A 911 service outage that has impacted many parts of Canada, including Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia is gradually being resolved, according to emergency response services.

Residents in need of emergency services and unable to contact 911 are being urged to contact any available non-emergency lines.

As of 7:40 a.m. Thursday, outages are still being experienced across Nova Scotia, parts of Quebec and for people trying to reach Ontario Provincial Police. Service has been restored for many regions across Ontario including Toronto and Waterloo, in New Brunswick including Fredericton and Woodstock, and in Winnipeg.

There are reports that some cellular carriers are having issues connecting to 911 services across Canada.

In a news release, Nova Scotia’s Department of Emergency Management said the issue was not with that province’s 911 system, but instead tied to the telecommunications carrier networks. The department said the outage may also affect some voice-over-internet phone users.

“The cause of the outage is not yet known and telecommunications providers are working to identify and address the issue,” said the release.

Bell 911 service was down across Ontario Thursday morning, a spokesperson with Toronto paramedics told CBC News. They said typically 911 calls are filtered by Toronto police dispatchers and that some calls managed to come through in the morning.

CBC News has reached out to Bell for more information.

Where has service been resolved

Winnipeg police posted on the social media platform X that 911 service was disrupted for over 30 minutes on Thursday, but has since been resolved.

Service is also back up and running across the Greater Toronto Area, including in Toronto, Durham, York and Peel regions.

Toronto police urged residents on X to call 911 for all police, fire and medical emergencies. They said the alternate phone number they shared online earlier during the disruption should only be used for non-emergencies.

The disruption impacted each region for different periods of time. Service in Toronto was down for over two and a half hours until it was fully restored, while York’s service was down for about 16 minutes on Thursday morning.

Windsor police posted on X that their service is operational again as of 5:21 a.m., just over 30 minutes after they notified the public of the initial outage.

Const. Trevor McKenna with Hamilton Police said 911 lines were down for about an hour from 3:30 a.m., but are now fully restored.

Police in London, Waterloo region and North Bay, Ont., posted on X that their service has also been retored.

How to reach services disrupted across Ontario, Nova Scotia

Anyone in Nova Scotia unable to reach 911 should try using a landline, Wi-Fi calling or a phone connected to another carrier, the department said.

They said people can also try calling non-emergency lines for their nearest emergency facility or the service they are trying to reach for immediate assistance.

Niagara regional police said on X that emergency services can be reached at their non-emergency 905-688-4111 or by reaching out to one of their eight local district offices.

Ontario Provincial Police said in a news release there has been reports of “intermittent 911 outages across the province” and that they are working to expedite the service’s restoration.

The OPP said their non-emergency line at 1-888-310-1122 is fully operational and members are still responding to calls. They urged residents to not call 911 for information, updates, or to test the phone line if they are not in an emergency.

Kingston police said on X that anyone unable to reach them through 911 can use their non-emergency line at 613-549-4660.