Telephone tag

A Francophone in Eastern Ontario reached out to tell us about her experience as a witness to a situation while camping. She had wanted the police to intervene because it appeared as if a few individuals were harassing some senior citizens, so she contacted the local OPP detachment and 911. She told us that she was put on hold after requesting police services in French. The 911 operator transferred her call to a local OPP detachment, which put her on hold and then transferred her call to an answering machine. She was unable to speak with a live officer. We brought these two issues to the OPP and the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

RESULT: In light of our intervention, the OPP created a separate platform dedicated to French 911 calls. The OPP also reviewed its process and made changes to the French version of the automated call waiting message for 911 calls and for the local detachment’s phone line. The woman thanked us for our work.

Learn more about the French Language Services Unit which answers questions and takes complaints about services in French.
Read about how we helped other people in our Selected cases.