Aftermath of Fiona: NS Prime Minister furious at Telecom’s response to storm

Nova Scotia’s Prime Minister Tim Houston said today that Canadian telecommunications companies are further “cooperating” with the provincial Emergency Management Office (EMO) to ensure that the federal government provides relief to Canadians in the Atlantic affected by Hurricane Fiona. and to be held accountable.

In a letter sent to François-Philippe Champagne, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, he urged Ottawa to take action and ensure that telephone companies provide information on service outages in the aftermath of the hurricane. .

More than four days after the storm hit, Houston said many Nova Scotia residents still lack access to reliable communications and are unable to call 911 in an emergency.

“Nova Scotia is currently recovering from Hurricane Fiona, possibly the largest and most devastating storm ever to hit our state,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, I am writing to you to express my disappointment with the lack of participation and support from the telecommunications companies before, during and after this event.”

Houston told Champagne that Nova Scotia’s EMO began preparing Fiona a week before her arrival. I requested that someone be sent.

“Given the expected impact on power and telecommunications, it was imperative that personnel were present in person for optimal collaboration and support of recovery efforts,” he wrote. It is my understanding that not a single telecom company was willing to send a representative to

“It wasn’t until EMO complained to senior management that Bell agreed to send agency representatives in person to attend for two days before announcing that they were working virtually. Eastlink, Rogers, and Telus attended briefings and virtually communicated with staff, but declined to attend the PCC in person during the initial correspondence.

“It was only three days later, after public and media pressure, that the company sent a direct representative to the PCC.”

Houston went on to say that other key partners such as Nova Scotia Power, the Canadian Red Cross, the Halifax Regional Municipality and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality are actively seeking opportunities to communicate regularly with the people of Nova Scotia during and after the storm. said he was asking for

“Those who declined the opportunity to participate in media interviews and daily state press conferences, which are broadcast live on radio and are one of the only ways to reach people in Nova Scotia who do not have cell or landline service. No.

“Our telecommunications partners have little to no involvement in these briefings. Their absence is noteworthy. Questions about what is not available, where services are not available, and when people in Nova Scotia can expect services to resume are largely unanswered.”

Houston urged Champagne, the unit that oversees Canada’s telecommunications companies, to “ensure all potential responsibilities for participating in emergency planning, preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery to the greatest extent possible. “Laws and Regulatory Measures”.

In an accompanying press release also issued today, he said residents were asking “when service will be restored, how widespread the outage is, and what businesses are planning to ensure this doesn’t happen again.” I have doubts about whether

“During this difficult time, it is unacceptable for Nova Scotians to not be able to call 911 or connect with their loved ones.

According to the release, Bell is responsible for the 911 infrastructure in Atlantic Canada and the relay mobile radio infrastructure used by all first responders in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.