communications - E-Comm
Photograph by Oran Viriyincyon Flickr.
This is usually seen in Crown communications Corporations but E-Comm, as a public company, also enjoys such right. E-Comm is located at 3301 East Pender Street, across from Pacific National Exhibition. The E-Comm building is a post-disaster facility, meaning designed to resist a major earthquake of 7 in the Richter Scale. Backup support systems that lend to the building communications s self-sufficiency include communication, mechanical plants, emergency power generation, uninterruptible power sources, emergency water, and emergency food storage. Glass used in the building are all bullet-resistant and shatter-proofed.
As a cost-recovery business corporation, it is owned by shareholders made up of all the agencies that uses its service. The Vancouver Police were forced to call in the Crowd Control Unit and request back up from the neighbouring Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachments in an effort to disperse the out-of-control crowd.
They lost Game 7 and as fans took the streets to lament the team s loss, so did many troublemakers. In addition, the incorporation of natural light, reinforced concrete structure and advanced security system are all features of the E-Comm building. The 9-1-1 dispatch centre, Regional Emergency Coordination Centre, City of Vancouver s Office of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), Vancouver Emergency Community Telecommunications Organization (VECTOR) and Vancouver Emergency Social Services are several of the emergency organizations hosted inside this building. E-Comm is managed by a Board of Directors made up of 17 members nominated by the shareholders. Day to day operation is managed by the President & CEO of E-Comm, assisted by the Vice-President & CFO. Shareholders include: The reduction in phone calls made to E-Comm was partially due to public education/outreach in reminding citizens that cell phones can make 9-1-1 calls without the user knowing it and teaching parents to educate children on the use of 9-1-1 service. Currently, E-Comm has an annual budget of $50 million, collected through the municipalities that use E-Comm’s service.
E-Comm also provides a Wide-Area Radio System that is used by police agencies, fire departments and the British Columbia Ambulance Service. The concept of consolidating emergency communications in southwest British Columbia began in the early 1990s following a series of international disasters. In spring of 1994, hockey-fever captured British Columbia as the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the Stanley Cup finals. In the midst of the chaos, the Vancouver Police radio system was unable to handle the amount of radio traffic and paramedics, firefighters and police found themselves in danger because their radio systems were not compatible with each other. Following the Stanley Cup riot, the provincial government began planning for an organization that will consolidate all emergency radio and phone services to allow information sharing between agencies and members. E-Comm was established under the Emergency Communications Corporations Act in 1997.
These include municipalities, police boards, provincial and federal government agencies, and Crown corporations. E-Comm is legally immune from law suits that rises out from work conducted by them, under section 10 of the ECCA.
