Mississauga council has moved to ask the province to penalize individuals allegedly misusing 911 calls.

Council passed a motion Wednesday, Jan. 15 to ask the province to create penalties for calls to 911 deemed “frivolous” or “vexatious.” The move follows public comments from emergency responders last year, including Peel police, about receiving numerous 911 calls complaining about Amber Alerts and other non-emergencies.

At the council meeting Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said misusing 911 creates a distraction from “very serious matters” for emergency responders.

“You see the ridiculousness of some of the calls that police have to cope with, tying up lines and (we’re) unable to process emergency calls,” she said.

According to a report from city solicitor Andra Maxwell seven Canadian provinces including Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia already have legislation in place penalizing individuals who allegedly “make false, frivolous or vexatious calls to 911.”

Both Alberta and Nova Scotia have fines of up to $5,000 for the first offence and as high as $10,000 for a second offence. People charged with making fake calls to 911 in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Manitoba can also face time in jail.

Ward 4 Coun. John Kovac abstained from voting on the motion, and said he would hate to have the potential penalties stop someone from calling 911 when they’re in an uncertain situation.

"Wherever you can, you would hope to educate rather than just come down hard with a hammer and hit people," he said.

In letter to the city, Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah expressed support for penalties for individuals who abuse the 911 system and said such measures would allow call takers to concentrate “on legitimate calls for service.”

He said that immediately following the Feb. 14, 2019 Amber Alert related to Riya Rajkumar, police received 208 calls, 43 per cent of which were regarded as misuse calls “from people who were irritated about having received the alert.”