Shane Eby said his father and aunt, Gregg and Linda Eby, who are siblings and both in their 70s, were doing their weekly chores in the inner city on Friday morning. Shane said it was just past 10am. ET when Gregg noticed that Linda wasn’t feeling well and had her sit in a parking lot near a bank. “She could see that she was in distress and needed help, more than my father could give her,” Shane told CBC News. Greg called a security guard from the bank, who also realized that Linda was in trouble. According to Shane, the next five to 10 minutes were brutal for his father.

First responders finally arrived

Without cell service, Greg was “cracking.” Shane said his father and the security guard tried to flag down someone nearby to help him call 911, but they couldn’t find anyone. “My dad started running down the street, going through the parking lot trying to spot people,” Shane said. “He had to keep leaving her to try and get help,” she said through tears. Shane said his father never found anyone with cell service, but first responders eventually arrived. Shane thinks the guard may have been able to get help from someone at the bank or on a landline. WATCHES | The consumer group is asking the telecoms watchdog to investigate the Rogers outage:

The consumer group is asking the telecoms watchdog to investigate the Rogers outage

John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, called on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to conduct a nationwide investigation into the Rogers outage and set new rules for all telecommunications providers. While the ambulance did not have a defibrillator, the first fire truck on the scene did, according to Shane. Shane said they revived Linda and took her to the hospital without Gregg. He said his father could not use his vehicle at the time because police considered it part of a possible crime scene. This left Greg struggling to get to the hospital, but he eventually found a taxi. Once Greg got there, Shane said, “he was involved in the decision to take her out of maintenance.” Days after Linda’s death, the family is still trying to come to terms with her loss. “She was the matriarch of our family and both of their parents are dead, so now my dad is alone,” Shane said, adding that she had two children and had “all the stories that most people in the family don’t know.” Shane said he never imagined people would ever have a problem contacting the emergency services. He added that doctors at the hospital said Linda’s aneurysm would likely have been fatal even if Greg had been able to call 911 immediately. An aneurysm is an abnormal balloon in the wall of a blood vessel and can rupture and cause internal bleeding. “This outage didn’t cause my aunt to die, but … every minute counts when something like this happens, and when it’s not available, it seems like something that could be resolved,” Shane said. WATCHES | Rogers Responds to Massive Network Outage:

Rogers CEO apologizes for massive service outage, blames maintenance update

Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri has apologized for a lengthy network outage that affected customers across the country and blamed a network system failure following a maintenance update on its core network. Tony Staffieri, president and CEO of Rogers, said the outage was caused by a network system failure following a maintenance update. On Monday, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne called a meeting of telecoms CEOs, including Staffieri, to talk about ways to avoid similar service disruptions and called on them to develop a plan to boost the resilience of its mobile and internet networks Canada. The Public Interest Advocacy Center also made a formal request to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to conduct an investigation into the outage.

The outage wasn’t “bad,” says the expert

Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program, told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that this outage should not be seen as a “mess.” Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program, says Rogers needs to give a full account of what caused the outage and what the company learned. (CBC) Bednar said the outage put Canada “on the map in a humbling and disturbing way in terms of the fragility of our system and how interconnected it is, and that’s what’s driving people to rethink that.”
The public needs and wants to be involved in conversations around telecommunications companies, he said. “These services feel like they are now essential services and vital public infrastructure, but they are controlled by private companies. “It’s not just that we might benefit from stronger competition in the space … people are frustrated and feel like they’re paying increasing prices for something that’s disappointing them.” Bednar said Rogers needs to give a full update on what caused the outage and what the company learned. Shane said he hopes sharing his experience can help others and show telcos what’s at stake when their services don’t work. “This is not just a financial transaction,” he said. “Life and death scenarios are played out every day.” LISTEN | Shane Eby tells Metro Morning about his father’s experience: Metro Morning14:10 Rogers outage shows we need serious telecoms change in country, says tech expert Shane Eby is a Hamilton resident whose aunt suffered a fatal aneurysm during the Rogers shutdown. Vass Bednar, the executive director of the Master of Public Policy in Digital Society at McMaster University, talks about the impact of the shutdown.