A class action suit currently underway in the Northwest Territories may spread to the other two territories if a judge permits the latest application in the case.

James and Samuel Anderson launched their case against Bell Canada in 2007, claiming the cell phone company is charging customers for a non-existent 911 service.

All Bell customers must agree to the 75-cent charge regardless of the fact Whitehorse is the only place in the territories where dialing 911 actually connects the caller to emergency services.

Dial the emergency number anywhere in the N.W.T. and you hear a chime followed by: "There are no 911 services in this area. Hang up and dial the emergency number for your area or hang up and dial zero for the operator.”

Dial 911 anywhere in the Yukon outside of Whitehorse, and an electronic voice says: "Your call cannot be completed as dialed. We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed.”

"If I was in trouble in Watson Lake, how the heck would I know the emergency number in Watson Lake?” James Anderson asked in an interview with the Star this week. "And try getting an operator on a cell phone.”

Anderson first objected to the charge when he moved to Yellowknife and went to get a new cell phone.

When the sales woman who was walking him through the service contract got to the monthly 911 fee, Anderson asked if there was a 911 service in Yellowknife.

"I knew there wasn't, and I said I shouldn't be paying for something I wasn't going to get, but the long and the short of it is, if you don't agree to the fee, you don't get the phone.”

Anderson wasn't so much bothered by the cost, but by the principle of the thing.

"It's only nine bucks a year, but if you factor in how many cell phones some families have and how many years people have been paying this, it adds up.”

There are 2,471 Bell mobility customers in the N.W.T., 4,336 in Nunavut and 1,505 in the Yukon outside of Whitehorse, according to Keith Landy, one of the lawyers representing the class action.

At $9 a year, that adds up to nearly $75,000 a year in 911 fees for customers without 911 service.

Anderson's frustration at being charged for a service he doesn't get was compounded when he heard about a couple who desperately called 911 when their vehicle went through the ice.

They got the message telling them to call the local emergency number, which they did not know.

Thankfully, some passersby noticed the vehicle sinking into the water and were able to smash out the back window and rescue the passengers.

"That intensified my desire to do this,” Anderson said.

Providing emergency dispatch services is not Bell's business, however. As the company has argued in its response to the class action, Bell is only responsible for providing the call routing system, while local government is responsible for putting someone on the other end of the line.

"But they are still charging people for something that doesn't exist,” Anderson said. "That's the issue here. We think they should do the right thing and refund people the nine bucks a year.”

The supreme court of the Northwest Territories agreed there was at least an argument to be made and approved the file as a class action suit, meaning every Bell Mobility customer in the N.W.T. is included, unless they opt out.

The same would happen in the Yukon and Nunavut if the application to extend the case's jurisdiction is approved.

"We're all in the same boat, so we want to include them in this class action,” Anderson said.

Bell customers would likely be informed of the action in their monthly bill and through advertisments in local media, although the details of that process would be worked out by the case management judge.

People with their names on a class action suit of this kind do not pay any legal fees. Instead, the lawyers representing them get a cut of the final settlement if they are successful.

"I can say that we don't generally start lawsuits if we don't think we will be successful,” Landy said of his expections in this case.

"There's no downside, so I can't imagine who would opt out,” Anderson said, "but the option would be there.”

So far, the case has been contentious, Anderson said.

"Bell has fought us every step of the way,” he said. "We haven't agreed on anything since the beginning.

"We want a jury trial; they don't. We want to include the other territories; they don't. It goes on and on.”