Microsoft outage cuts wide swath through communications in Manitoba

Governments, courts and police, credit unions, businesses and universities in Manitoba were among those hit by the global Microsoft 365 outage that disrupted email access, video calls and some phone lines.

For several hours Thursday, Winnipeg police used fax machines or hand deliveries for timely and sensitive documents, including for bail hearings, that would normally be sent electronically to the courts or Crown attorneys.

“(The outage) really limited our ability to communicate effectively with some of our partners,” Deputy Chief George Labossière said. “We resorted to some old-school tactics.”

He said the service used a manual system to keep track of prisoners who were in WPS custody, while Microsoft software that is usually used was unavailable.

“What really helped us out was our preparedness in ensuring we had systems that could allow us to continue to operate without massive hardship,” Labossière said.

“We’re very grateful for the resiliency shown by our officers during that time frame. It does require patience, it can create some frustrations, but overall the team did really well to ensure no person was put in a bad place or no process that needed to be done, like court-related issues, were jeopardized or slowed down too badly.”

Things returned to normal at about 7:30 p.m. for the most part, he said. Call intake and dispatch systems use a different provider and were not affected.

Christopher Gamby, a spokesman for the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba, said members’ communication with Crown attorneys was temporarily disrupted, including while trying to schedule clients’ next court appearances.

Doctors Manitoba, which represents more than 4,000 physicians and medical learners, said the outage didn’t really affect doctors.

The association said 85 per cent of referrals and requests are still sent by fax because Manitoba doesn’t have a secure way for physicians to send them, while only 19 per cent of doctors can share patient information electronically in Manitoba, usually within the same clinic or hospital.

Millions of people were affected worldwide, including Free Press staff, while the outage disrupted Microsoft platforms including Outlook, which is used for email and tasks such as calendar scheduling; Teams video conferencing; and the Copilot AI chatbot.

The outage started at about 1 p.m. Thursday. Some users were still affected Friday, while the U.S. tech giant’s services were gradually restored.

Microsoft blamed a technical issue, “not related to cyber or AI/agents,” that occurred during a network upgrade.

Megan Reimer and staff at Cruise Vacations of Winnipeg caught up on emails that were delayed until service resumed Friday morning.

“You’ve got to cram 20 hours of work into one workday,” said Reimer, who owns the family-run travel agency at 1941 Portage Ave.

The agency’s phone system, which runs through Microsoft, was down for at least a couple of hours Thursday.

“It’s frustrating, but there’s not much we can do,” Reimer said.

She and her staff used their personal cellphones to call customers and travel suppliers until the agency’s phone system began working again.

“We work in an industry where attention to detail is so critical — seeing things in writing — so getting confirmations by email is so important,” Reimer said.

Manitoba government and City of Winnipeg staff also played catch-up after they were temporarily unable to send or receive emails.

“There are no significant impacts to report at this time. As services resume, staff are working diligently to respond to missed or delayed communications,” a provincial spokesperson wrote in an email to the Free Press Friday morning.

City of Winnipeg services were not significantly affected during intermittent disruption, spokeswoman Pam McKenzie said.

She said staff continued to use Microsoft 365 applications when available, as well as telephone, text messaging and in-person communication to maintain services.

Residents could still contact the city by calling 311, using social media, filling out online forms or, where applicable, visiting in person.

Mayor Scott Gillingham asked residents for patience in the event they had emailed a city department or employee during the outage.

“It may be that your email that you sent to the City of Winnipeg has not been received or they may be a backlog of emails, but we’re working through that,” he said.

The outage highlighted how many organizations rely on a single or small number of tech providers, and what can happen when a failure occurs.

“I think this is a conversation that we as the City of Winnipeg and other cities have to have. Do we have redundancy built in? Is it adequate redundancy?” Gillingham said. “Are we too reliant on a single-source provider?”

Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president Loren Remillard said the situation shows the importance of contingency planning.

“The more we rely on technology, the more we make ourselves vulnerable to when that technology doesn’t work,” he said.

University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg students and staff were also temporarily affected, as was the Winnipeg School Division, which is Manitoba’s largest division.

“We were affected (Thursday) afternoon like everyone else, but by the time schools and the public really took notice, it was almost the end of the school day, so it didn’t cause any major crises to school operations,” WSD spokeswoman Jillian Recksiedler wrote in an email.

Flin Flon Credit Union and Portage la Prairie-based Stride Credit Union employees experienced delays sending and receiving emails, said social media posts Friday morning.

“If you have an issue that is time sensitive, please call your branch today instead of relying on emails,” Stride Credit Union said.

— With files from Aaron Epp, Matthew Frank and Gabrielle Piché

chris.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com