Public Test of Alert Ready Being Held in Ontario on Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Canadians in participating provinces and territories can expect a test alert on their television, radio and compatible wireless devices on November 15 including here in Ontario!

Ottawa – A test of Alert Ready, Canada’s National Public Alerting System, will take place on Wednesday, November 15 across most provinces and territories including here in Ontario.

The test in Ontario will occur at 12:55 PM EST.

Canadians in participating provinces and territories will receive one text message from their respective provincial or territorial emergency management organization over television, radio and compatible wireless devices.

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.

• 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

The test alert will be distributed on TV, radio and wireless. However, not all Canadians will receive the test alert on their mobile device. This may occur for a variety of reasons – device compatibility, connection to an LTE network, cell tower coverage and device software and settings.

To improve the accessibility and effectiveness of emergency alerts for all Canadians, specifically Canadians with disabilities, Accessible Technology Attainable will be conducting an Accessible Emergency Alerts Survey after the test on November 15. The survey aims to identify challenges faced by individuals with disabilities in perceiving, understanding and interacting with emergency alerts delivered through various technological avenues, such as cell phone alerts, mobile application alerts and alerts on the radio and television.

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.

Alert Ready is designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving alerts to Canadians, including, but not limited to, tornadoes, flooding, fires and amber alerts. 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 2023, the Alert Ready system delivered more than 1064 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 X (formerly known as Twitter) page.