Public Safety Canada and Pelmorex Corp. announced Monday a test of the Alert Ready national public alerting system (NPAS) will take place in most provinces and territories on Wednesday, May 8 as part of Emergency Preparedness Week, which runs from May 5 to 11.
A test alert will be distributed May 8 to Canadians in the participating provinces and territories on their television, radio and compatible wireless devices. While issuing a test alert is at the sole discretion of each provincial and territorial emergency management organization (EMO), the CRTC requires broadcasters and wireless service providers to distribute one test alert per year either in May and/or November.
Alert Ready is designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving alerts to Canadians, including alerts about tornadoes, flooding, fires and AMBER alerts. In 2023, the Alert Ready system distributed 1,086 emergency alerts across Canada, according to a press release from Pelmorex, which owns and operates the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System (NAAD System), which is the central technical infrastructure for the NPAS.
The Weather Network, which is owned by Pelmorex, also distributes Alert Ready public alerts on all of its platforms. Canadians watching the channel on TV or who use its app will also receive the test alert there.
During this week’s test of the Alert Ready system, Public Safety Canada will test its own public alerting capability in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut and Yukon, Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan announced in a ministry press release.
Canadians in Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will receive a test message issued by their respective provincial and territorial EMOs, as per the usual practice. Ontario will conduct its test of Alert Ready on Wednesday, May 15. A test schedule can be found below.
Public Safety Canada has established the capability to issue alerts through the Government Operations Centre to communicate important information of nation-wide interest directly to the public using the NPAS, the federal government’s press release explains. Regular testing and evaluation of the NPAS is necessary to ensure the government of Canada is prepared to deliver urgent and life-saving warnings to the public in the event of an emergency or disaster that falls under federal responsibility, the release says.
“The safety of Canadians is our top priority,” Minister Sajjan said in a statement. “That is why the Government of Canada is building and testing its capacity to share timely information to Canadians. I would like to thank the Provinces and Territories that are supporting Public Safety Canada’s participation in this important public test across the country.”
Illustration courtesy of Pelmorex
