Yukon Government sign outside the Jim Smith Building in downtown Whitehorse. CKRW File Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke.
Whitehorse, YT – In the wake of a recent telecommunications outage that left parts of the Yukon and the North without internet and cell phone services for close to 24 hours, the Yukon Party is calling for a thorough review of the incident and the government’s emergency preparedness and response.
Friday night’s outage, caused by a wildfire near Fort Nelson, B.C., disrupted essential communication services including 911 service. The outage also forced some business closures and limited transactions to cash-only.
Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon issued a statement yesterday calling for examining the outage and aftermath.
“Yukoners want to know what is being done to prevent this from happening again,” Dixon stated in the press release. “While we commend all emergency responders and Yukon’s Emergency Measures Organization for dealing with a difficult situation, it’s crucial that we address any gaps in our telecommunications infrastructure and emergency services.”
The party is urging telecommunications providers and the Yukon Government to explore technological solutions to prevent similar cellular service outages in the future, especially when critical fibre lines are damaged. They also called attention to the vulnerability of emergency communication platforms like Yukon.ca and social media which were both inaccessible during the weekend outage.
The Yukon Government says they will be working with Northwestel to look into ways to prevent future outages while pointing to the 800-kilometer Dempster Fibre line which will run between Dawson City and Inuvik, N.W.T..
Local radio stations will carry emergency updates and info in the event of a similar outage. The government says one of the key lessons learned from the outage is to have battery-operated radios on hand.
The government adds that they will be working with telecommunications providers and other stakeholders to address challenges raised by the outage and identify any gaps in their emergency preparedness.
