N.W.T. 9-1-1 calls up 31% since 2020-21, report shows

Emergency calls to the Northwest Territories’ 9-1-1 service rose about eight per cent last year and are now about 31 per cent higher than in 2020-21, according to the territorial government’s latest annual report.

Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Vince McKay tabled the 2025-26 report in the Legislative Assembly in Yellowknife on Nov. 4. It covers April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.

The service received 18,199 incoming calls, of which 12,964 were emergencies needing a police, fire, medical or combined response. By Canada News Media’s calculation from those figures, emergencies made up about 71 per cent of all calls. The other 5,235 calls were not emergencies.

Policing accounted for 9,552 calls, or roughly 74 per cent of the emergency total. Emergency medical services drew 2,604 calls, about 20 per cent, and fire and rescue 515, about 4 per cent. The government’s summary does not break out the remaining 293 emergency calls. A 31-per-cent rise since 2020-21 works out to roughly 3,000 more emergency calls a year than at the start of that period.

Calls were answered in an average of about six seconds, and the service covers all 33 communities in the territory. It took seven calls in French and used interpretation for three calls in other languages.

The service had a budget of $1.65 million and spent $1.67 million, about 1.1 per cent over. Revenue from the Call Answer Levy totalled $1.55 million, covering about 93 per cent of spending and moving the program closer to its goal of recovering its own costs. On Canada News Media’s math, that is about $92 for every incoming call and about $129 for every emergency call.

The department said work also continued on Next Generation 9-1-1 and on replacing critical communications systems. The upgrades are meant to improve call handling, location information, data sharing, reporting and quality assurance as national telecommunications networks change.

Emergency response in the territory’s small communities has been tested this year. See our earlier coverage of the Fort Providence wildfire evacuation order and the Wekweeti boil-water advisory, and how members approved the territory’s $794.5-million capital plan.

The figures come from the Government of the Northwest Territories’ news release on the 2025-26 annual report.

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