Canadians in participating provinces and territories can expect a test alert on their television, radio, and compatible wireless devices during Emergency Preparedness Week

Oakville, Ontario, May 9, 2023 –  A test of Alert Ready, Canada’s National Public Alerting System, will take place on May 10, 2023, across most provinces and territories. Canadians in participating provinces and territories will receive one test message from their respective provincial or territorial emergency management organization over television, radio, and compatible wireless devices at the times indicated below.

PROVINCE/TERRITORY	LOCAL TESTING TIME
Alberta	No Test
British Columbia	1:55 PM PDT
Manitoba	1:55 PM CDT
New Brunswick	10:55 AM ADT
Northwest Territories	9:55 AM MDT
Nova Scotia	1:55 PM ADT
Newfoundland and Labrador	10:55 AM NDT
Nunavut	2:00 PM EDT
Ontario	12:55 PM EDT
Prince Edward Island	12:55 PM ADT
Quebec	No Test
Saskatchewan	1:55 PM CST
Yukon	1:55 PM MST

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecom (CRTC) requires wireless service providers and broadcasters to send at least one test alert per year, either in May during Emergency Preparedness Week and/or in November. Participation in the testing of Alert Ready is at the sole discretion of each provincial and territorial emergency management organization (EMO). 

The test message will simulate an emergency alert, beginning with the alert tone, known as the Canadian Alert Attention Signal. The message will indicate that it is a test and does not require action from the public. 

Testing of the Alert Ready system provides the opportunity to:

• Increase public awareness about the system and spark emergency preparedness conversations, so that Canadians can be ready and prepared in the event of an actual emergency.
• Validate the effectiveness and reliability of the system to ensure it operates as intended from end to end.
• Provides an opportunity for Emergency Management officials to practice sending alerts to the public.

Alert Ready was developed in collaboration with federal, provincial, and territorial government agencies, Pelmorex, the broadcasting industry and wireless service providers. Each stakeholder has a unique and important role to play in the Alert Ready process.

Given the importance of warning Canadians of imminent threat to the safety of life and property, Canadians do not have the option to opt-out of this essential life-saving service. In 2022, the Alert Ready system delivered more than 820 public emergency alert messages to Canadians.  A breakdown of alert types that were issued by province and territory can be found here.

For ongoing updates about the test, follow the official Alert Ready Twitter page

To arrange an interview about the Alert Ready test, please contact:

Primary contact:

Ryan McKenna, FleishmanHillard HighRoad

ryan.mckenna@fhhighroad.com

About Alert Ready

Alert Ready is Canada’s emergency alerting system. Alert Ready delivers critical and potentially life-saving alerts to Canadians through television, radio and LTE-connected and compatible wireless devices. The Alert Ready system was developed with many partners, including federal, provincial and territorial emergency management officials, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Pelmorex, the broadcasting industry and wireless service providers. Together, these partners work to ensure Canadians receive alerts immediately and know when to take action to stay safe.To learn more, visit alertready.ca and follow us on Twitter.

Canadians in participating provinces and territories can expect a test alert on their television, radio, and compatible wireless devices during Emergency Preparedness Week

Oakville, Ontario, May 2, 2022 – Alert Ready will broadcast a public test of the National Public Alerting System on May 4, 2022, across most provinces and territories. Canadians will receive one test message from their respective provincial or territorial emergency management organization over television, radio, and compatible wireless devices at the times indicated below.

PROVINCE/TERRITORY	LOCAL TESTING TIME
Alberta	1:55 PM MDT
British Columbia	1:55 PM PDT
Manitoba	No Test Scheduled
New Brunswick	10:55 AM ADT
Newfoundland & Labrador	10:55 AM NDT
Northwest Territories	9:55 AM MDT
Nova Scotia	No Test Scheduled
Nunavut	2:00 PM EDT
Ontario	No Test Scheduled
Prince Edward Island	12:55 PM ADT
Quebec	No Test Scheduled
Saskatchewan	1:55 PM CST
Yukon	1:55 PM PDT

The test message will simulate an emergency alert, beginning with the alert tone, known as the Canadian Alert Attention Signal. The message will indicate that it is a test and does not require action from the public. Testing the system provides an opportunity to validate its effectiveness and reliability to ensure it operates as intended from end to end as each stakeholder has a unique and important role to play in the Alert Ready process.

Given the importance of warning Canadians of imminent threat to the safety of life or property, Canadians do not have an option to opt-out of the test or actual emergency alerts distributed through Alert Ready. In 2021, the Alert Ready system enabled authorities responsible for public safety to deliver 173 public emergency alerts to Canadians. A breakdown of alert types that were issued by province and territory can be found here.

For ongoing updates about the test, follow the official Alert Ready Twitter page here.

Canada’s public alerting system, Alert Ready, will distribute Test Alerts on television, radio and compatible wireless devices in most provinces and territories during Emergency Preparedness Week

OAKVILLE, ON, May 4, 2021– On May 5, 2021, Alert Ready will distribute a public test message, across most provinces and territories. Each participating provincial and territorial emergency management organization will issue one test message over television, radio and compatible wireless devices at the times indicated below.

Alert Ready Test Times – May 5, 2021 by Province/Territory

Province/Territory	Test Time
Alberta	No Test Scheduled
British Columbia	1:55 PM PDT
Manitoba	1:55 PM CDT
New Brunswick	10:55 AM ADT
Newfoundland & Labrador	10:55 AM NDT
Northwest Territories	No Test Scheduled
Nova Scotia	No Test Scheduled
Nunavut	No Test Scheduled
Ontario	No Test Scheduled
Prince Edward Island	12:55 PM ADT
Quebec	No Test Scheduled
Saskatchewan	1:55 PM CST
Yukon	1:55 PM PDT

Alert Ready was developed in collaboration with federal, provincial, and territorial government agencies, Pelmorex, the broadcasting industry and wireless service providers. Testing of the system provides an opportunity to:

• Educate the public by demonstrating what an emergency alert will look and sound like in the event of a life-threatening situation.
• Validate the performance and reliability of the system to ensure it operates as it is intended from end to end as each stakeholder has a unique and important role to play in the Alert Ready process.

While Alert Ready may be most known in some provinces for the distribution of AMBER Alerts to the public, it is also designed to deliver other critical and potentially lifesaving, including but not limited to tornado, flooding, fire, and civil emergency warnings. A comprehensive list of alert types can be found here.

“In 2020, the Alert Ready System enabled government authorities to deliver 180 emergency alerts, with 21 emergency alerts issued so far in 2021 to Canadians,” says Martin Belanger, Director of Public Alerting at Pelmorex. “Pelmorex receives alerts from authorized alert issuers and makes those alerts available to alert distributors which include television, radio, satellite, cable and wireless service providers.”

Given the importance of warning Canadians of imminent threat to the safety of life and property, Canadians do not have the option to opt out of this essential life-saving service.

A radiological hazard alert for Pickering Ontario was issued on January 12th at 7:23 AM ET by the Province of Ontario’s Emergency Operations Centre through the Alert Ready system.

There is no active nuclear situation taking place at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. There is no danger to the public or environment and no further action is required.

As a result, another alert was issued at 9:11 AM ET by the Province of Ontario to indicate the initial alert was issued in error.

It is at the sole discretion of the authorized government issuer, in this case, the Province of Ontario, to determine when an alert is issued, the content of the alert and the geographical area that is to receive the alert.

We are working with the Province of Ontario to determine why this alert was distributed to the public.

With regards to the Amber Alert issued on February 14, 2019 at 11:36 pm EST, by the Ontario Provincial Police on behalf of Peel Regional Police through the Alert Ready system for the province of Ontario, we can confirm the alert was distributed on TV, radio and LTE-connected and compatible wireless devices.

We have received reports that some wireless users in Manitoba received the Ontario Amber Alert. 

At this time we are unable to determine why alerts outside of the province of Ontario were received by some wireless users. Alert Ready partners are working to determine the cause of this, and updates will be provided as new information is received.