This Is What You Can Expect To Happen During Today's Emergency Alert Test In Canada

Earlier this year, Canada launched a brand new nationwide alert system called Alert Ready. With Alert Ready, Canadians all over the country can be simultaneously notified of danger or safety concerns, such as terrorism threats and natural disasters, in the form of a cell phone notification.

Today, a second test has been scheduled across the country. Today's test comes after a recent report which indicated that only 60 percent of Canadians received the alert message on their phones during the first round of testing in the spring.

Get ready – the #AlertReady system is being tested in Ontario this Wednesday, November 28 at 1:55 pm. Check your mobile phone’s compatibility to see if you will receive a test emergency message: https://t.co/LOQ1172F4E pic.twitter.com/YE4KNbEzaR

— Ontario Warnings (@OntarioWarnings) November 26, 2018

Alert Ready will be deploying a test of the system across Canada this afternoon. The test is scheduled for 1:55 PM local time on Wednesday, November 28th. If your wireless network settings are on LTE, a test emergency message will be sent to your phone. The notification may also come with a sound, so don't be alarmed if your phone pings loudly out of nowhere.

Programs on TV, the radio and all forms of broadcast will be interrupted to run the Alert Ready test as well. This process will allow the government of Canada to test their ability to deliver "life-saving'" notices to citizens across all platforms.

Back in May, the Ontario Provincial Police was inundated with complaints after Alert Ready sent out a series of emergency messages about an Amber Alert. The notification was sent three separate times and went off loudly even on phones set to "do not disturb" mode. 

The OPP responded by reminding the public that Alert Ready is designed to save lives. "People need to remember that it's a quick alert that could save a child's life," one OPP spokesperson said at the time.

Canadians don't have the option to opt out of the alerts either, the CRTC says, "given the importance of warning Canadians of imminent threats to their safety."

Is there any way to mute these emergency alerts that Ontario has started? I just had 3 blazing alarms in the span of an hour about an amber alert in Thunder Bay... 14 HOURS away from where I live... wth am I getting these alerts for? What if I was sitting in a lecture?

— Fatimae Baig (@fatimaahb) May 14, 2018

That's enough. Four Alert Ready alarms ( 2 ea. Eng. & Fr) for an issue hundreds of miles away. Are alerts for Kathmandu next? I want out. I'll take my chances when there is an emergency that is geographically relevant. #alertready

— ⚛ Rob Mellow ☢ (@RobMellow1) May 14, 2018

Hopefully, today's test will help refine the Alert Ready system for future use.

Source: CTV News