9-8-8 Routing in Canada

9-8-8 provides anyone in Canada with bilingual, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate support for mental health crises and suicide prevention. The service is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round by call or text. Whether someone is experiencing thoughts of suicide, emotional distress, or needs support for themselves or someone else, trained responders are available to help. The service is delivered by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

When someone contacts 9-8-8, they should ideally be connected to the nearest local response centre. However, routing today relies on the caller’s phone number area code to determine which of the nearly 40 response centres receives the call or text.

Because Canadians can keep their phone numbers when they move, and frequently travel across the country with their mobile phones, a caller’s phone number does not necessarily reflect their physical location. For example, if someone in Vancouver dials 9-8-8 using a phone number with a Toronto area code, the call is routed to a Toronto response centre instead of one in the Vancouver area. This mismatch can create challenges for local centres, which are typically best positioned to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

To address this, the Commission issued Telecom Notice of Consultation 2025-20, seeking comments on how to improve routing for 9-8-8 calls and texts. During the public proceeding, wireless carriers proposed several approaches to better route wireless calls to the most appropriate 9-8-8 response centre, including:

·       Calls to 9-8-8 currently terminate on a toll-free 1-8XX number. Under this proposal, the charge number associated with the cell tower handling the call would be passed to the 9-8-8 service provider. The provider could then interpret that information and route the call to the appropriate response centre based on the tower’s location.

·       Wireless calls would be routed based on the location of the serving cell tower, similar to how some N11 services are handled today.

·       The call would be directed to the nearest response centre using either the device’s GPS location or location calculated by the wireless network.

·       For carriers with IP interconnection, this header could include the Tracking Area Code (TAC), which identifies geographic regions based on groups of cell sites.

In Telecom Decision CRTC 2025-317, the Commission noted that each proposed method carries limitations, including potential routing errors and compatibility issues across networks. As a result, the Commission tasked the CISC Network Working Group with providing, by 27 May 2026, recommendations on a routing approach or combination of approaches including:

·       Improves routing accuracy for wireless 9-8-8 calls

·       Enhances the resiliency of the 9-8-8 network

·       Ensures compatibility with current 4G and 5G mobile technologies

·       Requires minimal changes to existing wireless networks

·       Supports adding, removing, or modifying response centre coverage

·       Maintains all existing privacy protections for 9-8-8 service

As Canada continues to modernize its critical emergency communications systems, key questions remain:

Will 9-8-8 routing eventually resemble the routing model used for NG9-1-1?

And could 9-8-8 traffic one day share the NG9-1-1 ESInet?

These decisions will shape not only the technical architecture of crisis response, but also how quickly and effectively Canadians in distress can access life-saving mental health support.