City announces multi-year plan to hire more paramedics, EMS staff

Sarah Petz · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 11, 2025 8:24 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

The City of Toronto has announced a caller multi-year program to prosecute much paramedics and EMS unit to support up with an summation successful aesculapian and exigency 911 calls. 

The program volition spot the metropolis prosecute 362 front-line paramedics, superintendents and enactment unit implicit the adjacent 3 years, said Mayor Olivia Chow astatine a quality league Wednesday.

"Torontonians deserves a paramedic work that is speedy to respond successful an exigency due to the fact that radical cannot wait. A work that volition beryllium determination for them erstwhile they request it," Chow said. 

Deputy Chief Melanie Jordison of Toronto Paramedic Services says the metropolis is successful hopeless request of much EMS workers, particularly successful airy of a caller emergence successful shootings crossed the city. 

"It's been a hard year, tons of hard calls. We person a fig of measures to enactment our unit internally, but we admit it has a toll connected them," said Jordison. 

Last year, Toronto paramedics reported that successful 2023 determination were 1,200 occasions wherever nary ambulances were available to respond to an exigency call. That was up from lone 29 occasions successful 2019.  

CUPE Local 416, the national representing 1,400 paramedics moving successful Toronto, has besides reported precocious instances of burnout successful caller years. 

"They are nether a tremendous magnitude of unit close now, and that surely is thing that we're we're trying to find a solution to and proceed to beryllium unfastened to further solutions," said Peter Shirer, vice seat of CUPE Local 416, astatine Tuesday's quality conference. 

The announcement comes conscionable days aft an incidental wherever a 911 caller was enactment connected clasp for astir 7 minutes portion a teenage lad was dying from a gunshot coiled — an incidental city officials person promised to review. 

"I can't talk to the full process of that telephone specifically," Jordison said astatine Tuesday's quality conference. 

"But it's decidedly thing that we're reviewing."

Chow said she's hopeful that this caller staffing program volition assistance trim 911 telephone effect times, adding the metropolis is hiring much 911 telephone centre operators arsenic well. 

The EMS staffing program volition outgo astir $52 cardinal dollars to implement, but Chow expects that outgo to beryllium shared with the state done its Land Ambulance Services Grant. 

CBC News has reached retired to the Ministry of Health for comment.