**** EMO Release
A test of the #Alertready system will be conducted on TV, radio and compatible mobile device.
What is 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.
Top Questions and Answers
- I didn’t receive an alert, how do I know my device is compatible to receive alerts?
- What should I expect when there is a test alert?
- Can I opt out of receiving alerts?
- What types of emergency alerts are issued via Alert Ready?
- Why is my wireless device receiving multiple messages for the same emergency alert?
What is 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.
Alert Tone
If you hear this distinctive tone on television, radio or on your wireless device, please pay attention and take action right away.
Notice for the visually and hearing impaired: Alternate formats of the alerts may be issued, however, not every alerting authority or device has the capability to produce or receive these formats. Broadcasters may use text-to-speech software to create an audio version of an alert message. Emergency alerts may be read to the recipient if your device supports this feature. The vibration feature that accompanies emergency alerts is available to alert Canadians. Please contact your wireless provider for more services which may be available to you.
What types of alerts are broadcast?
Only authorized government agencies can issue alerts. Together, government officials developed a specific list of the types of alerts that are considered a threat to life. These types of alerts should be broadcast immediately on television, radio and wireless devices. Below is a complete list and description of these alerts.
Fire
Natural
Biological
Hazardous
Environmental
Terrorist
Civil
Roles & Responsibilities
The Alert Ready system involves many partners, including provincial, territorial, federal government organizations and emergency management officials, the operator of the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System (NAAD System) and alert distributors (radio, television and wireless providers).
Each stakeholder has a unique and important role in the Alert Ready process.
-
Government Issuer
- Includes provincial, territorial and federal government organizations and emergency management officials.
- Specifies the type of alert [e.g. amber alert, tornado, etc.] as well as whether it is to be broadcast immediately because of imminent threat to life.
- Chooses the content of the message, including which language(s) the message will be issued in.
- Chooses the format of the message, including whether the message will be sent as text only, audio only or in both text and audio formats.
- Specifies why and when the alert is sent.
- Ensures that the alert is updated and/or cancelled.
- Specifies the geographical areas covered by the alert.
NAAD System
- Operated by Pelmorex Corp., the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) System takes the alert information from the Government Issuer and pushes it to Alert Distributors.
- The NAAD System provides quick, efficient, and secure delivery of alert messages, as provided from the Government Issuer, to Alert Distributors (television/radio/cable/satellite companies), as well as wireless providers. This is done via satellite and internet data feeds.
- Ensures technical standards regarding the format of alert data files are respected.
- Ensures full Canada-wide coverage of alert data feeds are available to Alert Distributors including television/radio/cable/satellite companies and wireless service providers.
Alert Distributors
- Alert Distributors include television, radio, cable/satellite and wireless service providers.
- Responsible for delivering alert messages directly to Canadians over their broadcast and wireless communications platforms (television, radio and LTE-connected wireless devices).
Please note:
- Television and cable/satellite broadcasters are responsible for how the message is broadcast. This includes colour, font, screen position of the text, and, in some cases, the audio broadcast.
- Television and radio Alert Distributors are expected to broadcast a message once, but may, at their discretion, repeat the message or keep it displayed until it is cancelled by the government issuer.
- Wireless Alert Distributors broadcast a message once to each compatible wireless device that is in, or enters, the alert area while the alert is valid.
- Television and radio Alert Distributors may use Text to Speech (TTS) to transcribe the text into speech for broadcast.
- Poor formatting of the message text by the Government Issuer can impact the quality of the TTS audio broadcast by the television/radio/cable/satellite company.
The Public
- When an alert is heard, it is the responsibility of the public to stop, listen and respond as directed by the Government Issuer.
Alert Count
Total Number of Emergency Alert Messages Issued by Government Authorities through Alert Ready
2020 Alert Count
| Province/Territory | Number of Emergency Alert Messages | Alerts Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 22 | 2 high water level 2 overland flow flood 18 tornado |
| British Columbia | 0 | |
| Manitoba | 21 | 21 tornado |
| New Brunswick | 0 | |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 3 | 2 civil emergency 1 AMBER |
| Northwest Territories | 2 | 2 flash flood |
| Nova Scotia | 12 | 12 civil emergency |
| Nunavut | 1 | 1 civil emergency |
| Ontario | 78 | 9 civil emergency 2 radiological hazard 5 AMBER 60 tornado 2 Wildfire |
| Prince Edward Island | 2 | 2 AMBER |
| Quebec | 2 | 1 AMBER 1 tornado |
| Saskatchewan | 30 | 3 civil emergency 25 tornado 2 AMBER |
| Yukon | 0 | |
| Total | 173 |
Current as of November 12 2020
