial/territorial governments and local municipalities.