1. EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
A Description of Activities in Canada and a Perspective on Future Work in the Area of Standardization
Bruce A. Gracie
Phone:
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

2. Purpose of the Contribution
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS IN CANADA
FUTURE STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT WORK IN PROVISION OF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS OVER NGN (DRAFT UPDATE TO RESOLUTION GSC-8/1)
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

3. IN CANADA:
Industry Canada has lead for coordination and management of programs to ensure availability of telecommunications services and critical networks in time of disasters or crisis
Industry Canada, responsible for developing and maintaining civil emergency plans, employs an all hazards approach to safeguarding the communications infrastructure from harm due to physical or cyber attacks
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

4. - manages a local telephone priority access system;
A close relationship with the Canadian telecommunications industry is maintained to facilitate information sharing
In partnership with industry and other levels of government, the Department
- manages a local telephone priority access system;
- facilitates and expedites the authorization process for the operation of radio equipment;
- has completed a feasibility study on the development of a Canadian wireless priority service technology that complements the wireline priority access dialling system
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

5. With increased reliance on IP networks and their applications (e. g
With increased reliance on IP networks and their applications (e.g., VoIP), activities have been expanded to include cyber protection of communications networks
In 2003, the Canadian Telecommunications Cyber Protection Working Group was established, comprised of experts from carriers and government
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

6. International cooperation and collaboration are essential
Included among such international activities are the work of Study Groups 2 and 16 of ITU-T
The signing and ratification of the Tampere Convention are also considered to be essential
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

7. THE FUTURE
Operations that were available and effective in the PSTN may not be possible or effective in a packet-based Next Generation Network (NGN)
With NGN, there is little or no control over the transmission of packets, which cannot easily be “traffic engineered” with universally standardized approaches
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

8. THE FUTURE Cont’d
Since a given “flow” of packets can be affected by other flows of packets being conveyed in the same bandwidth, such networks may not be secure, or survivable under attack; therefore, lack of security, denial-of-service, and other vulnerabilities may affect the provision of emergency services
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea

9. THE FUTURE Cont’d
Therefore, PSOs need to examine the characteristics of providing emergency communications over Next Generation Networks
A draft update of Resolution GSC-8/1 is proposed
May 9 -13, 2004
GSC-9 Seoul, Korea