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Text with 911 Now Available in Sault Ste. Marie

In January 2013, the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced enhancements to 911 to enable deaf, hard of hearing and/or speech impaired (DHHSI) members of the community to communicate with 911 Centers via text messaging.

The Sault Ste. Marie Police Service has been working with its partners since the CRTC announcement in order to perform the needed upgrades and is committed to providing continued quality 9-1-1 service to Sault Ste Marie residents.

The Sault Ste. Marie Police Service is responsible for the management of the 911 service for the City of Sault Ste Marie, as well as Batchewana First Nation, Garden River First Nation and Prince Township. At this time the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service would like to advise the public that Text with 911 is now available in the Sault Ste. Marie.

As of March 18, 2014 members of the DHHSI Community have had the opportunity to register their cell phones with their wireless service providers in preparation for texting with 9-1-1, commonly referred to as Text with 911.

A tutorial about how to use the system is offered at TEXT with 9-1-1

Residents who are not members of the DHHSI community are reminded that voice calling remains the only manner in which they can contact 9-1-1.

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