Text with 911
The City of St. Albert is now offering Text with 911 (T9-1-1) to its residents. This service, which continues the City’s focus on resident safety, allows deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired (DHHSI) individuals to call 911 from their cell phones and communicate with the 911 operator via a text chat.
The City worked with Telus to implement the necessary infrastructure and trained staff on the new technology.
How to Use Text with 911
Watch the videos! Visit Textwith911.ca and click on How to Make a T-9-1-1 Call.
To use Text with 911, DHHSI individuals must do the following:
- Visit Textwith911.ca and click on the Registration link to register your cell phone with your wireless service provider.
- Once your cell phone is registered, make a voice call to 911. Registered cell phones will alert the 911 operator that the caller needs to communicate via text. The 911 operator will then open a text session with you.
- The voice call must stay open during this process as the operator will be listening for background noises and other queues that may alert them to issues.
- Text messages must be brief and concise. No slang or abbreviations should be used.
The Canadian Association of the Deaf estimates that approximately one per cent of the population is deaf. Using that standard, the City estimates that this new service will be available to approximately 650 residents. Related Pages
Last edited: November 28, 2019