Area code 867

Area code 867 is the area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the three Canadian territories, all of which are in Northern Canada. The area code was created on October 21, 1997, by combining regions that were previously served with area code 403 and area code 819 in one numbering plan area (NPA). As the least populated NPA in mainland North America, serving about 130,000 people, it is geographically the largest, at 3,921,739 km² (1,514,192 sq mi), with Alaska (907) a distant second.

The numbering plan area is adjacent to seven provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Quebec) and one U.S. state (Alaska), as well as Greenland and Russia (across the North Pole), more jurisdictions than any other in North America. It is also one of two Canadian area codes that are not part of an overlay numbering plan, the other being 807.

The incumbent local exchange carrier for area code 867 is Northwestel, a subsidiary of BCE. Until 1964, the geographic area served today by 867 had up to five independent telephone companies, as well as Bell Canada.^{[citation needed]}

History

In 1947, Alberta was assigned area code 403 in the first continent-wide telephone numbering plan by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).^[1] When service became available from local regional carriers, individual locations in Yukon and the west of the Northwest Territories were served via the area code of the carrier. These companies were eventually merged into Canadian National Telecommunications, a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway. CNT's operations in the territories became Northwestel in 1979.

The eastern Northwest Territories were among the last areas of North America without telephone service. When the area code system was created, the region was nominally part of western Quebec's area code 514.^{[citation needed]} In 1957, those non-diallable areas were nominally shifted to eastern Quebec's area code 418.^{[citation needed]} Bell Canada introduced telephone service in the eastern Northwest Territories in 1958. As direct distance dialing was rolled out in this area in the 1970s, the eastern Northwest Territories and a large swath of northwestern Quebec were reassigned to western Quebec's area code 819. Bell Canada sold its northern service territory to Northwestel in 1992. In 1993, Bell Communications Research, functioning as the North American Numbering Plan Administration listed the vast majority of the territories with area code 403.^[2]

Until area code 867 was created, area codes 403 and 819 had been geographically the two largest in the North American Numbering Plan. The area code commenced service on October 21, 1997.^[3] Since its creation, all of the former 819 portion of the Northwest Territories, as well as the portion of the former 403 portion covering five exchanges, has become part of Nunavut. The split reduced area code 403 for service of Alberta only.

All existing central office prefixes, with one exception, were retained in the change to area code 867. An assignment conflict between 403-979 at Inuvik and 819-979 at Iqaluit was resolved by changing Inuvik from 403-979 to 867-777. A minor programming error allowed for a few weeks late in 1997 callers in the Inuvik area to dial 403-777 and reach Inuvik when they actually should have routed to Calgary, which appeared on customer's bills, along with the higher rate.

Evolution of area codes in northern territories[citation needed] — Evolution of area codes in northern territories^{[citation needed]}

Northwestel's proposal for a new regulatory regime was approved for 2007 to allow resale of local telephone service, but no competitors entered the market to avail themselves of the resale option. In 2011, facilities-based local service competition was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and so additional central office codes are now required for competitive carriers wishing to offer local service. The expense limits deployment so far to Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Inuvik, Behchokǫ̀, Aklavik and Hay River, four of which already have multiple prefixes. Communities that now have only one prefix are not likely to need a second prefix other than for local growth or the entry of a competitor (as in Aklavik and the twin Behchokǫ̀ communities, Rae-Edzo^[a]).

The sparsely-populated area is unlikely to exhaust telephone numbers in the foreseeable future.

in June 2021, the CRTC recommended implementing the three-digit code 9-8-8 for the nationwide suicide prevention hotline. The CRTC decision followed the decision of the US Federal Communications Commission to adopt 9-8-8 as the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.^[4] 988 was already in use as a local exchange in the Yellowknife area, which would require ten-digit dialing in area code 867. In August 2022, the CRTC finalized its implementation plans for 9-8-8, effective November 30, 2023; it accepted a request from Northwestel to make ten-digit dialing mandatory only in the Yellowknife area and optional elsewhere within the region as of May 31, 2023, in part because it would ease the process of communicating the transition to remote communities and in Indigenous languages.^[5]

Numbering plan area

Area code 867 is the most expensive geographic destination in Canada.^[6] Iristel, the major CLEC in the region, bills subscribers in other area codes a 15¢/minute premium to call 867-numbers, and charges a $20/year premium to issue a 867-number in-region instead of assigning the same subscriber any other Canadian area code.^[7]

The digits of the area code were reportedly chosen to promote the theme "TOP of the world", as 867 spells TOP on a standard North American keypad.^[8] When combined with the NANP international dialing code 1, it spells 1867, which is the year of Canadian Confederation.

The area code serves the largest land area of any area code in the NANP. The territorial extent reaches 3,173 km (1,972 mi) from Cape Dyer on Baffin Island to the Alaska border, and 4,391 km (2,728 mi) from the south end of James Bay to the North Pole. The largest distances between exchanges are 2,200 km (1,400 mi) from Sanikiluaq to Grise Fiord, and 3,365 km (2,091 mi) from Beaver Creek to Pangnirtung. Four different official time zones are observed within the area: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.

Exchanges

Area code 867 serves all points in the three Canadian territories, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon

Some exchanges in the territories serve some customers in Fraser and Swan Lake, British Columbia (from Carcross and Swift River, respectively). Fitzgerald, Alberta, is served from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.^[9] On a section of the Alaska Highway which crosses the BC-Yukon border six times in 6 mi (9.7 km), two highway lodges and area residents on the Yukon side are served by Watson Lake (867) numbers, not the nearer Lower Post (250) exchange.

Aklavik, NT: 375, 978
Arctic Bay, NU: 439
Arviat, NU: 205, 232, 341, 857
Baker Lake, NU: 793
Beaver Creek, YT: 362 862
Behchokǫ̀, NT: 292, 371, 392, 492, 731
Cambridge Bay, NU: 391 983
Cape Dorset, NU: 897
Carcross, YT: 733, 821
Carmacks, YT: 385, 863
Chesterfield Inlet, NU: 898
Clyde River, NU: 924
Colville Lake, NT: 709, 722
Coral Harbour, NU: 925
Dawson City, YT: 730, 991, 992, 993
Délı̨nę, NT: 589, 744
Destruction Bay, YT: 789, 841
Ekati Diamond Mine, NT: 880
Elsa, YT: 995
Enterprise, NT: 984
Faro, YT: 746 994
Fort Good Hope, NT: 496, 598
Fort Liard, NT: 770
Fort McPherson, NT: 377, 952
Fort Providence, NT: 373, 699
Fort Resolution, NT: 376, 394
Fort Simpson, NT: 695
Fort Smith, NT: 621, 870, 872
Gamèti, NT: 365, 997
Gjoa Haven, NU: 360
Grise Fiord, NU: 980
Haines Junction, YT: 323, 634
Hall Beach, NU: 928
Hay River, NT: 775, 874, 875, 876
Igloolik, NU: 201, 324, 934
Inuvik, NT: 620, 678, 768, 777, 888
Iqaluit, NU: 202, 222, 223, 794, 877, 974, 975, 979
Jean Marie River, NT: 491, 809
Kakisa, NT: 493, 825
Kimmirut, NU: 939
Kugaaruk, NU: 769
Kugluktuk, NU: 982
Łutselk'e, NT: 370, 785
Marsh Lake, YT: 660
Mayo, YT: 383, 996
Nahanni Butte, NT: 364, 602
Nanisivik, NU: 436
Norman Wells, NT: 587
Old Crow, YT: 325, 966
Pangnirtung, NU: 473
Paulatuk, NT: 580, 788
Pelly Crossing, YT: 537
Pond Inlet, NU: 899
Qikiqtarjuaq, NU: 927
Rankin Inlet, NU: 645
Naujaat, NU: 462
Resolute, NU: 252
Ross River, YT: 747 969
Sachs Harbour, NT: 690, 786
Sambaa Kʼe, NT: 206
Sanikiluaq, NU: 266
Swift River, YT: 851
Tagish, YT: 399 748
Taloyoak, NU: 561
Teslin, YT: 384, 390
Tsiigehtchic, NT: 490, 953
Tuktoyaktuk, NT: 340, 977
Tulita, NT: 374, 588
Ulukhaktok, NT: 396, 787
Watson Lake, YT: 536, 749
Wekweeti, NT: 713 745
Whale Cove, NU: 896
Whatì, NT: 494, 573
Whitehorse, YT: 322, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 393, 455, 456, 457, 465, 466, 467, 469, 470, 471, 632, 633, 667, 668, 689
Wrigley, NT: 495, 581
Yellowknife, NT: 200, 444, 445, 446, 447, 669, 675, 676, 677, 679, 680, 681, 682, 688, 765, 766, 767, 783, 873, 920, 988, 999
Premium numbers: 976.

Ellesmere Island is the northernmost terrestrial point in Canada. On Ellesmere, conventional telephony is available at Grise Fiord (1-867-980-xxxx), population 130, but not at two remote government outposts further north: Eureka, Nunavut (80.1°N) is host to an Environment Canada weather station^[10] and Alert, Nunavut (82°N) is a Canadian Forces Station.^[11] The only outside communication to Eureka is via satellite;^[12] the weather station lists various extensions of an Ottawa 613 federal number, an Iridium satellite phone or the Winnipeg 204 number of a main Environment Canada office.^[13] As Eureka is at the northern limit of access to geosynchronous satellite signals, a string of military terrestrial UHF links extends the signal from "Fort Eureka" to CFS Alert.^[14] There is a skeleton crew at each location which is reachable by Internet or telephone, but these links are satellite or military communication and do not use the area code 867 infrastructure.

Notes

^ Behchokǫ̀ has two separate exchange areas, each with its own prefix, but Iristel's 292 prefix is overlaid, with both using independent facilities

References

^ Mabbs, Ralph (Winter 1947–1948). "Nation-Wide Operator Toll Dialing—the Coming Way". Bell Telephone Magazine. 26 (4): 181. Retrieved 2023-09-26.
^ "Status of Numbering Plan Area (NPA) Codes in World Zone 1" (PDF). Bellcore (NANPA). 1993-01-13. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
^ "NANP–Introduction of New 867 (Yukon & Northwest Territories) Numbering Plan Area (NPA)" (PDF). BellCore (NANPA). 1996-09-30. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
^ "Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2021-191". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
^ Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (August 31, 2022). "Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2022-234: Introduction of 9-8-8 as the three-digit abbreviated dialing code for mental health crisis and suicide prevention services and Northwestel Inc.'s application for modified implementation of ten-digit local dialing". Retrieved September 6, 2022.
^ "Archived copy". les.net. Archived from the original on 31 August 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Andrew Robulack. "It's time to ditch 867". Yukon News. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
^ Bowen, Dana (May–June 2021). "The Call of the North". Up Here. Vol. 37, no. 3. p. 17.
^ "Canadian Numbering Plan and Dialling Plan" (PDF). The Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering (CSCN). October 26, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 5, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
^ Canada, Environment and Climate Change. "Nunavut environmental science centres - Canada.ca". Ec.gc.ca. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
^ Force, Government of Canada, National Defence, Royal Canadian Air. "Canadian Forces Station Alert - 8 Wing - Royal Canadian Air Force". Rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "A VISITOR'S GUIDE TO EUREKA" (PDF). Wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-01-11. Retrieved 2015-01-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Proc, Jerry. "CFS Alert". Jproc.ca. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

External links

Area code 867 on localcallingguide.com
Natural Resources Canada, Polar Continental Shelf Project - Eureka Weather Station
Area Code Map of Canada
[1]

Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut area codes: 867
	North: Arctic Ocean, Country code +7 in Russia
West: 907	Area Code 867	East: Atlantic Ocean, Country code +299 in Greenland
	South: 204/431, 250/778/236/672, 306/639, 705/249, 709, 780/403/587/825/368, 807, 819/873
Alaska area codes: 907
Alberta area codes: 403, 587/825/368, 780
British Columbia area codes: 236/672/778, 250, 604
Manitoba area codes: 204, 431
Newfoundland and Labrador area codes: 709
Ontario area codes: 226/519/548, 249/705, 289/365/742/905, 343/613, 416/437/647, 807
Saskatchewan area codes: 306, 639
Quebec area codes: 367/418/581, 263/438/514, 354/450/579, 468/819/873