Here is when you will receive an alert during the Alert Ready test in Ottawa and Gatineau
Residents in Ottawa and Gatineau may receive an alert on their smartphones, radios and televisions on Wednesday, as officials conduct a test of Canada's national public alerting system.
As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Alert Ready will be distributing a test alert on TV, radio and compatible wireless devices in Quebec on May 8, and in Ontario on May 15.
"The Alert Ready system is a critical service that helps keep Canadians safe," Martin Belanger, Director of Public Alerting at Pelmorex, said in a statement. "Testing provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the Alert Ready system and to validate that it works as intended in case of an actual emergency."
- Sign up now for our daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
The Alert Ready message will indicate it is not an emergency, saying "This is a test of the Alert Ready System."
Some residents of Ottawa and Gatineau may receive both the Ontario and Quebec alerts on their smartphones depending on their location.
The Alert Ready test in Quebec was at 1:55 p.m. on May 8. The Alert Ready test in Ontario will be conducted on Wednesday, May 15 at 12:55 p.m.
Alert Ready is designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving alerts to Canadians through television, radio and LTE connected and compatible wireless devices. Alerts are broadcast for several different reasons, including fire, hazardous and environmental threats, a civil emergency, an Amber Alert for missing children, and natural disasters such as a tornado, earthquake, flash flooding or a hurricane.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires an alert test to be carried out every year, either in May or November.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus survives vote calling for his ouster
Greg Fergus survived a vote to oust him as House of Commons Speaker on Tuesday, but with close to half of MPs expressing a loss of confidence in him, he faces a precarious path forward in maintaining order in Parliament.
'It was hell': Israeli mother held hostage with her children describes 51 days in captivity
Hagar Brodutch, her three children and four-year-old neighbour were kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from their home in Kfar Aza, Israel on Oct. 7 and held for 51 days. They were released in November, but Brodutch says her thoughts are never far from those still being held in Gaza.
'Unruly passenger' forces WestJet flight to make emergency landing in B.C.
A WestJet flight heading to Calgary had to make an emergency landing in northern B.C. Monday due to an incident involving an 'unruly passenger,' Mounties say.
P.E.I. kiteboarder 'lucky to be alive' after shark attack in Turks and Caicos
A professional kiteboarder from P.E.I. says he has been seriously injured in a shark attack that occurred while he was snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands last week.
Teen dies after being hit by train in N.W. Calgary
A teenager has died after being hit by a train in northwest Calgary on Tuesday afternoon.
Black bear kebabs make family sick with parasitic worms
It was supposed to be a celebration, but one family’s unique meal of black bear meat sent several members to the hospital instead.
'It's his vacation too': Jimmy the baby goat joins 2-week road trip across Canada
After Jimmy the baby goat was shunned by his mother, a New Brunswick man took the kid on a two-week road trip across Canada.
The double-level airplane seat is back. This time, there’s a first-class version
It’s the airplane seat design that launched a thousand memes and kickstarted a media storm. And now the double-level seat is back – only this time, with a twist.
New COVID-19 subvariants become the dominant strains in Canada
More than four years after COVID-19 effectively shut down the world, two new variants of COVID-19 have become the dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in Canada.