SAAQ services gradually resume after outage

The Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ)’s IT services were gradually resuming operations Thursday morning, following an outage that paralyzed its activities for more than a day.

The company stated in a press release that services to the public at service centers and agents will resume as early as Thursday morning. Appointments previously booked for the day will continue.

The SAAQ also emphasizes that it will extend its opening hours in the coming days to accommodate appointments cancelled in recent days.

Police services have already been able to use the system for checking driving licences and registrations since the end of Wednesday, it was announced.

As the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, Gilles Bélanger, did on Wednesday, the Crown corporation blamed Microsoft, assuring that “no customer data was compromised.”

“The SAAQ is fully aware of the inconvenience caused by this computer outage and wishes to offer its most sincere apologies to all those affected,” she said.

SAAQ IT services had been paralyzed since Tuesday afternoon, forcing the closure of service centers and agents on Wednesday. The SAAQclic platform, although “functional,” was inaccessible.

This was another setback for the state-owned company, which is already the subject of a public inquiry into the failures of its digital shift.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews