March 9, 2000 The Minister responsible for the Prince Edward Island 911 Emergency Response System announced today that the official date for the launch of the new service for Islanders and visitors will be Monday, May 29, 2000. The Honourable Weston MacAleer, Minister of Community Services and the Attorney General stated, "Our 911 Project Team tells me that the project is ahead of schedule and systems are in place for the service to be available earlier than the original July start date." It was in June of 1998 that the Provincial Government along with Island Telecom Inc., the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside and the RCMP formally announced that Prince Edward Island would be getting a province-wide 911 system. Since then an extensive civic addressing exercise was initiated to assign civic address numbers to all improved properties throughout the province as well as the confirmation of existing civic addresses in all Island Municipalities. "When the 911 system becomes operational people will be able to access emergency services such as fire, police and paramedics by simply dialling 911," stated Minister MacAleer. The 911 system will recognize the location of the caller through the Island Tel landline network and will also recognize which emergency agency services that location. The public is reminded that when 911 does become operational, all emergency calls placed after May 29 must go to the 911 number. This will ensure that the address information which is critical to find the location of the emergency, reaches either fire, police or ambulance services. Islanders can get more information on the new 911 service by calling the toll free number 1-877-257-4911.Media Contact: Amand Arsenault