Canada’s airports, hospitals begin returning to normal after global IT outage

Canada’s airports, hospitals and police services are still returning to normal operations a day after a defective update to computers using Microsoft Windows caused a global technology outage.

On Saturday, Microsoft estimated the update deployed by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide, and in Canada much of that impact fell on air travel — including at Pearson Airport in Mississauga.

Travellers with Porter Airlines saw many of their flights cancelled on Friday and the vast majority of arrivals and departures between Canada and the U.S. at airports in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal were postponed or called off.

But Saturday, Montreal’s Trudeau airport announced normal operations have resumed and the majority of flight departures and arrivals at airports in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary are now landing and taking to the skies in spite of delays.

Staff at British Columbia’s hospitals and health facilities had to pivot to paper to manage everything from lab work to meal orders during the outage, but on Saturday providers including Ontario’s University Health Network and Sunnybrook Hospital as well Newfoundland and Labrador’s health-care provider all announced that regular operations have been restored.

Meanwhile in Edmonton, police say 911 lines have been resorted after a major disruption to emergency communications.

— This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2024