Alert Ready, Canada’s new national emergency alert system, tested in Manitoba and Northwest Territories

The Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization of Manitoba Infrastructure announced on Tuesday that Alert Ready, the national emergency alert system, will send out a province-wide test message over TV and radio on Wednesday at 3:55 p.m. local time.

Alert Ready provides authorized government agencies and broadcasters with a simple and easily accessible method to issue public safety alerts, Manitoba Infrastructure explained in a press release. Cable and satellite companies, radio stations, over-the-air television stations and video-on-demand services will use the Alert Ready system to transmit crucial emergency alerts to their audiences. Alerting authorities must also set a time when they expect the alert to expire.

The list of broadcast alerts includes a wide range of events, broken down into the categories of fire, natural, biological, hazardous materials, environmental, terrorist hazard, civil and administrative. Specific examples of events include tornadoes, flash floods, thunderstorms, wildfires, earthquakes, chemical hazards and civil emergencies, among others.

The government of the Northwest Territories issued a live test of NWT Alert Ready on Wednesday at 9:55 a.m. “Residents may see and hear the public alert test on radio stations and cable networks across the NWT,” the territorial government said in a statement issued on Monday.

Alert Ready is operated by Pelmorex Media Inc., the parent company of The Weather Network and MétéoMédia, and developed in partnership with federal, provincial and territorial emergency management officials, Environment Canada and the broadcast industry.

The Alert Ready website includes additional information about the type of alerts Canadians will receive, examples of the alert notifications, links to provincial and territorial emergency preparedness resources and videos to help Canadians prepare for emergencies.